CIA's Tenet was 'furious' over leak, Schumer says

The Buffalo (NY) Times ^ | July 23, 2005 | Douglas Turner

[YaYa123]

WASHINGTON - Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., revealed Friday that two years ago he discussed the blown cover of CIA operative Valerie Plame with then CIA director George Tenet and that Tenet "was furious." Tenet promptly called the Justice Department to demand an investigation into who in the Bush administration leaked Plame's identity to columnist Robert Novak, Schumer said at a hearing held by House and Senate Democrats.

Novak revealed Plame's identity in July 2003 in a column in which he said she played a key role in having her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, sent to Niger to investigate reports that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had tried to buy materials for a nuclear weapon there.

The Democratic panel heard from five former CIA operatives who said the disclosure of Plame's classified identity was a breach of the law that forbids government officials from revealing the identity of an undercover intelligence officer and a violation of trust that has harmed America's intelligence-gathering capabilities.

[Howlin]

Which article? The one that has this in it?

[Dolphy]

David Corn's article in The Nation was the first one that claimed that Plame was a covert agent.

And Corn claims that he's not been called to testify, right? Yet when the investigation began, Gonzalez is quoted as mentioning just 3 journalists, Novak, Royce and Phelps (the last 2 work for Newsday). Link

[Sam Hill]

Do you mean this article?

Robert Novak: Mission to Niger
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20030714.shtml

[YaYa123]

Reading the following CNN Wolf Blitzer interview with Robert Novak might interest you. Here's a snippet from the Thursday, October 2, 2003 interview:

http://www.apfn.org/LEAK-GATE/novak.htm

"NOVAK: Let me say one other thing I had in today's column. The person who gave me the original story, I said it was given in an off-handed way during in this conversation and he was not a partisan gun slinger. I said that. I'm not going to go into more description, but I did feel that the idea that this was some kind of a carefully arranged plot to destroy this woman and her husband, as far as I'm concerned, was nonsense. It didn't happen that way, and this kind of scandal that has perpetrated in Washington is Washington at its worst"

[Dolphy]

Bob Beckle (I believe) was just on Fox saying that Dems are considering funneling money that was to be used to oppose the SCOTUS nominee to pile on Rove. He says that Republicans are missing the gravity of the situation.

Despite all of the facts that I think favor Rove, there is also a belief that he wouldn't hurt the administration by staying on after the election if he believed he was responsible for this whole thing.

[Howlin]

I can't do it! I can't listen to ONE MORE minute of this lying sacks of chit.

[Howlin]

In addition, he pointed out that the CIA paid for Wilson’s trip, didn’t ask him to sign a confidentiality agreement, didn’t object to his writing the op-ed article in the Times and allowed him to conduct TV interviews and to appear in a photo with his wife in Vanity Fair, he noted.

“The CIA isn’t stupid,” he said. “They wanted this story out. I’m raising the question: Did the CIA mislead Fitzgerald?”

The answer to that question may be the biggest story of the summer.

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Comment/AlbertEisele/071305.html

[A Citizen Reporter]

In addition to Larry Johnson, there are:

Jim Marcinkowski, Former CIA Case Officer 1986-89

Col. Patrick Lang, Former Defense Intelligence Officer for Middle East.

There was a fourth person testifying, but the hearing ending before I got his name.

[tobyhill]

"Bob Novak called me before he went to print with the report and he said a CIA source had told him that my wife was an operative," Wilson said. "He was trying to get a second source. He couldn't get a second source. Could I confirm that? And I said no."

Wilson is admitting that Novak knew his wife's name before he contacted Rove.

Straight from Wilson's mouth on CNN's "Paula Zahn Now."

[tobyhill]

"What was it, CIA or senior administration?" Wilson said he asked Novak. "He said to me, 'I misspoke the first time I spoke to you.' "

[Sacajaweau]

There's an early part to the story....before Novak's article about a friend of Wilson.

The problem with that story is why the friend would ask Novak about Wilson in the first place. The same problem occurs with the Cooper calls. They were setting everyone up????

[palmer]

See Apparant CIA Front Didn't Offer Much Cover (Boston Globe 10/10/03). IMO, this "cover" was poorly constructed by Plame herself. If it was ever really used as a cover (i.e. had all the trappings of a real company), then it has been remarkably well cleaned up.

[tet68]

five former CIA operatives

These wouldn't by any chance be some of the ones given
the boot by Goss?

So according to Chuckie, Tenent didn't know about this until
he told him?

This whole thing stinks to high heaven.
One notes there is no mention of "a previous administration".

[Sacajaweau]

The sequence says it all. Wilson gave it away that he was the one who went to Niger. Next, a friend of Wilson (a stranger to Novak) approaches Novak and asks him what he thinks about Wilson and runs immediately to Wilson and they write everything down.

My problem is: If this is a friend of nice Mr. Wilson, the friend is not some obscure person but I can't find the name of the "friend" anywhere. Is the friend CIA?

[Zeroisanumber]

I want to know how badly Schumer misquoted Tenet.

I know that it's a chancy interview, but do you suppose that it's possible to just call Tenent and ask him to confirm what Schumer said?

[tobyhill]

Good question that I don't know? It seems that it may have been a set up? I find it very hard to believe Novak would ask Wilson about his wife as relayed to him by the CIA but then Wilson just magically asked, without any reason,"What was it, CIA or senior administration?" then Novak said,"I misspoke"? Just something very odd about Wilson's and/or Novak's train of thought in that exchange?

[Sacajaweau]

We know what CIA is. Define Senior Administration. Senior Administrator in CIA? or Whitehouse since Tenet would be covered by both.

It's like defining "Operative" in this case. CIA Undercover Operative or Dem Operative working for CIA?

[tobyhill]

This whole friend thing is just plain weird? I think Wilson is a nut-case. Maybe his contacts in Niger slipped him something or maybe he's smoking a bit too much wacky tobacky?

[YaYa123]

Surprisingly, I did receive an email reply from the reporter. But alas, all he did was change the subject to a condescending question designed to discredit me. This was it:

"you think Schumer would make it up?"

[Miss Marple]

Well, I think Schumer would , indeed, make it up!