Leak of CIA name being investigated - Agent’s identity was disclosed to journalists

Washington Post ^ | 09-28-03 | Mike Alan and Dana Priest

[J_Bravo]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 — 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. [b] 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.[/b] 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 [b]senior official[/b] said of the alleged leak.

[J_Bravo]

So basically we have a Senior Offical [b]INSIDE[/b] the White House leaking that there was a leaker.

This scares me a lot. We don't need any more bad news and the press will go crazy if there is an actual arrest of some White House aid.

YUCK!

[AppyPappy]

(cough) Karl Rove (cough)

[J_Bravo]

Gees, Rove? That would not be good. Basically that would be the worst possible scenario.

YUCK

[Peach]

My guess is Karl Rove is too smart to commit a federal offense. But perhaps that's my naivety speaking.

[WL-law]

If you read carefully Wilson's own words cited in the story, he says that "V.P. Cheney's office expressed an interest in finding out more about a Niger/yellowcake connection."

Wilson is careful not to say that Cheney REQUESTED Wilson to go the Niger.

The leak from the WH was intended to expose the poor management practices in the CIA, where agents at some intermediate level apparently can take it upon themselves to act based on "expressions" from the Executive branch, expressions that are not nearly at the level of a direct REQUEST.

So it appears that Wilson's wife was in-the-loop of some mid-level hatched project based on vague statements from Cheney, and Wilson's wife used the opportunity to get some work/exposure for her husband, who was perhaps "under-employed" at the time. Pure nepotism, and worse, since Wilson was obviously hostile to the Bush administration.

Wilson did little, issued a useless report, then went directly to the NY Times to get the biggest bang for his buck for his 15 minutes of fame associated with this "assignment".

Dispicable.

[bushfamfan]

I don't know where this is headed, but Wilson is far from credible. He's a Clintoon boy and obviously has always had hostility towards this administration. Let him continue to lie about Cheney sending him to Niger.

[AppyPappy]

Some people are above the law. It's a lot like head coaches at top 10 fottball schools. They know what is going on.

[proxy_user]

I love this level of abstraction. All these houses and desks and offices doing bad things. Is there anyone sitting in them, or at them?

[linkster]

The initial premise is WRONG. President Bush DID NOT say they tried to sell uranium. He stated clearly that the British REPORTED this. WHICH IS TRUE!

[mass55th]

So how come Wilson isn't under the gun for publicly releasing the fact that he was sent by the CIA on what was probably a "top secret" fact-finding trip? Where did he get off publicly challenging the President on information he gleaned from a trip the year before? It's obvious he was on the payroll of the government for that trip, and whatever information he discovered, should have been turned over to whoever sent him...not made public. I'd like to know who hand-picked him for the trip and why? It's getting to look more and more like his wife was the one who set the trip up for him. And, the CIA won't even confirm that she was undercover. For all we know, she could just be some CIA employee who's never worked as an agent. As Novak said, he notified the CIA that he was planning a story on Wilson's wife and they couldn't give him a good enough reason why he shouldn't publish her name. If two officials in the White House are guilty of sharing this info with the press, then they should have to pay. But there's more guilty people in this whole thing than just those two White House officials. I'd say the CIA has some explaining to do about this woman's role in sending her husband overseas, as does Wilson for his being a blabber-mouth.

[Republican Red]

I think this title is very misleading.

The Justice Department is trying to pinpoint the source of a news leak that identified the wife of former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson as a CIA officer. They are not investigating the White House.

"Senior administration officials" were the suspected leakers. Senior Administration Officials could be CIA officals, FBI official or Dept. of Agriculture officials for that matter. No where does it state that the White House is under invesigation except as being part of whole administration.

[J_Bravo]

Well, I think the problem is that it really doesn't matter whether or not Wilson is partisan. Everyone knows he's partisan. The question is whether or not Wilson's wife was in fact a CIO operative who's purpose was to investigate WMD. If so, was she a handler or an agent herself? If so, would leaking her name to the press have killed any ongoing operations or put her, or people on her staff, in danger.

Now, that's a short list. If this is a minor thing and she's just a sociallite with no substantial influence or history, then this is no big deal. It doesn't matter.

If however she was high-level and her name meant something, leaking her name is a felony. I suppose that's why one unnamed Senior White House official is fingering not one, but two, 'top-level' White House officials.

Stuff like this is bad news. One thing I do know, THANK GOD the Independent Council law no longer exists.

[Republican Red]

From what I have read, Ms. Plame was an analyst at Langley, not a foreign operative.

[mass55th]

"Wilson did little, issued a useless report, then went directly to the NY Times to get the biggest bang for his buck for his 15 minutes of fame associated with this "assignment"."

Excellent analogy of what probably actually occurred. How good of an investigation can you conduct in 8 days? I wonder if he even left the hotel.

[J_Bravo]

Well, I reread the article and you are correct that the individual claiming two White House Officials is identified as an Administration official. So, you are correct in that premise. But the title of the thread is not misleading because Justice is investigating the Two 'White House Officials'.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

He drank a lot of tea, while there.

[kaboom]

Why would the CIA maintain an "undercover" agent who was the spouse of a federal official already tasked with information gathering? It just sounds fishy, like some police chief having his wife being a NARC. If everyone knows that she's his wife, what kind of information do they expect to get? Or is this just some double dipping into the Fed payroll?

[mass55th]

"He drank a lot of tea, while there."

Probably pulled a Jayson Blair and spent most of his interview time on the phone in the hotel bar.

[J_Bravo]

Hey, that's a very good question. I have no idea. Like I said before, I don't think anyone knows what she was doing. I'm doing some research on this right now and came across the Novac article where he identified her as a CIA official working with Weapons of Mass Destruction. So perhaps everyone knew her, but no one knew what she did?

To be honest, I'm a little confused by the whole thing.

[speekinout]

I wonder if he even left the hotel.

I've read more than one op-ed that wondered the same thing. It's possible that he didn't do any more than have lunches with a few locals that he knew slightly.
This whole thing is very fishy. And I suspect that we're not ever supposed to get the truth. Allegations are so much more useful during a Presidential campaign. (and, no, that wasn't sarcasm)