"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 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."
"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."
I'm beginning to think that there may be no crime here, just an effort by mid-level CIA and maybe State staffers to create an intellegence "mission" to come up with some "evidence" (or lack thereof) to weaken the Bush case on Iraq.
Even if Plume worked in a classified or covert position, if it was already public knowledge that she worked for the CIA, is there a crime there?
To point out the obvious, Novak has a vested self-interest in spinning this story to his benefit.
First, Novak has moved from being a reporter (actually a columnist) writing about a story to being the story. One of the cardinal rules of journalism is that the reporter is not the story--the story is the story and the reporter is the background, and that's where Novak has crossed the line.
Second, Novak knows that he is going to be questioned by the FBI and possibly hauled before a grand jury. He has to be very careful about what he says because, although he's said that he will not reveal his confidential sources, his public words will be used in the investigation and he will be questioned about them. He has to carefully choose his words, because whatever he says will be scrutinized.
Third, Novak said he will protect his sources. This means that he cannot give any clues to their identities in what he says publically, or privately.
Forth, Novak wants to continue working as a journalist. Although he has been critical of the administration's policies in Iraq and Israel, he still wants to keep working, and his sources are within the current administration. He's walking tightrope. He has to diminish his role in this, because if he doesn't, his sources will dry up. OTOH, his ego says he has to play up the story and his role in it to get more publicity for his column, and for Novak, getting his column published means income.
When I come up with more, I'll let you know.