WASHINGTON (AP) - There is no ironclad legal doctrine buttressing National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice’s refusal to testify publicly before the panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, law experts said Monday.

Rice already has spoken to the commission in private. But she says public testimony is protected by executive privilege. That principle says presidential advisers cannot be legally forced to disclose their confidential communications if that would adversely affect the operations of the executive branch.

It is rare for White House advisers to testify publicly before Congress or congressionally appointed panels like the Sept. 11 commission. But exceptions exist, and legal scholars say they poke holes in Rice’s argument.

She also has spoken openly to the media about the attacks and the advice she offered President Bush about terrorism.

“The whole idea of executive privilege is that the president’s advisers should be able to give advice in confidence,” said Herman Schwartz, a constitutional law professor at American University. “That means the advice should be kept confidential. But she’s talked to everybody under the sun.

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