Pentagon Asks FBI to Probe News Leak

Pentagon Asks FBI to Probe News Leak
The Pentagon has asked the FBI to help investigate who leaked a highly classified planning document involving Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday. The FBI has not decided whether to join in the leak investigation, Rumsfeld said, adding he would encourage the FBI to get involved. Rumsfeld ordered the Air Force's Office of Special Investigations to investigate the leak to The New York Times. The newspaper reported earlier this month on a document outlining how the U.S. military might go about toppling Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.. (Read photo caption)
The unusual leak investigation is the first Rumsfeld has ordered since taking office in January 2001. Rumsfeld said Monday he was angry that someone in the Defense Department would discuss possible war plans.

The head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Michigan Democrat Carl Levin, told Rumsfeld he agreed with the decision to investigate the leak, which he called "astounding." Rumsfeld testified before Levin's panel Thursday on a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia.

SPADER HEADS TO FX's PENTAGON

FX has tapped James Spader to star in the cable channel's upcoming take on "The Pentagon Papers."

Spader will play Daniel Ellsberg -- the government whistleblower who leaked the top-secret study, which highlighted the U.S.' various missteps in the Vietnam War, to the New York Times in 1971.

"This is a very complex role, a hero who's both an intellectual and brazen enough to go against the grain," said FX entertainment president Kevin Reilly. "It's a different kind of role than what he's played traditionally."

The picture begins shooting in Canada and Los Angeles shortly for a December airdate.

PHOTO CAPTION

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld listens to remarks by Senate Armed Forces Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and holds his recently surgically repaired hand up during a Senate Armed Services hearing Thursday July 25,2002 in Washington. AP Photo/Joe Marquette)
- Jul 25 4:16 PM ET

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