April 13 (Bloomberg) -- A former administration official said President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney didn't authorize leaking the identity of a CIA agent when they gave the aide permission to tell reporters about U.S. intelligence findings on Iraq's weapons programs.

Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby, is accused of lying and obstructing an investigation of the leak. Libby has denied he gave reporters the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame after her husband, retired U.S. diplomat Joseph Wilson, challenged Bush's 2003 claim that deposed Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein sought uranium from Africa to build nuclear weapons.

In court filings yesterday, Libby's lawyers sought to minimize the significance of Plame's role in helping her husband get a Central Intelligence Agency assignment to travel to Africa to verify the intelligence on Iraq's pursuing of nuclear material. That was only a ``peripheral issue'' as the administration sought to buttress Bush's claim that Iraq's quest for uranium was based on good intelligence, the court papers said.

``Mr. Libby plans to demonstrate that the indictment is wrong when it suggests that he and other government officials viewed Ms. Wilson's role in sending her husband to Africa as important,'' the court filing said, referring to Plame by her married name.

Classified Identity

Defense lawyers said they will try to show at trial that Libby had no motive to lie about the Plame leak because he didn't know her identity was classified and wasn't aware of any effort by administration officials to disclose it. Plame's identity was disclosed on July 14, 2003, when syndicated columnist Robert Novak reported that she recommended Wilson take the Africa trip.

Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, in an April 5 court filing, tied Bush for the first time to an attempt to counter critics of the March 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. Fitzgerald suggested Bush used Libby to funnel information to reporters that U.S. intelligence showed Iraq was seeking nuclear weapons.

Libby's lawyers said Bush and Cheney only authorized him to disclose details from a National Intelligence Estimate they believed supported the president's claim that Iraq was attempting to buy uranium ``yellowcake'' in Niger.

Any argument by the government that the case involves only Libby and Cheney's office ``is a fairy tale,'' said the 26-page document filed by Libby's lawyers late yesterday in federal court in Washington. ``Mr. Libby's actions were authorized at the highest levels of the executive branch.''

Calling Rove

Libby's attorneys made clear they intend to call Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser, to testify ``regarding Mr. Libby's conversations with Mr. Rove concerning reporters' inquiries about Ms. Wilson.''

Rove has testified at least three times before the grand jury hearing evidence in the case. He hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing.

Fitzgerald and Libby are disputing how many government records, documents and memoranda Cheney's former chief of staff is entitled to have as he prepares his defense for the trial in January 2007.

Fitzgerald last week cited Libby's grand jury testimony in asserting that Bush authorized disclosure of classified information on Iraq's weapons program to rebut war critics. Fitzgerald didn't allege that Bush authorized aides to divulge the identity of Plame.

Consistent Testimony

Libby's lawyers underscored that point in the court papers. ``Consistent with his grand jury testimony, Mr. Libby does not contend that he was instructed to make any disclosures concerning Ms. Wilson by President Bush, Vice President Cheney or anyone else,'' they said.

The revelation of Plame's identity prompted a Justice Department investigation. Fitzgerald's account didn't suggest Bush violated any rule or law governing the handling of classified material.

Bush has since acknowledged declassifying the document, saying he sought to help counter criticisms of prewar U.S. intelligence. He acted under an executive order governing the distribution of classified information that President Bill Clinton signed in 1995 and Bush modified in March 2003.

In a July 6, 2003, New York Times essay, Wilson said that the Bush administration ``twisted'' some of the intelligence about Iraq's weapons program. Libby, 55, met two days later with Judith Miller, then a Times reporter, to rebut Wilson's questioning of the justification for invading Iraq.

Fitzgerald wrote last week that Libby testified before the grand jury that Cheney ``advised him that the president had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions'' of a 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's pursuit of nuclear weapons to Miller.

Specifically Authorized

Libby ``testified that he was specifically authorized in advance of the meeting to disclose the key judgments of the classified NIE to Miller on that occasion because it was thought that the NIE was `pretty definitive' against what Ambassador Wilson had said and that the vice president thought it was `very important' for the key judgments of the NIE to come out,'' Fitzgerald said.

Cheney also directed Libby on July 12, 2003, to provide ``background'' to Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper about a trip Wilson took in 2002 at the behest of the CIA to investigate claims that Iraq tried to buy nuclear material in Niger, according to Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald contends that Libby isn't entitled to unlimited access to government files unless he can establish a direct connection to allegations included in the indictments filed against him.

Vast File

Libby's attorneys said the government has gathered more than 200,000 pages of documents and turned over about 14,000 pages of classified and unclassified records -- ``less than 10 percent of the government's file.''

``On numbers alone, the government's document production has been exceptionally meager, and it appears even more paltry and insufficient in light of all of the complicated factual issues in this case,'' Libby's filing stated.

Washington defense lawyer E. Lawrence Barcella, a former federal prosecutor, said trial Judge Reginald B. Walton is likely to give Libby's defense lawyers access to more documents than the government wants to turn over.

``They've got a theory of the case. There are documents that may support their theory of the case,'' Barcella said. ``Right now, the prosecution is the only one that is in possession of the documents.''

Randall Samborn, a spokesman for Fitzgerald, declined to comment on Libby's court filing. White House spokesman Scott McClellan declined to comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Richard Keil in Washington at dkeil@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 13, 2006 17:07 EDT