WASHINGTON - January 26 - Six senior members of Congress today requested a GAO investigation into whether the White House complied with internal security procedures for protecting covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity from disclosure and for responding to the leak after it occurred. The goal of the investigation is to identify if there was a breakdown in White House security procedures so that steps can be taken to ensure that similar breakdowns never occur again.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Ranking Member of the House Government Reform Committee, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, Ranking Member of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Vice Chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, and Rep. John Conyers, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee sent the formal request to GAO this morning (available at www.house.gov/reform/min).

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