Digitonomy:
From what I understand,
-Bush said he’d fire anyone who leaked info which revealed an agent’s ID
Actually the President said that he would fire anyone who broke the law.
-There is now evidence that Rove leaked such info
There is even more evidence that Rove leaked nothing - but that he was actually trying to let the reporters know that they should not rely on the accuracy of stories told by Joe Wilson.
Joe Wilson’s own web pages on the Kerry site had Valerie Plame’s name on it over a year before Novak’s article - if anyone “outed” his wife, it appears to have been Joe Wilson, himself.
washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A2305-2005Jan11
Snips, below:
It’s time for a timeout on a misguided and mechanical investigation in which there is serious doubt that a crime was even committed. Federal courts have stated that a reporter should not be subpoenaed when the testimony sought is remote from criminal conduct or when there is no compelling “government interest,” i.e., no crime. As two people who drafted and negotiated the scope of the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act, we can tell you: The Novak column and the surrounding facts do not support evidence of criminal conduct.
At the threshold, the agent must truly be covert. Her status as undercover must be classified, and she must have been assigned to duty outside the United States currently or in the past five years. This requirement does not mean jetting to Berlin or Taipei for a week’s work. It means permanent assignment in a foreign country. Since Plame had been living in Washington for some time when the July 2003 column was published, and was working at a desk job in Langley (a no-no for a person with a need for cover), there is a serious legal question as to whether she qualifies as “covert.”
The law also requires that the disclosure be made intentionally, with the knowledge that the government is taking “affirmative measures to conceal [the agent’s] relationship” to the United States. Merely knowing that Plame works for the CIA does not provide the knowledge that the government is keeping her relationship secret. In fact, just the opposite is the case. If it were known on the Washington cocktail circuit, as has been alleged, that Wilson’s wife is with the agency, a possessor of that gossip would have no reason to believe that information is classified – or that “affirmative measures” were being taken to protect her cover.
There are ways of perceiving whether the government was actually taking the required necessary affirmative measures to conceal its relationship with Plame. We can look, for example, at how the CIA reacted when Novak informed the press office that he was going to publish her name. Did the general counsel call to threaten prosecution, as we know has been done to other reporters under similar circumstances? No. Did then-Director George Tenet or his deputy pick up the phone to tell Novak that the publication of her name would threaten national security and her safety, as we know is done when the CIA is serious about prohibiting publication? No. Did some high-ranking government official ask to visit Novak or the president of his newspaper syndicate to talk him out of publishing – another common strategy to prevent a story? No.
Novak has written that the CIA person designated to talk with him replied that although Plame was probably not getting another foreign assignment, exposure “might cause difficulties if she were to travel abroad.” He certainly never told Novak that Plame would be endangered. Such a meager response falls far legally shy of “affirmative measures.”
There is even more telling CIA conduct about Plame’s status. According to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s “Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq,” when the agency asked Plame’s husband to take on the Niger assignment, he did not have to sign a confidentiality agreement, a requirement for just about anybody else doing work for an intelligence agency. This omission opened the door for Wilson to write an op-ed piece for the New York Times describing his Niger trip.
Did it not occur to our super sleuths of spycraft that a nationally distributed piece about the incendiary topic of weapons of mass destruction – which happens to be Wilson’s wife’s expertise – could result in her involvement being raised?..
