David S Addington

For years, congressional Democrats dreamed of getting a crack at a man they saw as a key player behind the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods against detainees in the war on terrorism -- methods the critics say amount to torture. On Thursday, they finally got their wish: Thickly bearded and glaring out through half-rimmed glasses, David S.

For years, congressional Democrats dreamed of getting a crack at a man they saw as a key player behind the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods against detainees in the war on terrorism -- methods the critics say amount to torture. On Thursday, they finally got their wish: Thickly bearded and glaring out through half-rimmed glasses, David S.

President Reagan on Tuesday announced the appointment of House Republican aide David S. Addington as a special assistant for legislative affairs.

Senior Bush administration officials held a series of meetings in the White House in 2002 and 2003 to discuss allowing the CIA to use harsh interrogation methods on Al Qaeda detainees, according to a written statement Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently provided to Senate investigators.

For months, the White House has refused to hand over any information about the closed-door meetings of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force--a group that was heavy on energy executives, including Enron Corp. Chief Executive Kenneth L. Lay. Both Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) and the congressional General Accounting Office have insisted that the workings of the task force be disclosed. The White House has steadfastly maintained it is not obligated to do so.

The Obama administration has deleted the term "global war on terror" from the government lexicon but is finding it more difficult to wipe the slate on some of the dark activities that rhetoric was used to justify. Since his election, President Obama has said he would prefer to look forward instead of backward at charges that the Bush administration used illegal detention and torture to prosecute its campaign against terrorism.

Vice President Dick Cheney is hiding something--and it's not the cost of his electric bills. It's bad enough that the man who told Americans, "If you want to leave all the lights on in your house, you can--but you will pay for it" has gotten the Navy to foot the electric bills for his mansion at the Washington Naval Observatory rather than pay them out of his own official budget. But Cheney's high-profile clumsiness shouldn't disguise a far more significant misstep.

Even as lawmakers were advising the Bush administration to clean house after last week's criminal charges against a top official in the CIA leak case, Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday elevated two aides who emerged as bit players in that saga to replace his indicted former chief of staff. Cheney named his chief counsel, David S. Addington, to be his new top lieutenant. Addington replaces I.

Vice President Dick Cheney is set to depart Monday for a weeklong trip to Asia, and many in Washington are wondering whether he might be grateful for an excuse to high-tail it out of town. The past few weeks have not been kind to the vice president -- or at least to his public image. Last week, a close ally was dressed down by the Pentagon inspector general for skewing intelligence before the Iraq war.

From the podium at the Justice Department on Friday, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the CIA leak investigation, advised everyone "to take a deep breath" and allow the justice system to do its work. On Saturday, Washington took that breath. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, who remains under investigation by Fitzgerald, was home with his family. His attorney, Robert Luskin, spent a quiet day fielding phone calls.

As Congress and the Bush administration argued publicly last week over the extraordinary raid of a congressman's office, a high-stakes dispute simmered behind the scenes -- top Justice Department officials indicated they'd resign if ordered to turn over documents seized in the search, administration officials said. Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales; his deputy, Paul J. McNulty; and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III never directly threatened to quit over the files taken from Rep. William J.