NYT: Questions of Who Told What to Whom, and When, May Be Crucial in Leak

[Pirate Smile]

Questions of Who Told What to Whom, and When, May Be Crucial in Leak Case

By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: July 16, 2005

Although enormous attention has recently been focused on the question of what information might have passed from government sources in Washington to reporters, the case involving the disclosure of a covert C.I.A. operative's identity has also pointed out that information sometimes flows the other way.

-snip-
According to the statement, lawyers for Mr. Russert and Mr. Fitzgerald reached an agreement under which Mr. Fitzgerald questioned Mr. Russert only about Mr. Russert's end of a conversation in early July 2003 with Mr. Libby. That would be an unusual way to go about pursuing a leak inquiry, but it is consistent with an attempt to try to establish that Mr. Russert provided information to Mr. Libby.

Mr. Russert, however, according to the NBC statement, said "he did not know Ms. Plame's name or that she was a C.I.A. operative and that he did not provide that information to Mr. Libby." Indeed, the statement said, Mr. Russert first learned the information from Mr. Novak's column.

-snip-
Asked whether Ms. Miller provided information about Ms. Wilson's identity to the source to whom Mr. Fitzgerald referred, Mr. Freeman said: "Judy learned about Valerie Plame from a confidential source or sources whose identity she continues to protect to this day. If the suggestion is that she is covering up for her source or some fictitious source, that is preposterous. Given that she is suffering in jail, it is also mean-spirited."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/16/politics/16reporters.html

[VegasWolf]

1. Easy. Cheney told Rove, Rove told Novack, somebody finally told Bush. nt

[matt819]

2. Not if you buy into John Tierney's column (NYT)

He tells us it's much ado about nothing -- wants to call this one nadagate -- http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/16/opinion/16tierney.html?hp

Guess it's okay to lie, cheat, and smear.

[anotherdrew]

3. I'm sure we've all at one time or another, outed a CIA operative,

It just happens folks, lets move on. "Anyway I thought you told me who the agent was, wait? huh? I told you? me? you? agent, which? who? Novak, oh yeah that guy, I've heard he's a covert CIA agent. Hell aren't we all really covert CIA agents, DEEP DOWN INSIDE? Let's just, as a nation, collectively ground our national selves for a few decades. Stay home and BUILD SOMETHING TO SELL TO EACH OTHER or something for jobs. Maybe work on that trade imbalance or something. America, you've been very bad, very very naughty, now you've got to stay home and not invade anyone for a whole decade at least. And it's high time you work on that trade imbalance, you said you'd take care of it, now's the time. And eat more vegetables...

[Gregorian]

5. Hahaha.

Yes. We'll get right on it. It's easy to get lax when you mix with so many CIA agents every day. Sheesh, what were we thinking?

[anotherdrew]

6. crap, I just slipped up and outed the whole country, now I'm in for it

Theys gonna 'vestigate me

[zanne]

13. Oops.

I made a mistake. But that's how we learn.

[burrowowl]

7. And eat more vegetables... LOL!

especially ketchup (as per unlamented Raygun) it is better than cool-aid.

[anotherdrew]

8. micro-batch hand crafted ketchups could be a nice cottage industry

an add on for the hot sauce people at least

[are_we_united_yet]

16. *snort*

[Bumblebee]

4. here is a more interesting article from the NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/16/politics/16memo.html?ei=5094&en=73e6600ab118b6c9&hp=&ex=1121486400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

July 16, 2005
State Dept. Memo Gets Scrutiny in Leak Inquiry on C.I.A. Officer
By RICHARD STEVENSON

This article was reported by Douglas Jehl, David Johnston and Richard W. Stevenson and was written by Mr. Stevenson.

WASHINGTON, July 15 - Prosecutors in the C.I.A. leak case have shown intense interest in a 2003 State Department memorandum that explained how a former diplomat came to be dispatched on an intelligence-gathering mission and the role of his wife, a C.I.A. officer, in the trip, people who have been officially briefed on the case said.

Investigators in the case have been trying to learn whether officials at the White House and elsewhere in the administration learned of the C.I.A. officer's identity from the memorandum. They are seeking to determine if any officials then passed the name along to journalists and if officials were truthful in testifying about whether they had read the memo, the people who have been briefed said, asking not to be named because the special prosecutor heading the investigation had requested that no one discuss the case.

The memorandum was sent to Colin L. Powell, then the secretary of state, just before or as he traveled with President Bush and other senior officials to Africa starting on July 7, 2003, when the White House was scrambling to defend itself from a blast of criticism a few days earlier from the former diplomat, Joseph C. Wilson IV, current and former government officials said.

Mr. Powell was seen walking around Air Force One during the trip with the memorandum in hand, said a person involved in the case who also requested anonymity because of the prosecutor's admonitions about talking about the investigation.

Investigators are also trying to determine whether the gist of the information in the document, including the name of the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, Mr. Wilson's wife, had been provided to the White House even earlier, said another person who has been involved in the case. Investigators have been looking at whether the State Department provided the information to the White House before July 6, 2003, when Mr. Wilson publicly criticized the way the administration used intelligence to justify the war in Iraq, the person said.

The prosecutors have shown the memorandum to witnesses at the grand jury investigating how the C.I.A. officer's name was disclosed to journalists, blowing her cover as a covert operative and possibly violating federal law, people briefed on the case said. The prosecutors appear to be investigating how widely the document circulated within the administration, and whether it might have been the original source of information for whoever provided the identity of Ms. Wilson to Robert D. Novak, the syndicated columnist who first disclosed it in print.

[lovuian]

9. Bush was on that flight but there were other reporters on that

flight also... I wonder if they witnessed or heard Colin Powel talking about the I heard it was her file not a memo!!!

Ari Fleischer was there does he have special security clearance to see that stuff???

Anyway this came up but nobody said anything until now about it!!!

Bush was on that flight this is a tie into Bush!!!

[napi21]

15. Is there any way we can find out which repporter were on that flight?

This info about Powell having that memo there, and carrying it around is the most interesting info we've heard in quite a while. I know I've personally gotten lots of confidential info at work, just passing an office when someone was on a phone call, overhearing someone's conversation, or even seeing a letter or memo laying on someone's desk.

I'd be very interested to know exactly which reporters were on that flight, and then there's the fact that Fitz requested the phone records from AF1.

[maddezmom]

18. Bolton n/t

[Donailin]

10. much more breaking here!

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/16/politics/16memo.html?ei=5094&en=6d88216f8e1a7671&hp=&ex=1121572800&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

and here!http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/16/2851/37971

[HannibalBarca]

14. Very interesting and convoluted

...if fotzgerald keeps digging there is no telling where this may go.

[leftchick]

17. This strikes me about the memo...

Thank you for the links....

Why Plame not Wilson?

[maddezmom]

19. Bolton concealed his role in the Niger Uranium claim

Concealment of a State Department Official's Role in the Niger Uranium Claim

In April 2004, the State Department used the designation "sensitive but unclassified" to conceal unclassified information about the role of John Bolton, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control, in the creation of a fact sheet distributed to the United Nations that falsely claimed Iraq had sought uranium from Niger.

On December 19, 2002, the State Department issued a fact sheet entitled "Illustrative Examples of Omissions from the Iraqi Declaration to the United Nations Security Council." (9) The fact sheet listed eight key areas in which the Bush Administration found fault with Iraq's weapons declaration to the United Nations on December 7, 2002. Under the heading "Nuclear Weapons," the fact sheet stated:

The Declaration ignores efforts to procure uranium from Niger.
Why is the Iraqi regime hiding their uranium procurement?

It was later discovered that this claim was based on fabricated documents. (10) In addition, both State Department intelligence officials and CIA officials reported that they had rejected the claim as unreliable. (11) As a result, it was unclear who within the State Department was involved in preparing the fact sheet.

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000370.html

[Daphne08]

20. This Op-Ed by Kristof on May 6, 2003, is very interesting.

Cited in Daily Kos:

Nicholas Kristof: Why truth matters
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/05/06/nyt.kristof/

[enough]

11. kick

[stickdog]

12. Well, thank God your own reporter went to jail to avoid clearing all of

this up!