Was Valerie Plame Walter Pincus' Senior CIA Analyst Source?

Washington Post ^ | August 3, 2005 | Walter Pincus

[Sam Hill]

As those of us who have been following this saga know, Walter Pincus (husband of Clinton appointee, Ann, and close pal of both Clintons) cited two unnamed sources for his "news" story in the Washington Post back on June 12, 2003.

We know of course that the first source was none other than "Admiral" Joe Wilson. But who was the second source? A "senior" CIA analyst who was so willing to risk his job to get out these "truths" about Bush lying to get us into war with Iraq?

CIA Did Not Share Doubt on Iraq Data

Bush Used Report Of Uranium Bid

By Walter Pincus

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 12, 2003; Page A01

A senior intelligence official said the CIA's action was the result of "extremely sloppy" handling of a central piece of evidence in the administration's case against then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. But, the official added, "It is only one fact and not the reason we went to war. There was a lot more."

Excerpted

[popdonnelly]

Massive amounts of speculation going on around here. We'll just have to wait and see what Fitzgerald decides to do. And if he does anything, it's because he believes he can prove a crime.

[lugsoul]

"I never saw Gannon talk about this."

Sammy, he is the only source for the 'Kerry fired Wilson' story. The original.

[lugsoul]

"But you play fast and loose with the truth."

You still haven't posted a shred of support for the half-dozen or so lies you've posted about me here. So this statement by you is pretty comical. As far as your continued request for cites, as I've already said - until you either post some support for your lying slurs about me, or retract them, I'm not wasting any time getting a link for you.

You aren't on familiar enough terms with the truth to even play fast and loose.

[lugsoul]

Reynolds is in no danger.

[Wristpin]

"You are right that this narrows down the pool, because Plame might well be willing to take the "chance." Her hubby did not have to sign any nondisclosure agreement, which strongly suggests that this whole trip was set up by Plame's booses to undermine Bush. Under those circumstances, she could do pretty much whatever the hell she wants, and did."

All this Niger business was heavily sourced by HUMINT meaning it was Top Secret(Codeword)...and then voila!!! It's out there in the NY Times. Criminal IMHO. Although Joe never had to sign a non disclosure agreement, meaning he could talk about his Niger trip, it did not absolve him of his responsibility to protect classified info. He did have a temporary SECRET clearance at the time.

Also, floating around out there somewhere is the investigation into the source and motivation behind the faked Niger documents. I would be interesting to know if that investigation ties into this one.

[Steve_Seattle]

"You are deliberately missing a pretty basic point."

I'm not "deliberately" missing any point. I might be too thick to understand some technical points of the law, but I'm not deliberately ignoring anything. My understanding of the CIA "outing" statute is that it has several levels and several criteria that have to be met before a violation occurs. One of those criteria is whether the CIA employee is in fact covert within the pertinent time frame. If that criteria is met, other criteria are then explored.

I don't know what criteria may have been met, if any, or whether the investigation has led Fitzgerald into tangential areas. All we know is he's still busy with something. It might be true, but it is certainly not obvious, that Plame was indeed covert under the terms of the statute. But that in itself does not mean Rove or anyone else broke the law.

[lugsoul]

You are correct in that the classified nature of her status does not mean someone broke the law. But I do think it is painfully obvious that if her status was not classifed, there is no basis for an investigation whatsoever, much less a referral.

The questionnaire required the CIA to state the classifed information which was published.