Byron Dorgan: “about a half hour ago, President Bush was in the Rose Garden for a ceremony. During the question-and-answer period, the…”

“about a half hour ago, President Bush was in the Rose Garden for a ceremony. During the question-and-answer period, the President expressed some great concern--in my judgment, justifiable concern--about the leaking of classified information that was given to some Members of Congress. Apparently, at least a couple Members of Congress, on a couple of occasions, have leaked that information to the press. In my judgment, the President has every right to be very upset about that. This country has asked its young men and women in military service to risk their lives in this time of national emergency. As they undertake military operations in parts of the world that are thousands and thousands of miles from here, it ill-serves our country's interests to have any Member of Congress, under any circumstance, at any time, going to a classified briefing and then disclosing the information from that classified briefing to a member of the press. The solution, I might say, is not, however, for the administration to stop briefing the Congress about classified material. The solution, I would urge the President, would be for us to find out which Member of Congress has leaked classified information and then make certain that this Member of Congress--House or Senate--is not given classified information in the future. I know this is a difficult area and a difficult set of circumstances, but this country faces some very difficult days ahead.”