WASHINGTON - An already contentious nomination of Anthony Lake as CIA director erupted into a partisan shouting match yesterday as Republicans challenged his judgment on a 1950s spy case, and a Democrat declared the hearing outrageous.
Lake declared in the course of the hearing that he regarded leaking to the media "as being very clearly in the same category as spying" and said he intended "to try to find the leakers, just as I intend to try to find the spies."
But conservatives questioned whether Lake himself had leaked sensitive material in the past. He assured them he never had and never would. "I think I am known for that," he said.
Lake also ducked questions about apparent Chinese attempts to win access to the Oval Office through campaign contributions.
And the former national security adviser declined to comment on the resignation of one of the two aides who received an FBI briefing on Chinese political contributions and failed to inform him. "I'm not sure whether he resigned or retired," he said of National Security Council aide Edward Appel, himself a special agent.
Lake said Appel was "in his 40s, I would guess."
Lake also said he was concerned by news reports linking Arkansas businessman James Riady with alleged "front" companies for Chinese intelligence services. But he said he could not confirm the reports.
Lake did acknowledge that Chinese missiles and China's sales of missile-related equipment were a threat to U.S. interests. "I think they are real," he said.
The third day of nomination hearings degenerated quickly. Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) said the committee members were "not distinguishing ourselves" in conducting a "bipartisan, rational hearing on the qualifications of this nominee." He then declared "outrageous" holding a public session on less than 24 hours' notice.
Graham went on to criticize Republicans for spending too much time looking into the "rearview mirror" and not enough "looking out into the windshield of what was going to happen in the future."
Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) interrupted to say that "sometimes you have to look in the rearview mirror to keep from being run over by a truck." Then ranking minority member Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) interrupted to object to the interruption, and more shouting began.
"Mr. Chairman, I have to object," Kerrey said. "Look, I have not interrupted Sen. Inhofe earlier."
Shelby retorted, "You've interrupted everybody here." Kerrey said he had not.
Later, Lake had to defend his view on whether the late Alger Hiss was indeed a spy, as alleged by Whittaker Chambers, a former Communist agent.
Conservative Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) bore down on Lake, calling "disquieting" Lake's statement that he could not back up a flat conclusion that Hiss was guilty.
Lake earlier in the hearings had said he gave a shortened response on NBC's "Meet the Press" because he had only 20 seconds left. But Kyl checked with NBC News and said the question was asked eight minutes into a 14-minute interview.
Lake was at a loss for a response. "Senator, was there a break then for a commercial or something?" he asked. "Nope," Kyl responded, "no break at all at this point."
"Perhaps we could look at the video to see what Mr. Russert's body language was, if he (Russert, the host) was moving on to the next question or the break or whatever," Lake said.
Two hours after it began, the hearing was suspended at Republican behest.