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Former CIA operative Valerie Plame is Paula Jones -- if with national security credentials and Beltway savoir-faire. Both women filed iffy lawsuits that seemed more designed to discredit a president than to prevail in a court of law. Jones never could prove that then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton hurt her career as a state worker after he allegedly sexually harassed her. Hence, there were no economic damages, as Judge Susan Webber Wright noted when she ruled against Jones. The suit filed last week by Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, against Bush biggies -- Veep Dick Cheney, Cheney's former...

No, there's not a recent deluge of leaks of classified information. The numbers are consistent with those in the past couple of decades. What is different today is that the kid gloves are off regarding the government's treatment of reporters. Thanks to the clamoring by editorial pages of many major newspapers -- which resulted in Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald investigating the publishing of CIA employee Valerie Plame's name -- case law makes it clear that journalists can be hauled before the grand jury and forced to cough up their sources, or face Miller time in jail. Editorial writers professed to...

Victoria Toensing: FISA Fears Shielded 9/11 Plotters Contrary to the claims of Bush administration critics, the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has seriously hampered U.S. counterterrorism efforts - and actually helped to shield at least two key 9/11 plotters from detection by U.S. law enforcement. The stunning analysis comes from former Reagan-era Justice Department official Victoria Toensing, who explains on OpinionJournal.com: "I have extensive experience with the consequences of government bungling due to overstrict interpretations of FISA." As deputy assistant attorney general one of Toensing's chief responsibilities was the terrorism portfolio, which included working with FISA. She recalled having to...

In a speech last week, Al Gore took another swing at the National Security Agency's electronic surveillance program, which monitors international communications when one party is affiliated with terrorists. Specifically, Mr. Gore argued that George Bush "has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently," and that such actions might constitute an impeachable offense. The question he raises is whether the president illegally bypassed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). But the real issue is national security: FISA is as adept at detecting--and, thus, preventing--a terrorist attack as a horse-and-buggy is at getting us from New York to Paris. I have...

In a speech last week, Al Gore took another swing at the National Security Agency's electronic surveillance program, which monitors international communications when one party is affiliated with terrorists. Specifically, Mr. Gore argued that George Bush "has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently," and that such actions might constitute an impeachable offense. The question he raises is whether the president illegally bypassed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). But the real issue is national security: FISA is as adept at detecting--and, thus, preventing--a terrorist attack as a horse-and-buggy is at getting us from New York to Paris. I have...

In a speech this week, former vice president Al Gore took another swing at the National Security Agency's electronic surveillance program, which monitors international communications when one party is affiliated with terrorists...But the real issue is national security: FISA is as adept at detecting -- and, thus, preventing -- a terrorist attack as a horse-and-buggy is at getting us from New York to Paris.

7:45am - Victoria Toensing, Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, 1984-88, & James Bamford, Author, “The Puzzle Palace” Looks like they're on until 8:30 or so.

Rebroadcast from this morning's Washington Journal: Victoria Toensing, Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, 1984-88, & James Bamford, Author, “The Puzzle Palace”

In a surprise, closed-door debate, Senate Democrats last week demanded an investigation of pre-Iraq War intelligence. Here's an issue for them: Assess the validity of the claim that Valerie Plame's status was "covert," or even properly classified, given the wretched tradecraft by the Central Intelligence Agency throughout the entire episode. It was, after all, the CIA that requested the "leak" investigation, alleging that one of its agents had been outed in Bob Novak's July 14, 2003, column. Yet it was the CIA's bizarre conduct that led inexorably to Ms. Plame's unveiling. When the Intelligence Identities Protection Act was being negotiated,...

An "outing" was the result of either incompetence or an effort to undermine the White House. In a surprise, closed-door debate, Senate Democrats last week demanded an investigation of pre-Iraq War intelligence. Here's an issue for them: Assess the validity of the claim that Valerie Plame's status was "covert," or even properly classified, given the wretched tradecraft by the Central Intelligence Agency throughout the entire episode. It was, after all, the CIA that requested the "leak" investigation, alleging that one of its agents had been outed in Bob Novak's July 14, 2003, column. Yet it was the CIA's bizarre conduct...

In a surprise, closed-door debate, Senate Democrats demanded an investigation of pre-Iraq War intelligence. Here's an issue for them: Assess the validity of the claim that Valerie Plame's status was "covert," or even properly classified, given the wretched tradecraft by the Central Intelligence Agency throughout the entire episode. It was, after all, the CIA that requested the "leak" investigation, alleging that one of its agents had been outed in Bob Novak's July 14, 2003, column. Yet it was the CIA's bizarre conduct that led inexorably to Ms. Plame's unveiling.

<p>In a surprise, closed-door debate, Senate Democrats demanded an investigation of pre-Iraq War intelligence. Here's an issue for them: Assess the validity of the claim that Valerie Plame's status was "covert," or even properly classified, given the wretched tradecraft by the Central Intelligence Agency throughout the entire episode. It was, after all, the CIA that requested the "leak" investigation, alleging that one of its agents had been outed in Bob Novak's July 14, 2003, column. Yet it was the CIA's bizarre conduct that led inexorably to Ms. Plame's unveiling.</p>

The former deputy assistant attorney general who helped draft the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act blasted Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald on Wednesday, saying he may be getting "creative with law" in order to justify questionable indictments. "If you don't have a clear violation, you should not become what's called 'creative with the law,'" Toensing told ABC Radio host Sean Hannity, after noting that the statute she co-authored was never intended to apply to cases like Leakgate. Toensing said she based her concern on a February report in the Chicago Tribune, which noted, "Probably Fitzgerald's greatest talent was finding creative ways...

The old Washington refrain that "the coverup is worse than the crime" is in the air again. The reason: Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald faces a high legal bar in proving that the leak of Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA officer violated federal intelligence laws. Instead, he's more likely to try to show that there was a coverup, or an attempt to obstruct his investigation, according to legal experts. The notion that the underlying offense is not what nails you in Washington has had a long shelf life. It can also be useful in attempting to change the subject...

There now appears to be consensus that no one violated the 1982 Agent Identities Protection Act in publishing the name of CIA employee Valerie Plame. It’s a hard law to violate. Its high threshold requires that the person whose identity is revealed must actually be covert (which requires at the least a foreign assignment within five years of the revelation), that the government must be taking “affirmative measures” to conceal the person’s identity, and that the revealer must know that the government is taking those measures. So why didn’t Patrick Fitzgerald, the special counsel investigating the “leak,” close up shop...

Today's focus remains on Judy Miller and whether she will step forward and fully explain what she knows about the unfolding grand jury investigation, and help answer the dozens of questions that surround it, as well as the New York Times' involvement. Independent counsel Patrick Fitzgerald has given Miller the okay to talk and write about the episode. But does she want the facts out? Time magazine's Matt Cooper did. As soon as he was permitted, Cooper wrote a revealing first-person account of his role in the investigation. And note that in the recent issue of Nieman Reports, a quarterly...

Democrat leaders and editorialists accusing Karl Rove of treason for referring to CIA agent Valerie Plame in an off-the-record interview are ignorant of the law, according to the Washington attorney who spearheaded the legislation at the center of the controversy. Vanity Fair photo - (do they look angry about her "outing?") Plame's circumstances don't meet several of the criteria spelled out in a 1982 statute designed not only to protect the identity of intelligence agents but to maintain the media's ability to hold government accountable, Victoria Toensing told WorldNetDaily. Toensing – who drafted the legislation in her role as chief...

Back in October of 2003, I offered a $100 RuthsChris Steakhouse gift certificate to the first journalist who would tell the public whether Val Plame was or was not a "Covert Agent" according to the law in question. YO' MEDIA, FREE MEAL OFFER: Is Joe Wilson's Wife a "Covert Agent" Under That Law? abner and jimfree added $100 each, bringing the bounty to $300. It went up 10/5/03 and after almost EIGHT months, I recided the offer on 5/31/04 due to lack of response, even though we had faxed the offer to numerous Washington newsrooms and bureaus. By that...

The former prosecutor who helped draft the law that Democrats say was violated when someone in the Bush administration leaked a CIA worker's name to columnist Robert Novak now says that no laws were broken in the case. Writing with First Amendment lawyer Bruce Sanford in the Washington Post recently, former Assistant Deputy Attorney General Victoria Toensing explained that she helped draft the law in question, the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act. Says Toensing, "The Novak column and the surrounding facts do not support evidence of criminal conduct." For Plame's outing to have been illegal, the one-time deputy AG says,...