Political Briefings At Agencies Disclosed

A smaller White House briefing was also conducted every two years for what Mills described as the department's senior political staff, including Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez. He could not explain why that meeting was separate from the others.

Twenty-eight political appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency attended such a briefing last July 17 at the White House executive office complex, and an unknown number attended one at those offices the following month, according to EPA spokeswoman Jennifer Wood. She said that Jennings gave the presentation at the first meeting and that Sara M. Taylor, who directs the White House Office of Political Affairs, gave the second one.

Spokesmen at the departments of Veterans Affairs and Transportation also confirmed that their political appointees received such briefings at their headquarters. Stanzel confirmed that they were also given at the departments of Health and Human Services, Interior, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Treasury, Education, Agriculture and Energy, as well as NASA, the Small Business Administration, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

By the end of yesterday afternoon, all of those describing the briefings on the record had adopted a uniform phrase in response to a reporter's inquiries: They were, each official said, "informational briefings about the political landscape."

At the Department of Homeland Security, spokesman Russ Knocke at first said "there is no indication that any meeting on election targets, congressional districts or candidate support or assistance took place at the department." He then called back to alter that remark, saying he had no indication that such a meeting was held at department "offices." A department official said employees were briefed on "morale" but did not elaborate.

Scott J. Bloch, director of the Office of Special Counsel, alluded to the multiple briefings in an interview Monday, saying that "we have had allegations" and "received information" about similar talks that were held elsewhere besides GSA.

"Political forecasts, just generally . . . I do not regard as illegal political activity," Bloch added. But he said his office would examine whether it was appropriate to use federal facilities or resources as well as review exactly what was said. "Where you cross the line is where you get into the slant of someone being elected or defeated" or trying to get a political party into or out of power, he said.

Justin Busch, a GSA appointee who attended the briefing there, told the investigators that Doan's comment made him "very uncomfortable." Dennis R. Smith, the regional GSA administrator in Boston, recalled a "feeling of unease" at Doan's additional mention of the need to manage a GSA building visit by then-incoming House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) cited Doan's reported remarks yesterday in a Brookings Institution speech that criticized the Bush administration for using "all the levers of power" to promote its political interests and attempting to make the federal government "a stepchild of the Republican Party."

Staff writer Spencer Hsu contributed to this report.