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September 30, 2003
Media Storm Day 5: Justice Inquiry begins
Washington Post:
Justice Launches Investigation Into Leak
Three weeks ago, intelligence officials said, the CIA returned to the Justice Department a standard 11-question form detailing the potential damage done by the release of the information. Officials said it may have been the first such report ever filed on the unauthorized disclosure of an operative's name. Word of the Justice probe emerged over the weekend after the CIA briefed lawmakers on it last week.
Another journalist yesterday confirmed receiving a call from an administration official providing the same information about Wilson's wife before the Novak column appeared on July 14 in The Post and other newspapers.
The journalist, who asked not to be identified because of possible legal ramifications, said that the information was provided as part of an effort to discredit Wilson, but that the CIA information was not treated as especially sensitive. "The official I spoke with thought this was a part of Wilson's story that wasn't known and cast doubt on his whole mission," the person said, declining to identify the official he spoke with. "They thought Wilson was having a good ride and this was part of Wilson's story."
Washington Post:
Rarely Invoked Statute Could Play a Role
The statute includes three other elements necessary to obtain a conviction: that the disclosure was intentional, the accused knew the person being identified was a covert agent and the accused also knew that "the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such covert agent's intelligence relationship to the United States."
The law says no person other than the one accused of leaking the information can be prosecuted, a provision that would protect journalists who report leaked classified information identifying a covert agent. But there is one exception to that protection.
The measure says people who engage in a "pattern of activities" intended to identify covert agents and who have "reason to believe that such activities would impair or impede the foreign intelligence activities of the United States" can be prosecuted. Smith said that language was aimed at the publishers of the Covert Action Information Bulletin and others who made it a practice to identify undercover CIA agents.
New York Times:
Justice Dept. Starts Inquiry on Leak of C.I.A. Officer's Identity
LA Times:
Leak Accusation Stirs White House
It is a classic Washington whodunit, with speculation swirling around the Beltway on Monday over the identities of the "two senior administration officials" who passed the CIA officer's name to conservative columnist Robert Novak.
But the time-honored game of guessing reporters' sources has higher stakes in this case because it centers on the White House's prewar claims about Iraq's nuclear program, appears to have cost a CIA operative her clandestine career, and the culprits, if caught, could face up to 10 years in prison.
...
By some accounts, the administration approached a number of news organizations in July, dangling details on Wilson's wife's position at the agency. The Washington Post on Sunday quoted "an administration aide" as saying that six reporters received cold calls from administration officials.
The Post quoted Wilson as saying that NBC's Andrea Mitchell got one of the calls. "I would not discuss sources," Mitchell said when asked about that Monday.
But speaking on condition of anonymity, one top political and communications strategist close to the White House expressed skepticism that any senior White House officials leaked the information.
"It's not how anybody leaks," the strategist said. "You know us. We're pros. If you want to leak, you call one reporter."
Slate:
The Plame Game
By Jack Shafer
Given that the White House knows who the leakers are, I would surmise that the administration will staunch the damage—and still the scandal—by strongly encouraging the leakers to offer themselves up for sacrifice out of duty to President Bush. If I were Bush, I'd avoid anything that could be construed as a coverup and start rehearsing my address to the nation about how a tiny precancerous lesion has been removed from the face of the presidency.
...
The hidden bad news is that none of [the journalists] reported that the Plame information was being leaked by sources who wished to embarrass her and Wilson—which they could have legitimately done without burning their sources by name. In other words, they all protected the White House from its blunder.
Posted by glyphic at September 30, 2003 11:29 AM