NOVAK: 'NOBODY IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION CALLED ME TO LEAK THIS'

Drudge Report ^ | 09/29/03

[Pokey78]

In July I was interviewing a senior administration official on Ambassador Wilson's report when he told the trip was inspired by his wife, a CIA employee working on weapons of mass destruction. Another senior official told me the same thing. As a professional journalist with 46 years experience in Washington I do not reveal confidential sources. When I called the CIA in July to confirm Mrs. Wilson's involvement in the mission for her husband -- he is a former Clitnon administration official -- they asked me not to use her name, but never indicated it would endanger her or anybody else. According to a confidential source at the CIA, Mrs. Wilson was an analyst, not a spy, not a covert operator, and not in charge of an undercover operatives...

[Ben Hecks]

"According to a confidential source at the CIA, Mrs. Wilson was an analyst, not a spy, not a covert operator, and not in charge of an undercover operatives..."

If she is an analyst and not a covert operator then it might not be a crime to reveal her identity. This may be much ado about nothing.

[Grampa Dave]

http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.asp?ref=/may/may200309291022.asp



September 29, 2003, 10:22 a.m.
Spy Games
Was it really a secret that Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA?

It's the top story in the Washington Post this morning as well as in many other media outlets. Who leaked the fact that the wife of Joseph C. Wilson IV worked for the CIA?

What also might be worth asking: "Who didn't know?"

I believe I was the first to publicly question the credibility of Mr. Wilson, a retired diplomat sent to Niger to look into reports that Saddam Hussein had attempted to purchase yellowcake uranium for his nuclear-weapons program.

On July 6, Mr. Wilson wrote an op-ed for the New York Times in which he said: "I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."

On July 11, I wrote a piece for NRO arguing that Mr. Wilson had no basis for that conclusion — and that his political leanings and associations (not disclosed by the Times and others journalists interviewing him) cast serious doubt on his objectivity.

On July 14, Robert Novak wrote a column in the Post and other newspapers naming Mr. Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA operative.

That wasn't news to me. I had been told that — but not by anyone working in the White House. Rather, I learned it from someone who formerly worked in the government and he mentioned it in an offhand manner, leading me to infer it was something that insiders were well aware of.

I chose not to include it (I wrote a second NRO piece on this issue on July 18) because it didn't seem particularly relevant to the question of whether or not Mr. Wilson should be regarded as a disinterested professional who had done a thorough investigation into Saddam's alleged attempts to purchase uranium in Africa.

What did appear relevant could easily be found in what the CIA would call "open sources." For example, Mr. Wilson had long been a bitter critic of the current administration, writing in such left-wing publications as The Nation that under President Bush, "America has entered one of it periods of historical madness" and had "imperial ambitions."

What's more, he was affiliated with the pro-Saudi Middle East Institute and he had recently been the keynote speaker for the Education for Peace in Iraq Center, a far-Left group that opposed not only the U.S. military intervention in Iraq but also the sanctions and the no-fly zones that protected Iraqi Kurds and Shias from being slaughtered by Saddam.

Mr. Wilson is now saying (on C-SPAN this morning, for example) that he opposed military action in Iraq because he didn't believe Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and he foresaw the possibility of a difficult occupation. In fact, prior to the U.S. invasion, Mr. Wilson told ABC's Dave Marash that if American troops were sent into Iraq, Saddam might "use a biological weapon in a battle that we might have. For example, if we're taking Baghdad or we're trying to take, in ground-to-ground, hand-to-hand combat."

Equally, important and also overlooked: Mr. Wilson had no apparent background or skill as an investigator. As Mr. Wilson himself acknowledged, his so-called investigation was nothing more than "eight days drinking sweet mint tea and meeting with dozens of people" at the U.S. embassy in Niger. Based on those conversations, he concluded that "it was highly doubtful that any [sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq] had ever taken place."

That's hardly the same as disproving what British intelligence believed — and continues to believe: that Saddam Hussein was actively attempting to purchase uranium from somewhere in Africa. (Whether Saddam succeeded or not isn't the point; were Saddam attempting to make such purchases it would suggest that his nuclear-weapons-development program was active and ongoing.)

For some reason, this background and these questions have been consistently omitted in the Establishment media's reporting on Mr. Wilson and his charges.

There also remains this intriguing question: Was it primarily due to the fact that Mr. Wilson's wife worked for the CIA that he received the Niger assignment?

Mr. Wilson has said that his mission came about following a request from Vice President Cheney. But it appears that if Mr. Cheney made the request at all, he made it of the CIA and did not know Mr. Wilson and certainly did not specify that he wanted Mr. Wilson put on the case.

It has to be seen as puzzling that the agency would deal with an inquiry from the White House on a sensitive national-security matter by sending a retired, Bush-bashing diplomat with no investigative experience. Or didn't the CIA bother to look into Mr. Wilson's background?

If that's what passes for tradecraft in Langley, we're in more trouble than any of us have realized.

— Clifford D. May, a former New York Times foreign correspondent, is president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on terrorism.

[facedown]

BTTT

[b4its2late]

I love watching the democrats fall all to pieces....

[Wait4Truth]

Schumer did call for an independent prosecutor today. It was just not carried - at least by Fox. Perhaps he just made the statement, as Kerry did. Fox did report that Schumer made the call for the independent prosecutor, however.

[elfman2]

"Wilson insisted, however, "I have great confidence that, at a minimum, [Rove] condoned it and certainly did nothing to shut it down.""

Funny how Wilson criticizes the minimal evidence behind Bush’s claim while making up stuff with zero evidence for his own.

[Peach]

We were speculating on another thread that she was NOT an operative but rather an analyst and we don't think it's a federal crime to reveal analyst's names, although it seems exceedingly unwise.

[gunnedah]

You may laugh about it being a Clinton holdover but I think Clinton holdovers are GWs biggest weakness!

[Shermy]

This statement could read as if Wilson told Novak his wife was a CIA agent. And the Admin. confirmed.

Hence, Wilson was the leaker. His Karl Rove statement was made out of fear of his own exposure. Probably denied to wife he ever said it.

Still, Novak's language is stilted.

[Mo1]

So this is why Schumer called off his press conference. hahahah

Did he call it off

I thought he had it

[Soliton]

I can't say it's true, but it is consistant. He never said that two administration officials told him that Valerie was in the CIA. He said that they told him that she recommended her husband for the Niger (apparently pronounced "nee-shaire") job.

VDD (very desperate democrats)

[Quick Shot]

"MUAHAHAHAHAHA!! The main story for the evening news just got BLOWN!"

They will still run with it, they just won't mention this. You're giving them to much credit with being honest.

[b4its2late]

News at the top of the hour are still sticking with the leaking to Novak story......

[macamadamia]

I'm not a 24/7 subscriber, but I listen to Rush nearly everyday via Chicago's WLS radio website: www.wlsam.com. They have a listen live option.

[Sacajaweau]

Teeney Tommy is sad.

Ketchup Kerry has a long face.

Chuck's a schmuck and...

Hitlery is doing her "off with their heads" routine.

It's a great day!!

[b4its2late]

I think Clinton holdovers are GWs biggest weakness!

Agreed. And we thought Clinton was a bad man when he fired all of Bush 41's AG's......

[Peach]

I mis-typed! I don't know that Schumer called it off - it's an assumption since it wasn't carried.

I rather think had he actually held his press conference, the liberal press, in all their glee, would have happily given up valuable ad/soap operate time to cover it.

Rush indicated there were big surprises ahead; I'm wondering if this is one of them. He said he knew something he wasn't at liberty to discuss.

[Rebelbase]

DU'ers are going Chernobyl over this.

[Montfort]

But we are still left with the fact that Mr. Wilson revealed to the media the substance of his report to Mr. Bush, which report must have been classified.

Perhaps Mr. Wilson was simply using a good offense as a defense.