Posted on 10/26/2005 9:36:57 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
A special prosecutor who has spent nearly two years investigating the leak of a CIA agent's identity is not expected to announce his long-awaited conclusions on Wednesday.
Sources told FOX News that no indictments or other legal action were expected just yet by the federal grand jury investigating the leak.
Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago, was making his final presentation to the 18-member grand jury on Wednesday. The jury's term expires on Friday.
Meanwhile, the White House was attempting to go about its normal business, albeit under a very dark cloud: two top aides, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Karl Rove, are at the center of the probe, and on Tuesday lawyers involved in the case revealed Vice President Dick Cheney may have tipped off Libby, his chief of staff, to the agent's identity.
Fitzgerald and the grand jury convened at the U.S. District Courthouse at 9 a.m. EDT, just two days before the jury's term is set to expire. Until then, when they decide to announce their findings is entirely at their discretion. Fitzgerald also has the option to extend the grand jury's term.
On Tuesday, investigators interviewed neighbors of the woman at the heart of the case, Valerie Plame. Marc Lefkowitz, who lives across the street from Plame, was interviewed by two FBI agents who arrived at his house without notice, his wife told FOX News. Lefkowitz was asked if he knew that Plame worked for the CIA before her name appeared in a July 14, 2003, column by Robert Novak.
Lefkowitz's wife told FOX News that she and her husband believed Plame was "some kind of consultant," and did not know she worked for the CIA.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Ummm... No. Because the statute in question is predicated on a very specific definition of "covert agent".
Yes, but then one has to assume that all were aware she was covert. If she wasn't, or if they were not told she was, I think all are free to talk about her to whomever they want.
" CBS News chief White House correspondent John Roberts reports the prosecutor has informed targets of the investigation of his intentions – and that can only mean indictments."
It is very unusual to send target letters at this late date-especially to those who were previously told they were not targets.
Prosecutors have a very good idea who is a target early in the investigation.
Fitzgerald has had two years.
He may claim he was waiting for Miller to testify, but, from her own words, she didn't add much to the picture.
If indictments are returned, the failure to notify witnesses that they were targets will be an issue that will probably be litigated.
The last minute interviewing of neighbors is very troubling.This should have been early on and not just neighbors, but, family and friends.
Neighbors rarely know the details of one's personal life, friends do.
If Plame was covert, her identity would be above Top Secret and on a need-to-know basis. Top Secret clearance is very common in the USG.
I am beginning to agree with you on this.
The President is cleared to receive any classified data for the obvious reason that he's the boss of those who put on the classified secret tag.
Since there is a mountain of classified data in government, no president can possibly read through, and his underlings have intentionally withheld classified data from him for numerous reasons, any of which could be that they believe that the president would not keep it secret, they can and do keep the president off the need to know list.
My point... is that the President or his VP can downgrade any classified information if they believe that the info does not warrant secret status, And that means they can 'disseminate it to those without security clearance.'
I find it troubling because no neighbor in his right mind would admit this to the FBI given the high visibility of the investigation. If you admitted you knew, you could find yourself drawn into protracted legal proceedings and maybe acting as a witness against Plame and Wilson. No friendly neighbor is going to rat out Valerie and Joe.
I think I agree. I thought the point of a target letter was so someone would know before they were asked to testify. I didn't think there was any reason to deliver a target letter after the testimony was complete.
I have been thinking this for a long time. There was obviously a lot of political behavior, and possibly some rogue behavior by people in the CIA, but the ability to prosecute any of this is doubtful. And destructive to the country.
I have lived in the same house for 17 years and I would be hard-pressed to state with total accuracy who my long-term neighbors work for or even their last names!
No he can't. Usually, only the originator of the information who classified it initially can downgrade it. On FOIA requests, each agency has a clearance process for releasing information. It goes through a panel, which decides what can and cannot be released.
Some levels of classification downgrade automatically through the passage of time. The bottom line is that the Pres and VP don't have carte blanche authority to declassify information. They are subject to the same rules as other members of the USG.
It didn't say "target letter" it says "informed them of his intentions" re: whether they were about be indicted and for what.
That's revealing. The issue is whether her cover was blown.
I'm surprised they'd ask her neighbors, because her neighbors are not the ones who are a danger to a CIA operative. The danger resides with foreign governments. If they know she's an undercover agent, then she's in jeopardy.
The facts are that Plame was already known by foreign governments to be a CIA operative. That's why they took her out of the field and gave her a desk job.
True enough but that doesn't change the argument.
The VP had a need to know since there were questions raised by Cheney about how Wilson (of all people) was selected for the Niger mission - a stupid thing for the CIA to do in any case but particularly so when they sent a liberal partisan hack and known enemy of the administration to do the job. Tenet was just responding to that issue in a meeting with Cheney.
You can make the same argument for the Cheney to Libby exchange. I'll stand by my position.
Yes he can.
That's the "usual" case that the OPR does it. But someone in his chain-of-command can also downgrade it
I don't know what your position is. My point was that a Top Secret security clearance does not automatically entitle someone to receive all TS material. Moreover, learning the identity of a covert CIA agent requires a clearance above TS and is based on a need-to-know. I am sure that Libby, Cheney, and Rove possessed many of these compartmented clerances above TS. I just don't know if Libby and Rove had them.
Yeah, that is the usual way to do it. But if the president deems that the info needs to be put into the public purview in a timely manner he can make it public. A president would not do this unless the circumstances are unusual.
Who signs executive orders? ... Yes, the president does.
Have you read the EO?
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