Bolton blocked vital data, some say

WASHINGTON – John R. Bolton, who is seeking confirmation as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, often blocked then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and, on one occasion, his successor, Condoleezza Rice, from receiving information vital to U.S. strategies on Iran, according to current and former officials who have worked with Bolton.

In some cases, career officials found back channels to Powell or his deputy, Richard Armitage, who encouraged assistant secretaries to bring information directly to him. In other cases, the information was delayed for weeks or simply did not get through.

The officials, who would discuss the incidents only on condition of anonymity, cited a dozen examples of memos or other information Bolton refused to forward during his four years as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security.

Two officials described a memo prepared for Powell at the end of October 2003 before a key international meeting on Iran, informing him that the United States was losing support for efforts to have the U.N. Security Council investigate Iran’s nuclear program. Bolton allegedly argued it would be premature to throw in the towel.

Intra-agency tensions are common in Washington and, as undersecretary of state in charge of nuclear issues, Bolton had latitude to decide what needed to go to the secretary of state.

But career officials said they often felt Bolton’s decisions and policy views left the department’s top diplomat uninformed and also fed long-running struggles inside the agency.