[gov_bean_ counter]

Key statement...

The senior admin official did not believe the that information was classified. So how is it that Fitz came to believe her status was classified? If he was depending on computer info, I hope someone has the good sense to go back to prior years DBs and see if there have been any alteration of her records.

[Lancey Howard]

Woodward, who is preparing a third book on the Bush administration, has called Fitzgerald "a junkyard-dog prosecutor" who turns over every rock looking for evidence. The night before Fitzgerald announced Libby's indictment, Woodward said he did not see evidence of criminal intent or of a substantial crime behind the leak.

"When the story comes out, I'm quite confident we're going to find out that it started kind of as gossip, as chatter," he told CNN's Larry King.

Woodward also said in interviews this summer and fall that the damage done by Plame's name being revealed in the media was "quite minimal."

"When I think all of the facts come out in this case, it's going to be laughable because the consequences are not that great," he told National Public Radio this summer.