WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Senior Bush administration officials say Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sidestepped policy review procedures to gain approval of a deal with North Korea.
The officials said Rice cut agencies who had objected to the plan to disarm North Korea's nuclear program out of the process by taking the plan only to Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser, and President George W. Bush. Rice bypassed a process that normally would have involved Vice President Dick Cheney's office, the Defense Department and other government agencies, the New York Times reported Friday.
"There was no process here," said one official involved in the issue. "Nothing. There was no airing of whether this is the way to deal with the North Koreans."
After being called by Rice after her meeting in Berlin with Christopher Hill, top U.S. negotiator with North Korea, Hadley "walked (the plan) through with concerned people" rather than hold formal meetings on the issue, a senior administration official said.
The officials said the change in procedure was brought about by conservative criticism of the State Department's approach to North Korea from within and outside the administration.
