But the facility was destroyed in September 2007 before the reactor was
completed. Officials said Israel, which obtained a video of North Koreans in
the nuclear facility, provided the U.S. intelligence community with evidence
of a North Korean program in Syria two months before the air strike. The
nuclear facility was said to have been similar to that built several years
earlier at Yongbyon in central North Korea.
''The administration routinely keeps appropriate members of Congress
informed of national security and intelligence matters," National Security
Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. "But I'm going to decline to comment
on any specific briefings.''
The congressional source said the Bush administration was expected to
release some information on the North Korean-Syrian nuclear relationship
following the briefing. The source said the White House would announce that
Pyongyang has acknowledged assistance to the Syrian program.
In late 2007, the CIA briefed senior members of the House and Senate
intelligence committees on the Israeli air strike in Syria. But the rules of
the briefing did not allow congressional members to share the information
with their colleagues.
Officials said the latest briefing was meant to enable the
administration to promote its policy of removing sanctions on North Korea in
exchange for its
pledge to end nuclear weapons development. The plan, which includes the
removal of North Korea from the State Department list of terrorist nations,
has been opposed by a large portion of the Democratic-controlled Congress.
