Bush Administration Is Focus of Inquiry
CIA Agent's Identity Was Leaked to Media

CIA Director George J. Tenet wants to know whether officials in the White House broke federal law.

By Mike Allen and Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 28, 2003; Page A01

Excerpt-[quote]At CIA Director George J. Tenet's request, the Justice Department is looking into an allegation that administration officials leaked the name of an undercover CIA officer to a journalist, government sources said yesterday.

The operative's identity was published in July after her husband, former U.S. ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, publicly challenged President Bush's claim that Iraq had tried to buy "yellowcake" uranium ore from Africa for possible use in nuclear weapons. Bush later backed away from the claim.

The intentional disclosure of a covert operative's identity is a violation of federal law.

...

The only recipient of a leak about the identity of Wilson's wife who went public with it was Novak, the conservative columnist, who wrote in The Washington Post and other newspapers that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, "is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction." He added, "Two senior administration officials told me that Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger."

When Novak told a CIA spokesman he was going to write a column about Wilson's wife, the spokesman urged him not to print her name "for security reasons," according to one CIA official. Intelligence officials said they believed Novak understood there were reasons other than Plame's personal security not to use her name, even though the CIA has declined to confirm whether she was undercover.
[quote]

In another article I read Karl Rove is one of the people suspected of leaking her identity. I'd pay real money to see him take the perp walk [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I wonder how hard this will be pressed...I heard on TV that calls for an independent inquiry were rejected by the White House.

Is something wrong with independent inquiries? The W.H. seems to fear and loath them as much as they love keeping secrets. Hmmmm... [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img]

[ 09-29-2003, 11:44 AM: Message edited by: Chewbacca ]

YEah, we need an independent inquiry -- NOT. Without more, what does it matter? I mean, look at the stellar job previous independent counsel have done. Kenn Starr -- $8 million, 6 years, didn't catch him on any of the big scandals, and ultimately had to settle for a wet cigar and a big hullabaloo while the whole nations shrugged its shoulders and said "Who gives a s**t?"

Maybe I would be as cynical as you T.L., if it weren't for the severity of the charges.

yup someone in the whitehouse committed TREASON by blowing the cover of deep cover CIA operative. Destroying decades of nework building in the process. Yup nothing worth investigating there :rolleyes:

Not to mention the operative was involved in tracking WMDs, a key issue in our day and age. Sheesh, I would think a whole lot people would be angry, or at least concerned about this beyond partisan lines.

I even heard a Republican talking-head on Crossfire yesterday say that all this amounted to was "Democrats whining". He was sitting next to Novack who actually appeared to grimace!!! I guess for some, toeing the party line is more important than concerns national security. *sigh*

[ 09-30-2003, 03:52 PM: Message edited by: Chewbacca ]

This text is very interesting:


''''''''''
LARRY JOHNSON: Let's be very clear about what happened. This is not an alleged abuse. This is a confirmed abuse. I worked with this woman. She started training with me. She has been undercover for three decades, she is not as Bob Novak suggested a CIA analyst. But given that, I was a CIA analyst for four years. I was undercover. I could not divulge to my family outside of my wife that I worked for the Central Intelligence Agency until I left the agency on Sept. 30, 1989. At that point I could admit it.

So the fact that she's been undercover for three decades and that has been divulged is outrageous because she was put undercover for certain reasons. One, she works in an area where people she meets with overseas could be compromised. When you start tracing back who she met with, even people who innocently met with her, who are not involved in CIA operations, could be compromised. For these journalists to argue that this is no big deal and if I hear another Republican operative suggesting that well, this was just an analyst fine, let them go undercover. Let's put them overseas and let's out them and then see how they like it. They won't be able to stand the heat.

I say this as a registered Republican. I'm on record giving contributions to the George Bush campaign. This is not about partisan politics. This is about a betrayal, a political smear of an individual with no relevance to the story. Publishing her name in that story added nothing to it. His entire intent was correctly as Ambassador Wilson noted: to intimidate, to suggest that there was some impropriety that somehow his wife was in a decision making position to influence his ability to go over and savage a stupid policy, an erroneous policy and frankly, what was a false policy of suggesting that there were nuclear material in Iraq that required this war. This was about a political attack. To pretend that it's something else and to get into this parsing of words, I tell you, it sickens me to be a Republican to see this.

-Larry Johnson, a former counter-terrorism official at the CIA and the State Department.
'''''''''''''

This text is from a PBS show. Here is a link to the show with the text of what Larry Johnson and others said regarding this.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media...aks_09-30.html

Nice find Djinn, I had heard that on the Newshour last night but had not gone to look for the transcript. I'm really surprised all the national security boosters have not chimed in on this thread. ;)

<font color=orange>I think it's a travisty, but like everything else no ones head will roll and no one will go to jail. How many times has something like this happened in the past? To many to count. This is one just happened to be after 9/11.

What I think is interesting is why this story is coming up now. I mean it was broken about two months ago and no one cared then. What's the big deal now? What I REALLY THINK IS INTERESTING is why now and not, in say 6 to 9 months from now, during the elections. Seems to me that would REALLY be the time to dredge it up!

I believe the reason it has come up again after 2 months was that the CIA has asked to have this investigated by the Justice Department.


Mark

[ 10-01-2003, 07:06 PM: Message edited by: skywalker ]