Excited Network Reporters Enter Scandal Mode on CIA Name Leak

The networks entered full scandal mode on Monday with the evening shows leading for a second straight night with the news that the Justice Department was investigating who in the administration back in July told columnist Bob Novak a CIA operatives’s name, though stories conflicted on whether the wife of Joe Wilson, the man who since July has been on a personal PR crusade to undermine President Bush’s State of the Union line about Iraq seeking uranium in Africa, was an “agent,” an “operative” or a “covert” operative, whether the leak came from “senior administration officials,” “top White House officials” or just “White House officials” and, despite Wilson on Monday morning having specifically admitted he went too far in accusing Karl Rove, both CBS and NBC relayed Wilson’s naming of Rove.

The hype began Sunday night when CBS Evening News anchor John Roberts led the show: “The Justice Department tonight is investigating whether to launch a criminal probe of the White House after the CIA complained someone at 1600 Pennsylvania may have leaked the classified identity of an agency operative. If those allegations are true, whoever is responsible for the leak could be headed to jail for ten years.”

Over on ABC’s World News Tonight/Sunday, anchor Terry Moran intoned: “Tonight, the Bush White House is facing a potential criminal investigation. ABC News has learned the Justice Department has launched a preliminary probe into charges that top White House officials leaked the identity of an undercover CIA agent. That's a serious violation of federal law....”

Fast forward to Monday night and NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski offered this warning: “If tried and convicted, the leakers could get ten years in prison. But the political fallout could be much worse for the White House whose credibility on Iraq is already on the line.”

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann teased his Countdown show with the most derisive characterization of White House action: "The Washington Post reports not only did the White House out an undercover CIA agent as political revenge, but it tried six different reporters before it found one willing to help."

An excited Aaron Brown proposed at the top of Monday’s NewsNight on CNN: “It seems like the good old days, doesn't it? Or perhaps the bad old days depending on your point of view.” Brown explained: “There were calls in Washington today for a special prosecutor to be appointed to investigate the White House.” Brown conceded: “It is, of course, not likely to happen. The country seemed to have its fill of special prosecutors during the Clinton years but it is an interesting argument. Can the administration be trusted to investigate itself over the outing of a CIA agent? We suspect the answer, as it so often does, depends on who you voted for.”

After “the Whip,” Brown set up the first of three stories on the subject: “We begin tonight with a dark corner of a murky place with a lot to learn and a long way to go. There ought to be a better way of characterizing the affair brewing in Washington over the CIA operative, her husband, the White House and the war but there isn't not yet, certainly nothing quick and snappy like scandal or cover-up or anything with a 'gate’ in it, though at the end of the day, one day it may turn out to be all of the above or nothing at all. So far we can only say two things for certain. There is clearly growing political dimensions to this and there are still far more questions than there are answers.”

But reporters aren’t letting the lack of facts get in the way of pursuing an exciting story.

As FNC’s Jim Angle uniquely pointed out on Monday’s Special Report with Brit Hume: “Now with all of the sound and fury on this today you would have thought there was some new development. There is not. This matter was handled routinely beginning back in July when it was first referred to the Department of Justice. Some news reports suggested erroneously that CIA Director George Tenet was suddenly pushing an investigation, but officials outside the White House say that -- another leak I suppose -- is flatly untrue.”

Indeed, this round of stories was prompted by a front page story in Sunday’s Washington Post by reporters Mike Allen and Dana Priest who stated that Tenet requested the probe: “At CIA Director George J. Tenet's request, the Justice Department is looking into an allegation that administration officials leaked the name of an undercover CIA officer to a journalist, government sources said yesterday.”

Later on Hume’s show, Morton Kondracke noted how the Post story changed between Sunday and Monday. Sunday’s story by Allen and Priest asserted that “a senior administration official said that before Novak's column ran, two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists and disclosed the identity and occupation of Wilson's.” But Monday’s Post story, which carried the byline of only Allen, dropped the “top” modifier and referred to how “an administration official told the Washington Post on Saturday that two White House officials leaked the information to selected journalists to discredit Wilson.”

Unlike the Post’s characterization of “top White House” or “White House” officials, however, Novak’s July 14 column described his sources as “senior administrative officials.” The Novak paragraph which set off a scandal two months later: “Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him.” For Novak’s July 14 column in full: www.townhall.com

Network stories have overlooked one an aspect of the story outlined in the Sunday Post story, how Novak characterized the CIA’s request to not name Valerie Plame as a “weak request.” The Post’s Allen and Priest wrote:
“When Novak told a CIA spokesman he was going to write a column about Wilson's wife, the spokesman urged him not to print her name 'for security reasons,’ according to one CIA official. Intelligence officials said they believed Novak understood there were reasons other than Plame's personal security not to use her name, even though the CIA has declined to confirm whether she was undercover.

“Novak said in an interview last night that the request came at the end of a conversation about Wilson's trip to Niger and his wife's role in it. 'They said it's doubtful she'll ever again have a foreign assignment,’ he said. 'They said if her name was printed, it might be difficult if she was traveling abroad, and they said they would prefer I didn't use her name. It was a very weak request. If it was put on a stronger basis, I would have considered it.’"

-- ABC’s Peter Jennings announced at the top of World News Tonight: “We're going to begin tonight with a matter of national security potentially, personal safety possibly and national and national politics without question.”

Terry Moran ran through the charges and White House denials before Moran pointed out how “Wilson accuses the administration of trying to silence potential critics.” After a clip from Monday’s GMA of Wilson claiming the White House outed his wife in an effort to “intimidate others” into not speaking out about Bush misstatements on Iraq, Moran, unlike the CBS and NBC reporters, picked up fresh comments from Novak a few hours earlier on CNN’s Crossfire: “And today, Novak denied White House officials had sought him out to plant the story.”

Novak on Crossfire: “Nobody in the Bush administration called me to leak this.”

Moran concluded by lamenting a lack of Bush team zeal to get to the truth: “But while Novak says no one called him to leak this he admits two senior administration officials told about it in other conversations, so that leaves the question, who? Tonight a top aide quoted the President as saying he wants to get to the bottom of it, but Peter, there is no internal White House investigation. This very difficult leak investigation is all in the hands of the Department of Justice.”

Next, Kate Snow looked at how President Reagan in 1982 signed a law making it illegal to divulge the names of CIA agents and she played this clip from former President Bush in 1999: “I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the names of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors.”

-- CBS Evening News. Dan Rather intoned on his broadcast, as taken down by MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth: "Under increasing pressure, the FBI and the Justice Department counter-espionage division now say they are investigating the leak of a CIA operative's name, a federal crime that could endanger the agent and compromise her contacts. CBS's John Roberts at the White House reports there are politically explosive accusations about who might have leaked that name and why, and growing calls for an independent investigation."

Roberts referred to Plame as a “covert” operative: "It was columnist Robert Novak who first published the leak in July, naming the wife of former ambassador Joe Wilson as a covert CIA operative. He says the information came from two senior administration officials. Joe Wilson claims the leak was retaliation after he debunked the President's claim in the State of the Union that Iraq was trying to buy uranium from Africa. The trail, he believes, goes right to the President's top political advisor, Karl Rove."

Joe Wilson, former Acting U.S. Ambassador to Iraq: "I have a very reputable source who told me that, that all of this had been condoned by Karl Rove himself or, at a minimum, not stopped by him for a, for a full week after the story was circulating."

Roberts continued: "The first President Bush called people who leak such information 'the most insidious of traitors.' Former CIA Director Stansfield Turner says they put at risk the entire network of contacts an operative has established."

Roberts concluded: "Both the Justice Department and the CIA today played down the significance of the probe, saying it was one of some 50 leaks they chase down every year. But Democrats today said the high profile nature of this one demands a thorough and independent review. The White House today rejected calls from several ranking Democrats to appoint an outside counsel to look into the matter, saying the Justice Department was the appropriate place for the investigation. And they stood behind the President's political advisor, saying that the idea that Karl Rove was somehow involved was quote, 'ridiculous.'"

-- NBC Nightly News. Tom Brokaw led by proclaiming: “In Washington tonight, the big question ricocheting through the halls of Congress, the White House, the CIA, the Justice Department and newsrooms is this: Did administration officials deliberately blow the cover of a CIA agent as a measure of revenge against her husband?”

Jim Miklaszewski asked: “So, who leaked the information? Wilson has suggested White House political director Karl Rove at least encouraged reporters to spread the information about Wilson's wife.”

Wilson, August 21 on a panel at a Democratic Congressman’s “Inslee Issue Forum” forum in Seattle: “It's of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs.”

But on Monday’s Good Morning America, Wilson had backed away from the very hostile statement which Miklaszewski highlighted, telling Charles Gibson: “In one speech I gave out in Seattle not too long ago I mentioned the name Karl Rove. I think I was probably carried away by the spirit of the moment. I don't have any knowledge that Karl Rove himself was either the leaker or the authorizer of the leak, but I have great confidence that at a minimum he condoned it and certainly did nothing to shut it down.”

Speaking of a morning show, they have been much more restrained than their evening colleagues. Monday’s Today barely mention the subject and on Tuesday held itself to an interview segment with Senator Charles Schumer and a top of the hour story. Tuesday’s Good Morning America ran a story but offered no interview segment after running the interview Monday with Wilson.

For perspectives on the “scandal” not touched by the networks, check out a couple of National Review Online postings:

-- Marc Levin opined in a September 29 piece: “When I first heard about Wilson's wife, my immediate thought was: Wilson created the very circumstance he now complains about. He voluntarily drew attention to himself and, by extension, his family. He interjected himself into an intense international policy dispute regarding the war with Iraq....While I'm all in favor of investigating national-security-related leaks, we'll never know if foreign-intelligence agencies, among others, had already learned of Plame's position thanks to the attention her husband drew to himself by taking the Niger fact-finding assignment in the first place. Like it or not, Wilson bears some responsibility for his wife's predicament.” See: www.nationalreview.com

-- Cliff May explored Wilson’s left-wing political advocacy in a piece titled, “Was it really a secret that Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA?” May recalled how “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.’” For May’s piece: www.nationalreview.com

"CIA refers crimes report over about once a week to the Department of Justice whenever there's a leak or any other potential violation of law that they come across."

James Woolsey
Woolsey served from 1993 to 1995 as President Clinton's first CIA director (when the CIA was reporting leaks about once a week to the Justice Department)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/992522/posts

What is a person working for the CIA doing taking on an elected president? This is the kind of activity any civil libertarian should despise. If you are a covert operative you should not be cleared to talk to your spouse about it let alone write editorials attacking others based on information from these conversations. I demand an investigation of the CIA and suggest they get back to the job they were given and relinquish any involvement in political persuasions of the the people of The United States.

Former Amb. Joe Wilson has already proven his credentials as a Bush-hater and now he proves them as a liar by falsely claiming that Karl Rove called him--a lie that he has already tried to withdraw. The facts are that this guy didn't do any investigating while he was in Niger, he was sitting around drinking tea with his former State Dept colleagues there, and likely anyone who knew anything about Saddam or yellowcake wouldn't have talked to him or given him any information anyway. No, this Democrat operative was there on a mission--to discredit President Bush--not to find any facts. This whole "leak" story was likely cooked up by Terry McAuliffe and the clowns at the DNC headquarters. If Wilson's wife had anything to do with the CIA selecting him and footing the bill for his political boondoggle, she should be fired immediately.

Neither tonight's CBS or NBC broadcasts had changed since revelations yesterday that Joe Wilson retracted his accusation that Karl Rove was the culprit. Rather played the "frog march" clip but merely said that today Wilson had "dialed back" his comments. No detail. So, nothing from the nets to correct the impression that GWB is dishonest after all. Joe Wilson will be on Nightline tonight. We'll see if Peter Jennings can do the right thing, NOT!

Before the investigation had even started, not one but several prominent Democrats go on national television and accuse the president of basically trying to get a CIA agent killed in retaliation for one negative story out of hundreds that have been written about the war. And I'm telling you, Daschle and the others at the press conference KNOW the president did no such thing. I detest these people with a passion.

The networks entered full scandal mode on Monday

I remember clearly what the media did to Bush 41 in '91 and '92. They will not rest until they have destroyed W. You won't hear any balance on this and the stampede will tend to cause any defending Repubs to back off so that they won't get trampled.

Tonight's Jim Lehrer report on PBS was no better. Implying we'd get two sides of the story, both guests trashed Novak, the administration and "the Justice Department under John Ashcroft." One of them was a Bush contributor, Republican former CIA agent who is "outraged" that Joe Wilson's wife was "outed." He said she's been undercover for three decades and it's misleading to refer to her as a mere analyst. Nobody (why am I shocked) acted like Wilson had ever been on Good Morning America yesterday retracting his Rove comments. The impression given on PBS tonight was administration officials tried to ruin Wilson's wife in vengeance that he refused to go along with the expectation that he would support the administration line that Iraq had bought or tried to buy yellowcake in Africa. The alleged Republican was red-faced and screaming. No hope for Koppel's take on this on tonight's Nightline.

My take also. I sometimes wonder if Bush 41, having dealt with Gorbachev and Shevardnadze after the fall of the Wall and the Soviet Union, was loath to confront less honorable types among his domestic opposition and the media. I expect it must be hard to lower oneself into the fray after accomplishing much, i.e., the wrap-up of our victory in the Cold War without serious turmoil (not to understate the transition which was momentous) and the generation of a peace dividend. Unfortunately, Bush 41 lost an opportunity (thanks partly to Perot) to bask in a regenerating economy. That gave Clinton credibility with some in the general public (and campaign ammunition), and we labor today with the consequences IMHO.

You got that right. ALL piss and wind. If Novak says no, then everyone is just barking. Of course, that is exactly what they want to do and this story is a manufactured pretext.

I'll tell you, I not only support defunding NPR and PBS, I'm increasingly for the summary execution of half of the entire media corps in this country. Just number them off: 1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2... and shoot all of the 'ones.' One could rest assured that most of the deceased will be the right 'ones.'

What you folks all fail to understand is that this is only important to those who reside within the Washington Belt Way. The average American is paying more attention to the CA recall. Wilson clearly has an agenda and it is evident it is not friendly towards President Bush. Mr. Wilson is partly to blaim for any danger to his wife that resulted from the Novak article. He knew that his background would be checked when he went public with his Niger info. I cannot believe he did not know that his work for the CIA would not be brought up and that he so happened to have a wife who worked for the CIA in the WMD field. I really question if sending Mr.Wilson was a way for the CIA to find anything out. How can you trust some of his contacts to tell the truth, hell in most for these third world nations lies are a high art. This is much a do about nothing. Seeing Mr. Wilson on TV only conferms that he is on a crusade against President Bush and Karl Rove. I say investigate but only check into Mr. Wilson and his wife and find out what dirty little secrets they are hiding .

Did you see Joe Wilson on Nightline tonight? Koppel provided a fairly thorough review of the events, then interviewed Wilson. In the background piece Koppel asked who is the leaker. Was it Presidential adviser Karl Rove "as Wilson had once claimed"? Much later in the interview Koppel asked Wilson about his "frog march" quote. Wilson seemed pleased to get the quote exactly right, then said his wife told him he got a little carried away in the moment. He said that the CIA is a political entity. A leak from the CIA was a political act. If you're investigating a political act you have to look at the White House political office (implication: Rove). He said that Rove had told others Wilson's wife was "fair game." He denied that his wife got him the assignment to go to Niger and said that the CIA contacting his wife was more like it. Koppel made it clear that he and Wilson had talked extensively before the interview. He denied that his wife is just an analyst. If that's all she was the CIA would have never sent a referral to the Justice Department.

No Ashcroft hits, surprise! Koppel said that Wilson is meeting with the democrat caucus tomorrow. He asked Wilson if that didn't mean he was showing his true colors politically. Wilson said the dem caucus invited him; he would be glad to see the Repub. caucus if invited. He said if the FBI asks him, he will name the names of all the reporters involved.

Wilson is NOT going away. He was look-you-in-the-eye strong and confident. He did appear to know the boundaries where he should not step, ie. direct Rove and Cheney accusations.

and we labor today with the consequences IMHO

There must be a way for W to get his message out. He owns not only the bully pulpit but also all of the committees in the house and senate. Can you imagine what the media would be doing if there were house and senate committees out there throwing this crud around?

I think W has a fighting chance if he uses his assets properly. The media is getting more transparent in this all of the time because they don't have the "cover" provided by so-called house and senate investigations.

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