Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., blasted the Obama administration on Sunday for suggesting that he owed it an apology for saying that they leaked sensitive intelligence about the Christmas Day bomber.
Bond said that the White House owes an apology for putting the investigation of the attempted terror attack in jeopardy, The Hill reported.
"I'm sorry, but when the White House discloses sensitive information that will compromise intelligence, they are the ones that owe the people of America and the intelligence community an apology," the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence committee said Sunday.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had said Bond should apologize "to the law enforcement community and those that work in this building" for alleging the White House had leaked classified information about its Flight 253 investigation, according to The Hill.
Gibbs assured reporters that none of that information about bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's recent cooperation with investigators was classified,
"I think anybody that was involved in knowing in the Senate Intelligence Committee what was briefed and what was reported would know that that wasn't violated," Gibbs said.
But the FBI informed the leadership of the Senate Intelligence Committee Monday afternoon about Abdulmutallab’s recent willingness to talk to investigators and stressed the importance of not disclosing his cooperation “in order to protect ongoing and follow-on operations to neutralize additional threats to the American public,” Bond said.
“FBI Director Bob Mueller personally stressed to me that keeping the fact of his cooperation quiet was vital to preventing future attacks against the United States,” Bond said. “Handling this information in such a sensitive manner struck me as entirely appropriate.”
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