The book, State of Denial, by the Washington Post reporter who uncovered the Watergate scandal, paints a picture of an administration riven by personal rivalries, with Mr Rumsfeld at one point refusing to take calls from Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser, and claims that even Laura Bush, President George W. Bush's wife, had misgivings about the attitude of the defence secretary.
It also suggests that Ms Rice "brushed off" a briefing in July 2001 from the CIA director and former head of counterterrorism, about an imminent terrorist threat. That contrasts with claims on Monday from Ms Rice that the administration had in the first eight months in power been "at least as aggressive as what the Clinton administration did".
The account could be used by critics to question the White House's credibility on its handling of the Iraq war and the war on terror. It comes at a time when President George W. Bush has forcefully made the case that his actions since 9/11 have made America safer.
Tony Snow, White House spokesman, dismissed the book as "like cotton candy. It kind of melts on contact", and said it was driven by those on the "losing side of the argument . . . The average Washington memoir ought to be subtitled: 'If only they had listened to me'. "
He rejected some of the book's central allegations, denying the White House had played down the threats from the insurgency in Iraq and ignored urgent calls for more troops. Mr Bush has consistently defended Mr Rumsfeld.
The New York Times was the first to report on the book, an embarrassing blow to the Washington Post, which is due to publish extracts tomorrow. It is the second blow to the newspaper, which was also scooped on the outing of Deep Throat, Mr Woodward's secret source during Watergate.
In a claim that could fuel conspiracy theories about the recent decline in oil prices, in an interview to be broadcast on CBS tomorrow, Mr Woodward described a conversation between Prince Bandar bin Sultan and Mr Bush in which the former Saudi ambassador to the US said he could ease oil prices ahead of the presidential election.
"They could go down very quickly. That's the Saudi pledge. Certainly over the summer, or as we get closer to the election, they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly," Mr Woodward said.
According to an account on the Washington Post website, Mr Card wanted James Baker, the former secretary of state, to take over from Mr Rumsfeld. He may now play that role from the outside - as joint chairman of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, he is due to issue an independent report after the election to advise on future US policy in Iraq.
