The CIA leak (Latest From Novak)

townhall.com ^ | 10/01/03 | Robert Novak

[kattracks]

WASHINGTON -- I had thought I never again would write about retired diplomat Joseph Wilson's CIA-employee wife, but feel constrained to do so now that repercussions of my July 14 column have reached the front pages of major newspapers and led off network news broadcasts. My role and the role of the Bush White House have been distorted and need explanation.

The leak now under Justice Department investigation is described by former Ambassador Wilson and critics of President Bush's Iraq policy as a reprehensible effort to silence them. To protect my own integrity and credibility, I would like to stress three points. First, I did not receive a planned leak. Second, the CIA never warned me that the disclosure of Wilson's wife working at the agency would endanger her or anybody else. Third, it was not much of a secret.

The current Justice investigation stems from a routine, mandated probe of all CIA leaks, but follows weeks of agitation. Wilson, after telling me in July that he would say nothing about his wife, has made investigation of the leak his life's work -- aided by the relentless Sen. Charles Schumer of New York. These efforts cannot be separated from the massive political assault on President Bush.

This story began July 6 when Wilson went public and identified himself as the retired diplomat who had reported negatively to the CIA in 2002 on alleged Iraq efforts to buy uranium yellowcake from Niger. I was curious why a high-ranking official in President Bill Clinton's National Security Council (NSC) was given this assignment. Wilson had become a vocal opponent of President Bush's policies in Iraq after contributing to Al Gore in the last election cycle and John Kerry in this one.

During a long conversation with a senior administration official, I asked why Wilson was assigned the mission to Niger. He said Wilson had been sent by the CIA's counterproliferation section at the suggestion of one of its employees, his wife. It was an offhand revelation from this official, who is no partisan gunslinger. When I called another official for confirmation, he said: "Oh, you know about it." The published report that somebody in the White House failed to plant this story with six reporters and finally found me as a willing pawn is simply untrue.

At the CIA, the official designated to talk to me denied that Wilson's wife had inspired his selection but said she was delegated to request his help. He asked me not to use her name, saying she probably never again will be given a foreign assignment but that exposure of her name might cause "difficulties" if she travels abroad. He never suggested to me that Wilson's wife or anybody else would be endangered. If he had, I would not have used her name. I used it in the sixth paragraph of my column because it looked like the missing explanation of an otherwise incredible choice by the CIA for its mission.

How big a secret was it? It was well known around Washington that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. Republican activist Clifford May wrote Monday, in National Review Online, that he had been told of her identity by a non-government source before my column appeared and that it was common knowledge. Her name, Valerie Plame, was no secret either, appearing in Wilson's "Who's Who in America" entry.

A big question is her duties at Langley. I regret that I referred to her in my column as an "operative," a word I have lavished on hack politicians for more than 40 years. While the CIA refuses to publicly define her status, the official contact says she is "covered" -- working under the guise of another agency. However, an unofficial source at the Agency says she has been an analyst, not in covert operations.

The Justice Department investigation was not requested by CIA Director George Tenet. Any leak of classified information is routinely passed by the Agency to Justice, averaging one a week. This investigative request was made in July shortly after the column was published. Reported only last weekend, the request ignited anti-Bush furor.

©2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Contact Robert Novak | Read Novak's biography

[Steve_Seattle]

Since this story involved goings-on in the CIA and possibly the State Department, you would think that Novak would go to one of those agencies for background, rather than going to the White House. Still, it's quite possible - even likely - that the White House eventually knew the broad details of how Wilson's trip was arranged. Thus I am hesitant to draw any firm conclusions about where Novak's source was.

[FR_addict]

"Why did Wilson get the assignment in the first place?"

You're right, this is the question that needs answering.
We need to keep pinging on this question.

[OXENinFLA]

NEAL BOORTZ had a great one today.


"The Dems want a special prosecutor, fine, HOW ABOUT MIGUIL(sp) ESTRADA?"


LOL!

[Catspaw]

Attorney General John Ashcroft announced yesterday that a criminal investigation has started. If the career prosecutors and the FBI cannot get the information by just questioning people and examining documents, the next step is a grand jury.

[Wolfstar]

Thanks for the ping, Chad. Today is going to be a busy day, but I wanted to read this piece.

[Steve_Seattle]

"It would be good if we could find out who leaked all that information, so they can be fired and prosecuted."

In different places I've read that (1) the law protecting CIA employees' identity has been on the books since 1982; (2) the CIA receives approximately one-referral a week regarding possible violations of this law; and (3) no one has ever been successfully prosecuted under this law. I conclude that the law is written in such a way that there is a very high burder of proof for the prosecutors to demonstrate (1) deliberate intent to harm national security and (2) proof that such harm has actually occurred, either to the affected employee, to a specific intelligence program, or to national security in general. Therefore this kind of leak to the press - which has happened before - is almost impossible to prosecute.

[YaYa123]

"If the work product was classified, Wilson violated the law by going public with the information and should be subject to indictment."

You are the first I've heard to mention this angle. I sure didn't think of it. But I like it. Maybe that was Wilson's strategy all along...not to turn in a written report so that he could go public.

I'd go further. We now know Wilson was anti-war before he went on the Niger mission. I think we can assume he was anti-Bush as well. He didn't want to find evidence of Iraq buying yellow cake from Niger.

There's definitely hanky panky going on between Wilson, his wife, and the CIA people who sent him on the Niger mission. Wilson tried to make a distinction last night with Ted Kopel on NIGHTLINE, that his wife did not suggest him for the mission, but he agreed with Ted, that the CIA people asked his wife if she thought he might go for them.

All of which is parsing puke, no significant difference.

[hobbes1]

DOJ guidelines explicitly make media people verboten, until any and all other sources are exhausted, and then the AG has to sign off even just to question the guy......

[Catspaw]

Novak is simply defending himself in this story, as probably most people would. He - unlike Geraldo, O'Reilly, and many others - does not cultivate himself as a personality. I don't think he's crossed a line at all.

The problem is that Novak IS the story. Reporters and columnists write about other people, not themselves. And given that he's the subject of a number of articles by other media sources and will be facing questioning by the DOJ and FBI, the wisest thing he could do--and I'm sure his lawyers have told him this--is to not discuss this further. In his newest column, he doesn't introduce any new info, but clarifies a few points, but it's nothing useful--except, as you said, to defend himself.

And of course he's a personality, and a powerful one at that. He's on at least two CNN talk shows, Crossfire and Capital Gang, plus his column. He enjoys the media spotlight and has for quite some time.

[per loin]

I have the impression that everyone in the DC media knows who these other reporters that recieved the "leak" on Wilson's wife are. Why is the press protecting them from disclosure?

[Catspaw]

DOJ guidelines explicitly make media people verboten, until any and all other sources are exhausted , and then the AG has to sign off even just to question the guy......

I've highlighted the key part. So far, no one has come forward as the source of Novak's info, and I suspect no one will. So ff the person or persons who leaked this don't come forward, Novak is next on the list.

Why wouldn't the AG sign off on questioning Novak if he's the only source of the information? And that doesn't leave out subpoenaeing phone records, etc., from Novak--it's only limited to questioning him.

[hobbes1]

No, it also covers phone records. etc.

And they have tons of Government Phone logs to check first.

[hobbes1]

Like I said, if you have a hardon for Novak Fine. But you should be upfornt about it.


the Real story is the same today as it was when Novak first wrote the article.


How did an outspoken opponent of the War, get asked to pursue the intelligence claim of another Nation, when he is not an intel guy himself?

[windchime]

On this issue. Congressman Portman and Linda Vester's audience just had Corn (David) for lunch! It was great.

[alnick]

Clinton converted some staff to civil service employees after Bush was elected, which means that Bush can't touch them.

[alnick]

especially when they banter so happily about who will play themselves in the movie

They did this? Is there a link with more info on this tidbit?

Thanks.

[CobaltBlue]

Here is Wilson's bio from the Middle East Institute website. I am going to "park" it here in case it vanishes later. It gives the name of his wife, but not her occupation.

			AMBASSADOR JOSEPH C. WILSON, IV Ambassador Wilson is CEO of JCWilson International Ventures, Corp., a firm specializing in Strategic Management and International Business Development. Ambassador Wilson served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council from June 1997 until July 1998. In that capacity he was responsible for the coordination of U.S. policy to the 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. He was one of the principal architects of President Clinton?s historic trip to Africa in March 1998. Ambassador Wilson was the Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of United States Armed Forces, Europe, 1995-1997. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Gabonese Republic and to the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe from 1992 to 1995. From 1988 to 1991, Ambassador Wilson served in Baghdad, Iraq as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy. During ?Desert Shield? he was the acting Ambassador and was responsible for the negotiations that resulted in the release of several hundred American hostages. He was the last official American to meet with Saddam Hussein before the launching of ?Desert Storm.? Ambassador Wilson was a member of the U.S. Diplomatic Service from 1976 until 1998. His early assignments included Niamey, Niger, 1976-1978; Lome, Togo, 1978-79; the State Department Bureau of African Affairs, 1979-1981; and Pretoria, South Africa, 1981-1982. In 1982, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Mission in Bujumbura, Burundi. In 1985-1986, he served in the offices of Senator Albert Gore and the House Majority Whip, Representative Thomas Foley, as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. He was Deputy Chief of Mission in Brazzaville, Congo, 1986-88, prior to his assignment to Baghdad. Ambassador Wilson was raised in California and graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1972. He is a graduate of the Senior Seminar (1992), the most advanced International Affairs training offered by the U.S. Government. He speaks fluent French. Ambassador Wilson holds the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Award, the Department of State Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards, the University of California, Santa Barbara Distinguished Alumnus Award, and the American Foreign Service Association William R. Rivkin Award. Additionally, he has been decorated as a Commander in the Order of the Equatorial Star by the Government of Gabon and as an Admiral in the El Paso Navy by the El Paso County Commissioners. He is married to the former Valerie Plame and has two sons and two daughters.

The Middle East Institute 1761 N Street, NW Washington, DC 20036-2882 (202) 785-1141

© Copyright 2002, The Middle East Institute. All Rights Reserved.
 

Wilson's bio on MEI website.

[alnick]

no one seems to be coming forward as one of the six. So...were did the WP get this info from??? A n inside source name T. M. Cauliffe perhaps?

I am under the impression that it's a claim made by Wilson himself. Wilson keeps saying that he has been contacted by several journalists who claim that they were contacted by WH officials with this information.

I think it's a complete fabrication by Wilson.