Transcript of Bolton’s statement …
I don’t believe that cable. I’ve probably read a million cables — maybe not a million, but close to it [regarding DNA, iris] I have never seen a cable like that. I do not think that is a State Department cable. I think it probably came from somewhere in the intelligence community. Why it got into the State Department system, I can’t say … honestly I don’t know the answer to that, but I do not think that State Department personnel were being asked to engage in espionage. I just can’t see it. I think that cable got mixed up somehow. I wish we could find that out ’cause it’s obviously very damaging to State Department personnel all over the world, if people are going to be worrying if they are going to be filching documents out of their copy machines. But I honestly think that document is not an accurate … There’s something wrong there.
John Bolton does not believe the following came from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton …
Leadership dynamics and decision-making processes of key civilian and military officials; influence of corruption and patronage in decision-making. — Status of relations among top leaders of African Great Lakes countries, especially Kigali and Kinshasa, and Kampala and Kinshasa. — Plans and intentions regarding political succession, including post-election transitions; indications of coup plotting. — Leader influence on popular opinion and popular sentiments. — Influence on government leadership of religious organizations, interest groups, ethnic groups, and military. — The role of military, intelligence, and security services in national policy decision-making and their control of government institutions and parastatals. — Leadership policies and actions that cause or respond to political instability or economic deterioration. — Leadership financial resources and personal relationships. — Government and public views about and evidence of impact of corruption and crime on internal stability and development. — Information on political stability, sources of instability, and nature of challenges to effective governance. — Government plans and efforts to respond to threats to political stability; strategies for addressing underlying discontent. — Changes inside key ministries and security forces, including personal dynamics, tribal politics and factions. — Details on identities, motives, influence, and relations among principal advisors. — Biographic and biometric data, including health, opinions toward the US, training history, ethnicity (tribal and/or clan), and language skills of key and emerging political, military, intelligence, opposition, ethnic, religious, and business leaders. Data should include email addresses, telephone and fax numbers, fingerprints, facial images, DNA, and iris scans.
Excerpt from Wikileaks
Thursday, 16 April 2009, 14:11
S E C R E T STATE 037561
NOFORN
EO 12958 DECL: 04/16/2034
TAGS PINR, KSPR, ECON, KDEM, KHIV, ZF”>ZF, XA”>XA, CF, RW, BY
SUBJECT: (S) REPORTING AND COLLECTION NEEDS: AFRICAN GREAT
LAKES (DROC, BURUNDI, RWANDA)
REF: A. 08 KIGALI 00830–05/DEC/2008 B. 08 STATE 122706–19/NOV/2008 C. 04 STATE 101403–06/MAY/2004
Classified By: SUZANNE MCCORMICK, DIRECTOR, INR/OPS, REASON: 1.4(C).
John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American lawyer and diplomat who has served in several Republican presidential administrations. He served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations from August 2005 until December 2006 on a recess appointment. He resigned in December 2006 when his recess appointment would have ended because he was unable to gain confirmation from the Senate.
Bolton is currently a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Fox News Channel commentator, and of counsel to the law firm Kirkland & Ellis, in their Washington D.C. office. He is also involved with a broad assortment of other conservative think tanks and policy institutes, including the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), Project for the New American Century (PNAC), Institute of East-West Dynamics, National Rifle Association, US Commission on International Religious Freedom, and the Council for National Policy (CNP). Bolton is often described as a neoconservative, though he personally rejects the term.
In August 2010, Bolton suggested that he may run for president in 2012 because legitimate issues of national security should be more at the center of the national debate than they have been for the last two years.