Along with confirming the Abu Dhabi plan, officials have leaked its details to Le Monde in an apparent effort to reassure the public that nothing unethical is afoot.

Other American officials eventually leaked the true story.

He has repeatedly denied trying to influence the jet purchase or profiting from it in any way, and he said officials had deliberately leaked information as part of a political vendetta against him.

IN 2001, federal officials leaked a tidbit from an F.B.I. wiretap to an Associated Press reporter named John Solomon.

The fact remains that officials close to both Mr. Cheney and Mr. Bush leaked the identity of an undercover operative for political reasons.

The Investigation Department, in its report, said it found no evidence that Mr. Simon or other officials had leaked information about Mr. Koslov in 1983.

Film to Start in July Last summer, Rwandan officials leaked the information that Mr. McGuire was to be indicted.

Instead, officials in Washington leaked the information to the press there.

Other officials have leaked fragments of what is under consideration, without saying whether they will be included in the final package.

On the path to war in Iraq, high officials of the Bush administration leaked classified but far from reliable information about W.M.D.'s, then pointed to its publication as "evidence" of its truth.