NEWSWEEK: Matt Cooper's Source

Newsweek ^ | July 18 issue | Michael Isikoff

[West Coast Conservative]

It was 11:07 on a Friday morning, July 11, 2003, and Time magazine correspondent Matt Cooper was tapping out an e-mail to his bureau chief, Michael Duffy. "Subject: Rove/P&C," (for personal and confidential), Cooper began. "Spoke to Rove on double super secret background for about two mins before he went on vacation..." Cooper proceeded to spell out some guidance on a story that was beginning to roil Washington. He finished, "please don't source this to rove or even WH [White House]" and suggested another reporter check with the CIA.

Last week, after Time turned over that e-mail, among other notes and e-mails, Cooper agreed to testify before a grand jury in the Valerie Plame case. Explaining that he had obtained last-minute "personal consent" from his source, Cooper was able to avoid a jail sentence for contempt of court. Another reporter, Judith Miller of The New York Times, refused to identify her source and chose to go to jail instead.

For two years, a federal prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, has been investigating the leak of Plame's identity as an undercover CIA agent. The leak was first reported by columnist Robert Novak on July 14, 2003. Novak apparently made some arrangement with the prosecutor, but Fitzgerald continued to press other reporters for their sources, possibly to show a pattern (to prove intent) or to make a perjury case. (It is illegal to knowingly identify an undercover CIA officer.) Rove's words on the Plame case have always been carefully chosen. "I didn't know her name. I didn't leak her name," Rove told CNN last year when asked if he had anything to do with the Plame leak. Rove has never publicly acknowledged talking to any reporter about former ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife.

[Haru Hara Haruko]

Yeah, that phrase "double super secret background" is very strange and doesn't sound like something a real journalist would actually use

And isn't the CIA Director the "DCI" - for "Director of Central Intelligence?"

[onyx]

You two have FR mail. I didn't want to post all the info on this public board.

[festus]

Yah but in this case the double super secret messages apparently didn't self destruct........

[onyx]

My 'new' house is 123 years old, so I'm thinking it'll withstand Dennis...lol. Thanks for your kind thoughts.

[js1138]

I've got news for you...

Since the beginning of the term you've been on double secret background.

[jimboster]

Reading it literally sounds like Rove knew the reporter ALREADY had her name and everything else for his article...I'm betting the reporter asked Rove to comment on her actions or something.

You, sir, have hit the nose right on the nostril! There was a story in the Washington Post about reporters calling politicians and telling them Plame worked for the CIA. Kos from the Daily Kos was so worried about this he went out of his way on his site to say not to attribute too much importance to these rumors. Rove has maintained all along he discussed Plame with reporters after she was outed.

[woofie]

I wish the CIA had one of those web cam things..they could figure out this Plame deal and other important stuff

[festus]

Well this is from newsweek ( the same folks who brought us Koran flushing @ Gitmo ).

I'm fully expecting the internal memo's to implicate Karl Rove as being the one who not only flushed the Koran but also "leaked" on it over by the fan.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

"Spoke to Rove on double super secret background..."

Jeez, sound like dialog from an old "Get Smart" show.

[Enterprise]

This is something which needs to be shouted loud and clear by Rush, Hannity, and O'Reilly. It makes me livid that reporters would be calling politicians and telling them that she worked for the CIA, for the evident purpose of then telling the public that she was "outed" by a politician. Good God almighty, if this isn't a den of snakes then such a thing doesn't exist!

Once again, the spectre of "tar and feathering" comes to mind.

[Wuli]

Forgotten in all of this is a basic question that has never been adequately answered, as far as I know.

In spite of the fact that someone in the Justice Department is pursuing this, was there really a violation of the law?

It was my understanding that while it's true the public does not know the names of everyone who works for the CIA, not everyone working for the CIA is an undercover operative and Mr. Wlison's wife was, at the time, no longer working as an undercover operative. She had a desk job as an analyst.

It was always my understanding that Joe and Mrs. Wilson were very well known in Washington, D.C. - the state dept/foreign affairs/think tank/congress political cocktail circuit - and that Mrs. Wilson's employment was very well known, around Washington. In other words, while no newspaper had printed the facts of her employment, it apparently was "public information" to much of Washington D.C., Georgetown. etc.

So was the law actually broken?

If I am right, then GWB's people should have just said so a long time ago, had someone apologize and move on. The media shelf life of this nonsense would have been over.

[ReignOfError]

Yeah, that phrase "double super secret background" is very strange and doesn't sound like something a real journalist would actually use in an email.

Real journalists are -- you might want to sit down for this -- capable of making a joke. The terms "background" and "off the record" cover a lot of ground, and "double super secret background" effectively communicates that this is info offered on the deepest level of background.

[speelurker]

Here's another interesting aspect to that:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000727193

Novak's article may have gone public (but not been "published") before Cooper talked to Rove. That could also explain why reporters would be telling politicians about this before the publication date.

[ScreamingFist]

Real journalists are -- you might want to sit down for this -- capable of making a joke.

92 posts before someone finally said it. I agree.

[cricket]

"Hair-splitting on whether or not he actually used her name seems pretty pointless to me; "Wilson's wife" is clear enough about who was meant. "

I do not believe that it was a 'secret' where VP worked.

What is supposed to have been a 'secret' was her role as 'undercover agent, et al'.

(Though I think that was common knowledge - thanks to the Wilson's themselves - amongst the Georgetown cocktail set.)

[jimboster]

"Spoke to Rove on double super secret background for about two mins before he went on vacation...

This sounds like Cooper calling Rove. Perhaps to get a reaction from Rove on some info Cooper was giving to Rove.

[cricket]

A little strange that e-mails discussing 'super secrets' - much less double super secrets - (ala pre-adolescents playing with a code ring. . .) would be the choice of communication here. .

Nonetheless, see nothing here that assigns blame to KR.

[Paloma_55]

The Cone of Silence! LOL

Not quite as effective as Hover Cover.

[cricket]

A little strange that e-mails discussing 'super secrets' - much less double super secrets - (ala pre-adolescents playing with a code ring. . .) would be the choice of communication here. .

Nonetheless, see nothing here that assigns blame to KR.