WASHINGTON

SENATE COMMITTEE APPROVES NOMINATION OF INTELLIGENCE CHIEF

The Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday approved the nomination of the nation’s first national intelligence director, John Negroponte, clearing the way for the full Senate to consider President Bush’s pick. The closed-door vote means the former Iraq ambassador and longtime diplomat could be in his new job this month. Mr. Negroponte’s nomination has generated little controversy in Congress. As part of an overhaul of intelligence agencies last year, lawmakers approved the creation of a national intelligence director, which the September 11 commission had recommended.

Separately, a lone senator moved yesterday to block Mr. Bush’s choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency, accusing the White House and EPA of stonewalling his requests for data from the agency. Utilizing a power enjoyed by all senators, Senator Carper, a Democrat of Delaware, put a temporary hold on the nomination of Stephen Johnson, EPA’s acting chief, to serve as the agency’s next administrator. Mr. Carper said he spoke Wednesday night with Mr. Johnson to let him know what he was doing.

Also yesterday, the Senate’s former top lawyer got bipartisan support yesterday for a seat on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, putting him in line to become the first of Mr. Bush’s second-term appellate nominees to be confirmed. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 14-4 to advance Utah lawyer Thomas Griffith’s nomination for a seat on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia for approval.

– Associated Press

BUSH SEEKING MORE FLEXIBLE RULE ON BORDER CROSSINGS

President Bush stepped back yesterday from plans requiring passports from people to enter America, concerned the effort to tighten borders against terrorists would hamper legal travel from Canada, Mexico, and other American neighbors.

The president said he was surprised by the proposed rules announced last week by the State and Homeland Security departments. “When I first read that in the newspaper about the need to have passports, particularly today’s crossings that take place, about a million for instance in the state of Texas, I said, ‘What’s going on here?'” Mr. Bush said when asked, at a meeting of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, about the rules. Mr. Bush, a former Texas governor, said he has ordered a review of the rules. “If people have to have a passport, it’s going to disrupt the honest flow of traffic. I think there’s some flexibility in the law, and that’s what we’re checking out right now,” the president said.

– Associated Press

LAWMAKER: WHITE HOUSE IMPEDING PUBLIC RELATIONS INVESTIGATION

The Bush administration is impeding an investigation into the Education Department’s hiring of commentator Armstrong Williams by refusing to allow key White House officials to be interviewed, a Democratic lawmaker briefed on the review said yesterday. In addition, Rep. George Miller, a Democrat of California, said Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is considering invoking a privilege that he said would require information to be deleted when the final version is publicly released, which is expected within days. Mr. Miller called for Jack Higgins, the inspector general at the Education Department, to delay the report until Ms. Spellings agrees not to invoke “deliberative process privilege” and the White House grants interviews with current or former officials familiar with the deal.

– Associated Press

WEST

JACKSON ACCUSER’S MOTHER TELLS STORY OF ALLEGED CAPTIVITY

The mother of Michael Jackson’s accuser told jurors yesterday a bizarre story of weeks during which she was shuttled around by Jackson’s associates, made a virtual prisoner, and warned that “killers” were after her. The woman said that during the entire period, she never tried to call police because “who could possibly believe this?” Mr. Jackson, 46, is on trial on charges he molested a 13-year-old and kept the youngster and his family captive. The boy’s mother asserted that Mr. Jackson’s people claimed the family needed to be protected from killers. She said they kept her in line by threatening her parents and her boyfriend.

– Associated Press