February 5 - Colin Powell goes to the UN to make the case about WMDs and Saddam Hussein. Powell decides the Niger-Iraq uranium purchase allegations are too weak and does not mention them in his UN speech. He later explains that he omitted these allegations because he didn't think the evidence was strong enough to "present before the world." In another report he is said to have characterized this, and other "evidence" as "bullshit".
March 7, 2003 - The IAEA and Mohamed ElBaradei, provide proof that the Niger-Iraq claims were based on forgeries (Wilson 452).
March 8, 2003 - State Department says "we fell for it" regarding the forged documents
May 2, 2003 – Bush’s Mission Accomplished speech
May 6, 2003 - Nicholas Kristof in New York Times mentions Joe Wilson's trip to Niger to investigate claims Iraq sought purchase of 'yellowcake' uranium (no names mentioned) and that the fabled 16 words in George W. Bush's 2003 State of the Union Address (SOTU) came from forged documents
The column by Nicholas Kristoff in the New York Times was the first public mention of Wilson's trip to Niger (but Kristoff’s column did not identify Wilson by name. Kristoff had been on a panel with Wilson four days earlier and said that Wilson told him that intelligence documents that proved Iraq attempted to buy uranium from Niger were forged and the White House should have known that before allowing Bush to include it in his State of the Union speech.
June, 2003 - According to an article date 10/13/03 in the Washington Post, a preliminary FBI investigation reveals that White House officials, including Rove and Libby, first learned of Plame’s name and CIA status around this time when questions surrounding Wilson’s Niger trip were first brought to the attention of Cheney’s aides by reporters.
“One reason investigators are looking back (to June 2003) is that even before Novak's column appeared, government officials had been trying for more than a month to convince journalists that Wilson's mission wasn't as important as it was being portrayed,” the Post reported.
Several CIA officers assigned to the White House and working mainly on the National Security staff may have been the first individuals to have learned that Plame was an undercover operative and that Wilson was her husband.
According to the Oct. 13, 2003 story in the Post, a “former NSC staff member said one or more of those officers may have been aware of the Plame-Wilson relationship” and briefed Cheney and Rove about her status, that she was married to Wilson and that she recommended him for the fact-finding trip to Niger
June 8, 2003 - Then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice on Meet the Press denies Kristof's claim that the Administration knew the yellowcake story was unfounded
June 10, 2003 - The State Department issues the “Air Force One Memo”. It is dated June 10, 2003, nearly four weeks before Mr. Wilson’s Op-Ed article in The New York Times. The memorandum was written for Marc Grossman, then the Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs, and it refers explicitly to Valerie Wilson as being Mr. Wilson's wife.
The paragraph in the memo discussing Ms. Wilson's involvement in her husband's trip is marked at the beginning with a letter designation in brackets to indicate the information shouldn't be shared, according to the person familiar with the memo. Such a designation would indicate to a reader that the information was sensitive. The memo, though, doesn't specifically describe Ms. Wilson as an undercover agent, the person familiar with the memo said.
Generally, the federal government has three levels of classified information -- top secret, secret and confidential -- all indicating various levels of "damage" to national security if disclosed. There also is an unclassified designation -- indicating information that wouldn't harm national security if shared with the public -- but that wasn't the case for the material on the Wilsons prepared by the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. It isn't known what level of classification was assigned to the information in the memo.
Who received the memo, which was prepared for Marc Grossman, then the under secretary of state for political affairs, and how widely it was circulated are issues as Mr. Fitzgerald tries to pinpoint the origin of the leak of Ms. Wilson's identity. According to the person familiar with the document, it didn't include a distribution list. It isn't known if President Bush has seen the memo
June 12, 2003 - This is the first public report on Wilson's trip, in a report by Walter Pincus of the Washington Post. Wilson isn't mentioned by name. Wilson was later identified as Pincus's source
By Walter Pincus, "CIA Did Not Share Doubt on Iraq Data; Bush Used Report Of Uranium Bid"
The Washington Post
"...the CIA in early February 2002 dispatched a retired U.S. ambassador to (Niger) to investigate the claims, according to the senior U.S. officials and the former government official, who is familiar with the event. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity and on condition that the name of the former ambassador not be disclosed."
June 13, 2003 - Kristof responds to Rice’s "Meet the Press" denial and sticks by his claim. Still Wilson's name not revealed
July 6, 2003: The article that started it all: Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s "What I Didn't Find in Africa" appears in the New York Times as an op-ed piece. In the article Wilson claims the Bush Administration “twisted” intelligence to exaggerate the Iraq threat.
July 6, 2003 – The same day Judith Miller has a telephone conversation with a White House source concerning the Wilson story. Miller will later refuse to divulge this source or the content of her conversation with him to the grand jury. The Washington Post has reported that Miller's “source” is I. Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Vice President Cheney’s Chief of Staff. Judith Miller: Hearsted on Her Own Petard- by Justin Raimondo
July 6, 2003 - When Mr. Wilson's Op-Ed article appeared on July 6, 2003, a Sunday, Richard L. Armitage, then deputy secretary of state, called Carl W. Ford Jr., the assistant secretary for intelligence and research, at home, a former State Department official said. Mr. Armitage asked Mr. Ford to send a copy of the memorandum to Mr. Powell, who was preparing to leave for Africa with Mr. Bush, the former official said. Mr. Ford sent it to the White House for transmission to Mr. Powell.
July 7, 2003 – White House phone records reflect Robert Novak calling Ari Fleischer on this date. This is the same date that a “Top Secret” Briefing Book (containing the text of the classified “Air Force One Memo”) is prepared by NSC staff to counter fallout from Wilson’s July 6, 2003 NYT op-ed piece. The Briefing Book is faxed to Rice and others in Africa. It is presently unclear when or if Fleischer returned Novak’s call.
Fleischer, who saw the July 7 “Briefing Book” (which, according to Newsweek, was faxed by NSC staff to Air Force One which was en route to Africa), wasn't part of Bush's inner circle during his tenure as press secretary. Rove, however, was at the heart of it. Given those facts, it seems highly doubtful that Fleischer would have acted on the information in the “Briefing Book” without the knowledge or approval of Rove and other top-level White House officials. The July 7 “Briefing Book” was largely a reproduction of an earlier State Department report prepared around June 12. Another key question that Fitzgerald is interested in, according to the grand jury witness and the lawyers familiar with the case, is whether Rove or Libby learned of the material in the “Briefing Book” and, if so, shared its content with reporters they talked to later. (Bloomberg.com: U.S.)
July 7, 2003 – Bush, Powell, Fleischer, and Rice fly to Africa, Armitage makes sure Powell has copy of INR memo of 6/10/03 with him on the plane. Powell had been quick to disclaim responsibility for the inclusion of the “sixteen words” in the SOTU address. Accordingly, other administration officials were pressed into service to rebut the claims –notably Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld. A “Briefing Book was assembled by WH staff, labeled “Top Secret”, reportedly containing scurrilous information concerning Wilson and including mention of Plame, her status with the CIA, and assertions that she was responsible for sending Wilson to Niger. Ari Fleischer, who was on the plane with Powell and Rice, would use the material to attack Wilson following Bush’s return from Africa. It is unclear to what extent Rove read, or used, the “Air Force One Memo” or the “Top Secret Briefing Book in his subsequent leaks to reporters. Rove at War - Newsweek Politics - MSNBC.com
But then Wilson went public. Some prominent administration officials scurried for cover. Traveling in Africa, Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had long harbored doubts, disowned the "sixteen words" about Niger that had ended up in Bush's prewar State of the Union speech. So did CIA Director George Tenet, who said they shouldn't have been in the text. But Cheney—who tended never to give an inch on any topic—held firm. And so, therefore, did Rove, who sometimes referred to the vice president as "Leadership." Rove took foreign-policy cues from the pro-war coterie that surrounded the vice president, and was personally and operationally close to Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis (Scooter) Libby.
Meanwhile, in transatlantic secure phone calls, the message machinery focused on a crucial topic: who should carry the freight on the following Sunday's talk shows? The message: protect Cheney by explaining that he had had nothing to do with sending Wilson to Niger, and dismiss the yellowcake issue. Powell was ruled out. He wasn't a team player, as he had proved by his dismissive comments about the "sixteen words." Donald Rumsfeld was pressed into duty, as was Condi Rice, the ultimate good soldier. She was on the Africa trip with the president, though, and wouldn't be getting back until Saturday night. To allow her to prepare on the long flight home to D.C., White House officials assembled a briefing book, which they faxed to the Bush entourage in Africa. The book was primarily prepared by her National Security Council staff. It contained classified information—perhaps including all or part of the memo from State. The entire binder was labeled TOP SECRET.
Missions accomplished. Except for a few little details. Under a 1982 law, it's a felony to intentionally disclose the name of a "covered" agent with the intent to harm national security. Under another, older statute, it could also be a felony to willfully disclose information from a classified document—which the State Department memo and, apparently, the Condi briefing book were. There is no indication that Rove saw the briefing book (Rumsfeld didn't get one) or that anyone disclosed classified information. But no one in the administration seems to have noticed the irony—or the legal danger—in assembling a TOP SECRET briefing book as guidance for the Sunday talk shows. Exactly what papers with what classifications were floating around on Air Force One? Who, if anyone, was dipping into them for info about the Wilson trip?
And if Rove knew Plame's identity, as Novak says, how did Rove learn it? A source close to Rove has said Rove never saw the State memo. The same source told NEWSWEEK last week that Rove "doesn't remember" where he heard the crucial information about Wilson's wife. But, the source said, Rove is "pretty sure he heard it directly or indirectly from a media source." The source close to Rove later acknowledged that Rove had been questioned by investigators about conversations he may have had with Libby, Cheney's chief of staff. Rove couldn't recall any specific exchange with Libby about Wilson's wife, the source said. A spokeswoman for the vice president's office said Libby would have no comment. Fitzgerald declined to comment
July 8, 2003 - A friend informs Wilson that Robert Novak believes that his wife had something to do with Wilson's appointment to investigate the Yellow Cake claim in Africa.
He asked Novak if he could walk a block or two with him, as they were headed in the same direction; Novak acquiesced. Striking up a conversation, my friend, without revealing that he knew me, asked Novak about the Uranium controversy. It was a minor problem, Novak replied, and opined that the administration should have dealt with it weeks before. My friend then asked Novak what he thought about me, and Novak answered: "Wilson's an asshole. The CIA sent him. His wife, Valerie
, works for the CIA. She's a weapons of mass destruction specialist. She sent him."
Wilson's friend went right to Wilson's office and documented the exchange
July 8, 2003 – According to the NYT Robert Novak calls Rove and asks for confirmation that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, a CIA officer, had authorized Wilson’s trip to Niger to investigate uranium sales. The NYT says Rove told Novak “Oh, did you hear that too?”
July 8, 2003 - According to the Washington Post, a lawyer (probably Rove’s lawyer, Robert Luskin) says that Novak showed up on a White House call log as calling Rove the week before the publication of Novak’s July 2003 column.. At the end of that 15- or 20-minute call, according to the lawyer, Novak said he had learned that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. "I heard that, too," Rove replied, according to the lawyer, confirming the Times account.
July 8, 2003 -Alden, Dinmore, Harding and Wetzel, publish an article in the Financial Times: "Bush under fire over Niger uranium connection"
“A picture also emerged yesterday of how a special envoy's investigation showing that there was no truth that the Iraq-Niger reports were overlooked by the Bush administration. Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador, went last year to Niger at the request of the Central Intelligence Agency to assess the reports of an attempt made by Iraq to buy uranium. He reported back to the CIA that the reports appeared to be false. People in the Bush administration say that George Tenet, the director of Central Intelligence, had been unaware that Mr. Wilson was sent to Niger and senior figures at the National Security Council, such as Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser and her deputy Stephen Hadley, did not see the reports containing his conclusions.”
The BBC is also getting CIA leaks designed to place the blame firmly on the WH:
“But the CIA official has said that a former US diplomat had already established the claim was false in March 2002 - and that the information had been passed on to government departments, including the White House, well before Mr Bush mentioned it in the speech. But a former US diplomat, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, went on the record at the weekend to say that he had traveled to Africa to investigate the uranium claims and found no evidence to support them. Now the CIA official has told the BBC that Mr Wilson's findings had been passed onto the White House as early as March 2002.”
July 9, 2003 – Presidential spokesperson Ari Fleischer holds a “press gaggle” in Africa. He tells reporters that Wilson’s trip to Niger was not a major bit of intelligence undercutting the efforts of the Iraqi’s to obtain a nuclear weapon. Fleischer says that Wilson simply went to Niger, asked the Nigerien government if it sold uranium to Iraq and the government “of course, said it didn’t.” Department of State Washington File: Transcript: White House Daily Briefing, July 9, 2003
So there's the chronology that I've pieced together. Nice, eh?
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