As Senate takes up Bolton, Democrats call for full disclosure

WASHINGTON -- The Senate began debating John R. Bolton's nomination for UN ambassador yesterday, as Democrats made a last-ditch attempt to get the State Department to turn over classified documents that could shed light on Bolton's treatment of government intelligence.

Senator Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said he and others from his party would not support a motion to end debate on Bolton unless the administration turned over the information. The Republican-controlled Senate needs 60 votes to end debate and proceed to a vote.

''We think this is very important information," he told reporters. ''We've been denied, as a Senate committee, to have access to this information now for almost two months."

Bolton, a no-nonsense critic of the United Nations who has been accused of trying to punish intelligence analysts who disagreed with his assessments, has been a lightning rod of controversy since President Bush nominated him in March to succeed John Danforth.

Democrats have demanded more information about whether Bolton tried to exaggerate the threat of Syria, as well as information about secret intercepts of conversations between US and foreign officials that Bolton requested from the National Security Agency.

During yesterday's debate, Senator Jay Rockefeller, Democrat of West Virginia, the ranking minority member on the Senate Intelligence committee, said he was convinced that Bolton did nothing improper in asking for the identities of US officials quoted in the intercepts. But Rockefeller said Bolton may have violated the security agency's restrictions by sharing the information with another State Department official when he sought out the official to congratulate him, apparently for comments he made during the intercept.

Rockefeller said he was concerned that the incident could indicate a ''cavalier attitude" by Bolton and a ''blatant disregard for the intelligence process."

But Senator Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican who chairs the Intelligence Committee, had access to the same information, and said he saw no problem with Bolton talking about it with another person who had access.

Democrats face an uphill battle in their efforts to persuade Senate Republicans to oppose Bolton. Republicans want to vote on the nomination before the Senate leaves for Memorial Day recess.

But one Republican choked up with emotion yesterday as he spoke passionately against the nominee. Ohio Senator George V. Voinovich, the only Republican so far on record as a no vote, said he believed Bolton would not be able to garner 40 supporters if the vote were a secret ballot.

''I fear that too many of my colleagues are not going to understand that this appointment is very, very important," he said.