http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/16/AR2005071600087.html<snip>
Memo Is a Focus of CIA Leak Probe
By Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, July 16, 2005; Page A06
Federal prosecutors investigating the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity have asked several witnesses in the case whether they read a State Department memorandum mentioning her that circulated inside the Bush administration in the days before she was publicly named, according to people familiar with the testimony.
FBI agents showed the State Department memo to several witnesses during the interviews over the past two years, according to lawyers in the case, in an effort to determine whether it was the source of information about Plame's role at the CIA. A key mystery in the leak case is how senior administration officials first learned of Plame's identity and her relationship to a key critic of President Bush's Iraq policy, before her name appeared in news reports.
Lawyers familiar with the testimony of White House senior adviser Karl Rove said he has admitted discussing Plame, though not by name, but said he learned of her role from a reporter. Several legal sources said the prosecution has shown strong interest in the State Department memo, which circulated on Air Force One during the Africa trip -- just days before Plame's name was made public in a column by Robert D. Novak.
Prosecutors are investigating whether administration officials leaked Plame's name to retaliate against her husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, an ex-diplomat who had accused Bush of twisting intelligence to justify the Iraq war. Wilson, on a mission authorized by the CIA, went to Niger to investigate whether Iraq was seeking uranium for nuclear bombs. He reported that there was no evidence to support that suspicion.
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