Leak of CIA Name Being Investigated, Agent's Identity Disclosed to Journalists

Washington Post ^ | Sept. 28 | Mike Allen and Dana Priest

[RDangerfield]

[Brief excerpts] A senior administration official said two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists and revealed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife. That was shortly after Wilson revealed in July that the CIA had sent him to Niger last year to look into the uranium claim and that he had found no evidence to back up the charge. Wilson's account eventually touched off a controversy over Bush's use of intelligence as he made the case for attacking Iraq.

"Clearly, it was meant purely and simply for revenge," the senior official said of the alleged leak. Sources familiar with the conversations said the leakers' allegation was that Wilson had benefited from nepotism because the Niger mission had been his wife's idea. Wilson said in an interview yesterday that a reporter had told him that the leaker said, "The real issue is Wilson and his wife."

The official would not name the leakers for the record and would not name the journalists. The official said he had no indication that Bush knew about the calls. Columnist Robert Novak published the agent's name in a July column about Wilson's mission.

It is rare for one Bush administration official to turn on another. Asked about the motive for describing the leaks, the senior official said the leaks were "wrong and a huge miscalculation, because they were irrelevant and did nothing to diminish Wilson's credibility."

The Intelligence Protection Act, passed in 1982, imposes maximum penalties of 10 years in prison and $50,000 fines for unauthorized disclosure by government employees with access to classified information.

Members of the administration, especially Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, have been harshly critical of unauthorized leakers, and White House spokesmen are often dismissive of questions about news reports based on unnamed sources. The FBI is investigating members of the Senate for possibly leaking intercept information about Osama bin Laden.

[RDangerfield]

No record of Bush being implicated at this point, but a serious leak is becoming obvious, unless all the people and Novak are lying. Long, detailed story, full story here.

[RDangerfield]

In order to not take any chances with violating the rule from the Post, the story is excerpted severely. But the main names are left out, so here are the two introductory paragraphs. The CIA agent's name is not included in the story, but if you want to know, you can find it at the thread posted yesterday--MSNBC.
Intro:

At CIA Director George J. Tenet's request, the Justice Department is looking into an allegation that an administration official leaked the name of an undercover CIA officer to a journalist, administration officials said yesterday.

The operative's identity was published in July after her husband, former U.S. ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, publicly challenged President Bush's claim that Iraq had tried to buy "yellowcake" uranium ore from Africa, which can be used in nuclear weapons. Bush later backed away from the claim.

--Raoul

[MEG33]

I am concerned that the President has ordered his minions to endanger national security by revealing the name and occupation of Wilson's wife because Wilson dissed the uranium report.

Now..Have I paid proper attention?Is this what I should take away from this?This story seems to have captured your attention.Let's see if the perps are outed or if the reporters are willing to tell.

[thegreatbeast]

Whoever did it needs to get their head handed to them, no matter who it was.

[tonyinv]

The jerks who did this should be immediately fired and
Novak should also pay a price for using the agents name.

[MEG33]

The press always says they don't have to tell but may have to spend time in the pokey for the protection of their "sources" if ordered by a judge to tell.Novak has been in the business too long not to know revealing a CIA name was a no,no.

[dts32041]

Since when do we worry about spies who use diplomatic immunity as a cover.

As the wife of an ambasdor, whe would have had diplomatic immunity.

AS such she wouldn't have been touched by foriegn governments.

Just another case of the demos crying about milk they have orginally spilt.

BTW the name of the government employ who split the beans was wilson, anybody want to bet on that one?

[patj]

We have as much reason to doubt the truthfulness of the WP as we do this administration, maybe more.

[TheOtherOne]

Since when do we worry about spies who use diplomatic immunity as a cover.

Since they are Americans.

[dalebert]

As I recall a number of Dems have done this and Bush was really angry. Of course the press will jump on anything to make the whitehouse look bad.

[alnick]

Wilson revealed in July that the CIA had sent him to Niger last year to look into the uranium claim and that he had found no evidence to back up the charge.

Wilson wasn't looking to back up the charge; his goal was to refute it.

[RDangerfield]

dts: Since when do we worry about spies who use diplomatic immunity as a cover.

Let us pray that the White House does follow your advice and ignore the leak of a CIA operative's name, using your questionable logic. She is an American working for the CIA. If you would think this through, you would know that every field agent we have would pack his or her bags if they knew that the White House would reveal their names by leaking them to a reporter.

dts: Just another case of the demos crying about milk they have orginally spilt.

The only problem with your argument is that it is not Democrats who are making the accusations but administration officials who are running scared. Your reaction is exactly how Nixon and Clinton White Houses reacted and we know what the country went through afterwards. The president has had two months to get to the bottom of this. Imagine how he could have turned around his dropping poll numbers if he had shown leadership, discovered who the leakers were, and offered them up for prosecution. Remember, it was Bush and Rumsfeld who condemned leakers, blaming that all on Democrats. Dismissing such a serious leak now wouold make them look like liars and fools.

You may not be old enough to remember what President Reagan did when it became obvious that his White House aides were deeply involved with trading arms for hostages in 1986 in the Iran-Contra affair after Reagan swore to the world that his government would never do that. Reagan nipped the controversy in the bud by going on TV, admitting mistakes, launching an internal investigation and promising to cooperate with investigators. His critics were cut off at the knees. That is the model for President Bush to follow. If he decides instead to stall and send out his flacks to deny the charges, claim executive privelege or "let's wait until the DOJ investigation is all over," then he is playing into the hands of those who oppose him.

I truly hope that the president and his closest advisers do not follow your lead.
--Raoul

[dts32041]

I would agree with you except for one thing, I don't believe a thing a demorat says anymnore. I have listedn to the hateful speech of the kennedy's, bobbie kkk byrd, tommy ashole, billy the liar klintoon, biden the plagarist, etc.

Why should I believe anything they say any more, especially when it concerns this adminstration?

Follow the track record.

[RDangerfield]

dts32041: I would agree with you except for one thing, I don't believe a thing a demorat says anymnore. I have listedn to the hateful speech of the kennedy's, bobbie kkk byrd, tommy ashole, billy the liar klintoon, biden the plagarist, etc. Why should I believe anything they say any more, especially when it concerns this adminstration?

Once again, you are creating a bogey man. It is not a Democrat who is making the charge about leaking the name of a CIA operative--a serious breach of national security, no Dashcle, Byrd or Kennedy. It is Robert Novak, who has been a conservative columnist since 1964 and has supported and defended every Republican president, including this one. And the original leak was by White House officials, who are Republicans. And the current allegation is also by a White House official.

Unless Novak and all the sources lied, there is something here that should have been addressed immediately when the column was published on July 14. President Reagan knew how to get ahead of such negative stories by admitting the problem, admitting mistakes and promising to solve them. That is the way to react to this, not sending flacks out to stall and wait for the DOJ to get done with its investigation. If the President had addressed this immeidately as Reagan did, there would be no need for a CIA or DOJ probe or it would have been an afterthought. The president needs to show that he is a leader and will demand that CIA agents not be leaked. So far, he has done neither. That plays into the hands of his enemies.
--Raoul

[dts32041]

Is that the same bobbie noack who hates bushes support of isreal or is that the same bobbie novack, who thought nixon was such a great president for price controls, eps and opening up china?