Former Aide Didn't Disclose Involvement in C.I.A. Case

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 - Eric S. Edelman, an under secretary of defense and former deputy national security adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, "would have been well advised" to tell Congress this spring about his "involvement" with the investigation into the C.I.A. leak case, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said in a statement on Thursday. President Bush installed Mr. Edelman in the post this summer, using a recess appointment to bypass the Senate confirmation process. Mr. Edelman told the committee in a written statement in May that "to the best of my knowledge, I am not presently the subject of any governmental inquiry or investigation."

But Mr. Edelman is identified by his former job title in the indictment of I. Lewis Libby Jr., who resigned last Friday as Vice President Cheney's chief of staff and national security adviser. The office of Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special counsel in the case, has confirmed that Mr. Edelman was the "then principal deputy" to Mr. Libby in the indictment. The Armed Services Committee chairman, Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia, issued his statement in response to questions from The New York Times about the answers Mr. Edelman provided to the committee.........