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Washington (CNN) – The White House is adjusting its security protocol to prevent uninvited guests from crashing future events, a top administration official announced Wednesday.

Related: Lawmakers want answers on 'party-crashing' drama

Going forward, White House staff will be stationed at security checkpoints alongside U.S. Secret Service agents, Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina said in a memo posted on the White House Web site.

"Guests will be checked off of the list by White House staff and the Secret Service will continue to ensure that all guests have been properly cleared before entering the White House," Messina wrote in the memo. "Guests whose names are not on the guest list will be assisted by White House staff present at the check point for appropriate resolution."

"As always, the Secret Service will provide security and remain ultimately responsible for controlling access to the White House complex," Messina added.

Related: Social secretary won't testify before Congress, WH says

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he never received a request for more troops to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Washington (CNN) – Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld criticized President Obama's assertion Tuesday that the Bush administration ignored requests for more troops to battle the Taliban, declaring the president's remark made during his address on Afghanistan a "bald misstatement."

Rumsfeld said Wednesday that during his time as Bush's Secretary of Defense, he was "not aware of a single request of that nature."

"The President's assertion does a disservice to the truth and, in particular, to the thousands of men and women in uniform who have fought, served and sacrificed in Afghanistan," Rumsfeld said in a statement. "In the interest of better understanding the President's announcement last night, I suggest that the Congress review the President's assertion in the forthcoming debate and determine exactly what requests were made, who made them, and where and why in the chain of command they were denied."

But Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff since October of 2007, said Wednesday that the former top commander in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, had requested more troops during the previous administration, but they were sent to Iraq instead.

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Congress calls for party crashers to testify.

Washington (CNN) - The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee called Monday for the couple who crashed President Obama's state dinner last week and the head of Secret Service to testify at a Thursday hearing on the security breakdown at the White House event.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee chairman, announced that he wants to hear Tareq and Michaele Salahi, and Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, explain how the couple was able to get inside the White House and shake hands with President Obama without being on the guest list.

"This is a time for answers, recognition of security deficiencies past and present, and remedies to ensure the strength of the Secret Service and the safety of those under its protection," Thompson said in a statement. "This is not the time for political games or scapegoating to distract our attention from the careful oversight we must apply to the Secret Service and its mission. My confidence in the management of the Secret Service hangs in the balance." He called the incident a "slap in the face" to other Secret Service employees.

Internal investigations have indicated that the Secret Service didn't follow protocol at at least one security checkpoint.

UPDATE: The House Homeland Security Committee has also invited White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to be a witness at their Thursday hearing at the request of committee Republicans. Rogers has yet to respond to the invitation.

Washington (CNN) - Conservatives for Patient Rights is targeting 14 senators in their latest anti-public option ad, which hits airwaves Monday.

The group, which has spent millions on ads opposing President Obama's health care reform push, says is spending $250,000 on an ad airing on CNN and Fox News pushing centrist Democrats and a Republican to oppose a public option in the health care bill.

"The future of every Americans medical care rests with these 14 senators," says the narrator in the 30-second spot, as the 14 senators' photos and names scroll across the screen. Lawmakers targeted include Democratic Sens. Blanche Lincoln, Mark Pryor, Thomas Carper, Evan Bayh, Mary Landrieu, Jon Tester, Max Baucus, Ben Nelson, Kent Conrad, Byron Dorgan, Jim Webb and Mark Warner, Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman and Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe.

Sebelius: New guidelines are 'not coverage decisions'.

Washington (CNN) - Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stressed Wednesday that government funded programs will continue to cover routine mammograms, despite a federal advisory board's recommendations that women in their 40s should not regularly get tested for breast cancer.

"They are making recommendations, not coverage decisions, not payment decisions and the government payers have decided we will continue to cover both Medicare and Medicaid patients who have mammograms routinely," Sebelius told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "We will continue to recommend it, and the health plans have indicated that they will do the same, if the health care provider recommends a mammogram for a patient, they intend to cover that payment."

Earlier in the day, Sebelius addressed the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's recommendation that women in their 40s not get routine mammograms, saying they "caused a great deal of confusion and worry." She emphasized again on CNN that they "don't make coverage decisions" and advised women to go to their doctors to decide when and how often to get mammograms.

"What we know is that mammograms definitely save lives," Sebelius said. She added, "We want women to have a doctor, take the information, but then have that conversation about your own health history, what the risks are of having a mammogram versus the benefits and make a determination based on an informed decision."

Sen. Dick Durbin said the health care bill has to pass the Senate this year.

(CNN) – The Senate's second-ranking Democrat told CNN Tuesday that he hopes to have a version of the health care bill done and available to the public by Thanksgiving.

Sen. Dick Durbin told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that debate in the Senate on the health care bill could start this week and that he hopes that it will be "posted for the world to see over the Thanksgiving recess." He said he thinks he does have all 60 votes needed to move the bill to the Senate floor.

"I believe if we have full attendance, that we will have the 60 votes to begin the debate in terms of moving the bill forward," Durbin said. "That's when the delicate negotiations begin. And wouldn't it be great to have a senator from the other side of the aisle to join us in that effort?"

Durbin said that the bill "has to be done in the Senate this year" and that he hopes it will go to a final vote before President Obama's State of the Union address at the beginning of next year, but that he "wouldn't predict that."

(CNN) - Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz criticized an influential health panel's new guidelines recommending that women get mammograms less frequently, calling some of the findings "disturbing" and "patronizing."

The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force, an independent group of health care experts, issued new guidelines on Tuesday recommending that women in their 40s not get routine mammograms, and refrain from doing regular self exams. Part of the reason, one panel member told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, is to prevent women from worrying too much about having cancer.

"The harms of screening is what we call the false positives," Lucy Marion, the dean of the school of nursing at the Medical College of Georgia said. "In other words, women will have unnecessary worry about cancer. They may have unnecessary biopsy. In some cases they may have more radiation than healthy for them, though in most cases, that's a minor problem. But there are those harms, and we weigh those harms with the benefits of the few women that would benefit from that."

Wasserman Schultz, who was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 41 and said she found it though a self-exam, introduced a bill in March to teach even younger women about early detection. She said on Tuesday that women need to get more information to make educated decisions about their health care.

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DCCC slams Shadegg for suggesting Bloomberg's daughter will be kidnapped'

Washington(CNN) - A spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee criticized a Republican congressman Tuesday for suggesting that Mayor Michael Bloomberg's daughter will be kidnapped by terrorists, calling it evidence that the GOP has been taken over by "Right Wing extremists."

"In case there's any doubt of the Republican Party being taken over by the likes of Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Michele Bachmann and other Right Wing extremists, last night Republican Rep. John Shadegg actually suggested that Mayor Bloomberg's daughter will be kidnapped by a terrorist," DCCC spokesman Ryan Rudominer said in a statement.

"This is what happens when you have a Republican Party undeterred by their embarrassing loss in the NY-23 Special Election and desperate to win over the Right Wing fringe," he added.

On the House floor on Monday night, Shadegg criticized Bloomberg for supporting the Obama administration's decision to have the suspected 9/11 terrorists face a trial in New York City. Bloomberg said last week that it's "fitting" to have them tried close to the World Trade Center site and that the city has "hosted terrorism trials before," but Shadegg warned of other repercussions.

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McCain said Palin's legal bills were for 'troopergate.'

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Days after telling his former staffers to avoid responding to charges in Sarah Palin's new book, Sen. John McCain has spoken up to deny that his campaign made her pay for her own vice presidential vetting.

The former Republican presidential candidate told The Hill on Monday night that Palin did receive a legal bill - but it was to deal with allegations that she abused her power as governor to try to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from his job as a state trooper in Alaska.

"That was over the troopergate," McCain told The Hill.

In her book "Going Rogue: An American Life," Palin said that the McCain campaign stuck her with a bill for $50,000 to cover the costs of her own vetting. McCain's aides have denied this charge, and others made in the book, but the Arizona senator has largely remained silent. On Friday, he asked his former aides to avoid television appearances and refrain from engaging in a back-and-forth with Palin over the claims.

Palin has given him a signed copy of the book. McCain told the Hill that he enjoyed reading it.

"I hope she sells lots of them," he said.

Palin discussed Levi Johnston and the Katie Couric interviews in her sit-down with Oprah.

(CNN) – Sarah Palin and her almost-son-in-law Levi Johnston have been in a war of words for months, but the former Alaska governor told Oprah Winfrey in just-released clips of the highly-anticipated interview that he is still "part of the family."

While not directly saying whether or not Johnston is invited to Thanksgiving dinner, Palin said her family still has affection for Johnston.

"It's lovely to think that he would ever even consider such a thing," Palin told Winfrey. "Because of course you want - he is a part of the family and you want to bring him in the fold and kind of under your wing. And he needs that, too."

Discussing her new book, "Going Rogue: An American Life," on Winfrey's famous couch, Palin said she and her family want to make peace with Johnston and move past the dramatics that have unfolded in the media over the last year. Johnston was once engaged to Palin's daughter, Bristol, and is the father of Palin's grandson, Tripp.

"I think he needs to know that he is loved and he has the most beautiful child, and this can all work out for good," Palin said. "It really can. We don't have to keep going down this road of controversy and drama all the time. We're not really into the drama. We don't really like that. We're more productive."

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – Best-selling author Jon Krakauer sharply criticized Gen. Stanley McChrystal for his handling of former NFL player-turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman's death, in an interview with CNN scheduled to air Saturday.

Tillman was killed by friendly fire while serving in Afghanistan. Krakauer, author of "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman," said that despite seeing reports describing the real cause of Tillman's death, McChrystal signed paperwork to award him a Silver Star, which is not normally given to victims of friendly fire.

"I think he has a serious blemish on his record," Krakauer said.

When asked by CNN's Wolf Blitzer if he thought McChrystal should be in charge of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, Krakauer answered, "No."

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Sarah Palin said the race in NY-23 is 'just postponed until 2010.'

(CNN) – Democrat Bill Owens may have won last night's special election in New York's 23rd congressional district - but Sarah Palin said Wednesday that race "is not over."

Writing on Facebook early Wednesday morning, the former Alaska governor praised Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman and "all the other under-dog candidates who have the courage to put themselves out there and run against the odds."

"The race for New York's 23rd District is not over, just postponed until 2010," Palin wrote. "The issues of this election have always centered on the economy – on the need for fiscal restraint, smaller government, and policies that encourage jobs. In 2010, these issues will be even more crucial to the electorate."

Owens – the first Democrat to win this district since the 19th century – is up for re-election in 2010.

Palin, along with prominent conservatives Tim Pawlenty, Fred Thompson and Dick Armey, backed Hoffman last month over then-Republican nominee, Dede Scozzafava, who dropped out the weekend before Election Day. The race garnered national attention over the Republican Party split between the Scozzafava and the more conservative Hoffman.

David Axelrod said the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia were 'impacted by state issues.'

(CNN) – Top White House aide David Axelrod brushed off Democratic electoral losses in Virginia and New Jersey Wednesday, calling the congressional race in New York's 23rd district the "only national race of consequence."

Axelrod told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey were "impacted by state issues" and that they were not national races. He said the results of those races should not intimidate moderate Democrats, who he said should focus instead on the election in upstate New York, where a Democrat won the seat for the first time in over 100 years.

"That's the race that most members of Congress are going to look at with interest, and that's the race they should," Axelrod said. "Because the message was, if you embrace the president's agenda… then you will do well and you'll energize voters and you'll get the kind of turnout you need to win your race."

Many Republicans have called the race in NY-23 a unique situation - since the local GOP appointed the nominee instead of conducting a primary, which they say Hoffman would have won - Axelrod called the chaotic contest evidence of an intra-party split.

"What you saw there was I think the future, or the near-term future of the Republican Party, civil war in which the right wing ran the moderates out of the party," Axelrod said. "And they ran right to the Democratic candidate. And I think that has some harbingers for what's to come."

Tune into The Situation Room beginning at 4 pm ET for the rest of Wolf Blitzer's interview with Axelrod.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said Tuesday that the race in New York's 23rd congressional district is evidence that the Republican Party is "at war with themselves."

"The Republican Party is a little bit at war with themselves, aren't they," the Maryland Democrat told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "I mean, they've got the right wing of their party and they've got the extreme right wing of their party and you've seen them turn on each other time and again as they figure out what they want to do as a party, let alone what sort of direction they want to lead our country in."

But Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said that particular race – where the local GOP appointed the nominee instead of conducting a primary – should be a lesson to Republican Party leaders around the country to hold elections.

Barbour, a Republican, reiterated that he does not see Tuesday's election results as a referendum on President Obama, but rather as a reflection of how voters feel about his policies. He said that if the Democratic candidates lose or win the gubernatorial races in New Jersey or Virginia by a small margin, that it will "help Republicans next year, because they're going to be really good for candidate recruiting and they're going to be a real springboard for the 2010 elections."

"A win is a win, except if you're trying to assess what effect is the administration and its policies having on Democratic candidates," Barbour said.

(CNN) – Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman told CNN on Monday that battle over the congressional seat in New York's 23rd district that led to the withdrawal of the Republican candidate isn't evidence of a split within the GOP.

Hoffman called Dede Scozzafava, the Republican nominee who dropped out of the race over the weekend, an "ultra-liberal" - but denied the GOP is at war with itself, or that the race offer a glimpse what's to come in next fall's midterm elections.

There is room for moderates in the GOP, said Hoffman. "I think this was a unique situation where the candidate happened to be more Democrat than Republican," he told CNN's Mary Snow and Shirley Zilberstein. "And basically, I was fighting to stand up for the values and ideals of the Republican Party."

Before Scozzafava dropped out, Republicans were split between her and Hoffman, allowing Democrat Bill Owens to take the lead in this reliably-Republican district. Scozzafava is now backing Owens - a decision that Hoffman said "surprised" him, but shows that he's always been the "real Republican" in the race.

"Well, my candidacy has been for fighting for the soul of the Republican Party," Hoffman said. "I think the events of the last two days have shown that I have been the real Republican in this race, the real common sense conservative Ronald Reagan Republican."

Earlier in the day, Vice President Joe Biden suggested that conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh "handpick[ed]" Hoffman to run. Hoffman called that notion "ridiculous": "I've never spoken to Rush Limbaugh so I don't know where he's getting that information from."

(CNN) - The Republican National Committee is pouring some last-minute money into the highly-anticipated special election in New York's 23rd congressional district with a new radio ad, as the party throws its support to Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.

The RNC released a new radio ad on Monday encouraging Republicans to support conservative candidates on Election Day. Without naming Hoffman, the narrator says that voters "need conservative leaders who stand up for our values."

"Whose side are you on? The Pelosi-Paterson tax-and-spend train wreck?" the narrator asks in the ad, echoing a Hoffman campaign theme. "Or do you believe in Republican conservative values, like thrift, personal responsibility, and family? Let's tell the liberals, enough is enough."

The RNC had previously backed Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava, who dropped out of the race over the weekend and officially backed the Democratic nominee, Bill Owens.

The ad will air for two days in North Country media markets. The RNC would not reveal the size of the buy.

Senators, White House reach shield law compromise .

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Two senators are taking another shot at crafting a law that would protect journalists from having to reveal the identity of their sources.

Democratic Sens. Arlen Specter and Charles Schumer released details Friday of a revised version of the Free Flow of Information Act, which would provide a federal legal protection to reporters who refuse to reveal their confidential sources from being fined or imprisoned.

President Obama came under fire earlier this month for weakening an earlier shield law proposal by modifying a safeguard that would force prosecutors to exhaust all other options before making a reporter testify in court. Under the administration's version at the time, reporters would not be protected if executive branch believed the source's information caused "significant" harm to national security.

Schumer said this version of the bill provides new provisions to help the government protect national security interests while providing legal protection for journalists. More specifically, the government would have to prove to a judge that compelling a reporter to give up a confidential source would help the government in "preventing or mitigating" a future act of terrorism, according to excerpts of the bill.

"This new version preserves a strong protection for reporters interested in protecting their sources, while also making sure that the government can still do the job of protecting its citizens," Schumer said in a statement. "This agreement should expedite this bill's movement through committee and the full Senate."

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WASHINGTON (CNN) –- A long-awaited House health care bill will likely include a “negotiated rate” public health insurance option, Rep. Chris Van Hollen told CNN after a closed-door meeting Wednesday with members of the House leadership to finalize their version of the legislation.

The House leadership announced after the meeting they will unveil their bill on Thursday. It will include a more moderate version of a public option, and Van Hollen - the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman from Maryland - said the entire bill will cost under $900 billion and reduce the deficit.

"The public option will be a public option and again there's going to be some final discussion within the caucus, but the likely result will be a negotiated rate public option, which is a public option that will create competition and choice,” Van Hollen said on CNN’s The Situation Room.

“We do not have an opt-out provision," he added, referring to a provision in the Senate version of the bill that would allow states to decide against including a public option.

"I think all this - people have lost sight of what our objective was to begin with and that is to have a public option out there," Van Hollen said.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele will back the GOP nominee in NY-23.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – After a dizzying few days of prominent Republican endorsements of the Conservative Party's nominee in New York's 23rd congressional district, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said he will stand behind the embattled GOP candidate in the upcoming special election.

Steele will back Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava, breaking with some party conservatives - including Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Fred Thompson and Dick Armey - who are backing third-party candidate Doug Hoffman.

"I support the Republican nominee, as the Republican Party chairman," Steele told MSNBC Wednesday morning. "And that's the way it should go."

Scozzafava has an endorsement from former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich and the NRA - but some prominent conservative leaders, activists and groups who view her as too liberal have thrown their weight behind Hoffman.

Scozzafava, Hoffman and Bill Owens are on the ballot in the special election to fill the congressional seat vacated by former GOP Rep. John Hughes, now President Obama's Secretary of the Army. Election Day is November 3.