Question about Novak and the Plame case

[CheshireCat]

How has Novak has gone untouched in the Plame case?

I have posted this question in many threads but have never gotten an answer.

What I want to know is if there is any legal scenario where the feds can simply ignore Bob Novak's role in the case, while going after Miller and Cooper?

I am not a naive person - I have been active in left-wing politics since 1969. But I cannot get my head around how the law and the rest of the media can talk about this case without mentioning Novak.

Could someone please explain in simple terms what is happening in the Plame case? I think I have a mental block on this one.

[librechik]

1. nobody knows what happened with Novak

and he refuses to say. So it's not you--the information just is not available.

[NYCGirl]

2. This article may help explain why Novak is not in prison:

http://www.slate.com/id/2089249

[applegrove]

3. Didn't read the above article. Read somewhere that if you take

the 5th (because you were involved in the crime) you do not have to give up your sources.

I cannot remember where I heard that.

[TacticalPeek]

4. Lemme try.

The specific law that forbids the revelation of an intelligence officer's identity targets (1) someone with security clearance and authorized access to the secret identity who discloses it - max 10 years (which ain't Nofacts, one can reasonably presume) or (2) someone who engages in a "pattern of activities" designed to deliberately expose agents and damage our intelligence gathering capability - max 3 years (which, I understand, might be difficult or unlikely to be proved against Novacula, though one could always, as I do, hope).

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/50/chapters/15/subchapters/iv/sections/section_421.html


The thing about the other reporters - Matt Cooper, Judith Chalabi, etc., is that DOJ procedure dictates that in any investigation (secret agents or otherwise) reporters should only be forced to cooperate with investigators after all other sources have been exhausted and the info can not be obtained by any other means. That's the point we're at now, with Fitzgerald saying he needs their info, and their news organization fighting it.

And, obviously, Novak, the other reporters, and anyone is protected by the Fifth Amendment from compelled self-incrimination (absent a grant of immunity, which I personally do not yet favor, remembering Iran/Contra and North, Poindexter, etc.).

All that said, we actually know very little about the investigation, and some day soon we could all be surprised to see Novak in cuffs being arrested, etc. There are other laws which may have been violated, such as treason, by giving aid to our enemies, which the POS surely did.


(edit-tipo)

[CheshireCat]

5. Thanks for the links and the info