Pressure Grows on White House Over Cia Disclosure

The White House came under increasing pressure today to appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate claims that a senior Bush administration official illegally broke the cover of an active CIA agent.

Newspaper reports this morning revealed a possibly unacceptable closeness between one Bush administration official accused of the leak and another leading the criminal investigation.

The New York Times reported that Karl Rove, the president's top political advisor, worked on at least two past political campaigns for the attorney general, John Ashcroft. It raises a possible conflict of interest for Mr Ashcroft, whose justice department is charged - along with the FBI - with finding out who was responsible for breaking the agent's cover.

The CIA agent's husband has accused Mr Rove of sanctioning the leak, in which half a dozen journalists were informed of Valerie Plame's identity. The alleged motive was to punish Ms Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, a former diplomat critical of the Bush administration's position on Iraq.

The White House has denied Mr Rove's involvement. Outing an undercover CIA agent is a criminal offence punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The White House has thus far resisted the appointment of an independent counsel, and also kept fellow Republicans from calling for one. However, Democrats insist that the justice department is not capable of handling the case impartially.

A poll in today's Washington Post suggests that most Americans agree. The Washington Post/ ABC News poll found that seven out of 10 Americans believe a special prosecutor should take over the investigation, while only 29% would leave it to the justice department.

White House officials have begun combing telephone logs and other records while the FBI assembles senior agents to question senior members of George Bush's staff. The FBI's first task will be to determine how many government officials were privy to the officer's identity and knew it was classified, a number that could be in the hundreds.

Yesterday the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, told reporters that no investigators had yet sought to interview any staff members. Nor, he said, had staffers gone to the justice department with information, as Mr Bush had urged any with information to do.

The justice department official overseeing the investigation is John Dion, a 30-year career prosecutor who has headed the counter-espionage section at the justice department since 2002. FBI agents from the counter-intelligence and inspections division, and from the Washington field office, will do the legwork.

The White House has promised to cooperate fully with investigators.