You probably already know about the leaking of a CIA operative’s name by administration officials. It has become a big story as a result of CIA request for an investigation.
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.
The operative’s identity was published in July after her husband, former U.S. ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, publicly challenged President Bush’s claim that Iraq had tried to buy “yellowcake” uranium ore from Africa for possible use in nuclear weapons. Bush later backed away from the claim.
The intentional disclosure of a covert operative’s identity is a violation of federal law.
The officer’s name was disclosed on July 14 in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak, who said his sources were two senior administration officials.
Yesterday, 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 wife. Wilson had just revealed that the CIA had sent him to Niger last year to look into the uranium claim and that he had found no evidence to back up the charge. Wilson’s account touched off a political fracas over Bush’s use of intelligence as he made the case for attacking Iraq.
“Clearly, it was meant purely and simply for revenge,” the senior official said of the alleged leak.
Talking Points Memo has been covering the story very well and in lots of detail: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29.
Brad DeLong has some interesting speculation about the CIA. Billmon follows up on the implications of a CIA-White House war.
But if you want some hilarious commentary with references to Gollum, the One Ring and Mordor, The Poor Man is your man.
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“It could be embarrassing but not illegal,” said Victoria Toensing….
“The fact that [Plame] was undercover is a classified fact, so it would not be unusual for people to know that she was agency but not know she was undercover,” Toensing said.
As Mark Schmitt put it:
Toensing is saying that the fact [Plame] worked for the CIA and the fact that she was undercover are somehow separate, unrelated facts. But they’re the same fact. If it’s well-known that a person works for the CIA, then by definition, the person is not undercover.