But Withers and others saw no need to report the meeting because the name of the arms dealer did not come up. At the time, AEY's work in Albania had been suspended, and a member of the embassy staff worked to ensure that the defense minister did not endanger the criminal case.
Further, the meeting centered on the defense minister's concern over a newspaper reporter, not government investigators, Withers said.
Waxman's staff has said they remain interested in how the embassy handled the newspaper's request to Mediu; the newspaper's first article on AEY appeared several months later and detailed Albania's stock of Chinese weaponry.
Withers and other U.S. officials said Harrison had since denied in private conversations that he intended to accuse Withers of wrongdoing, and had claimed that his words were taken out of context by the committee.
Harrison and his lawyer refused to comment. Waxman, in a statement to the Los Angeles Times, defended his panel's work, saying it had been "methodical and careful."
He said he was disappointed that Withers had not yet agreed to speak with the committee's staff. The State Department on Thursday granted Withers and other embassy staff members permission to speak voluntarily to committee staff members.
"It is a significant development if embassy officials are being compelled to testify before a criminal grand jury," Waxman said.
In 34 years in the House, Waxman has developed a reputation as a tenacious investigator. When Democrats regained control of the House last year, Waxman, as a newly seated committee chairman, assigned investigators to a range of subjects including Blackwater, the controversial private security contractor, and the role of the Bush administration in disclosing former CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.
Prosecutors at the U.S. attorney's office in Miami declined to comment on the effect of the committee's allegation on their case.
But former prosecutors and lawyers involved in the case said the allegation had raised sensitive issues by compelling prosecutors to take additional testimony after indictments had been returned.
Srebnick, the lawyer for Diveroli, has denied his client broke any laws, saying that the statute under which he was charged does not apply to munitions manufactured in China before a 1989 embargo. He said the Waxman letter opened up additional grounds to contest the criminal complaint.
Srebnick said he was concerned that grand jury testimony was taken from people he might want to call as defense witnesses, saying it could be "an improper use of a grand jury."
Withers is incensed that Waxman's letter could aid the defense and considers it one of the insults to his reputation and that of the embassy staff.
Withers, the son of a former director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, has served in a series of overseas posts and was director of the State Department's Operations Center from 2003 to 2005.
"I do not know what House committee I can go to to reclaim my reputation," Withers said.
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paul.richter@latimes.com
tom.hamburger@latimes.com
