WP: Leak Probe Could Hinge on Nature of Disclosure

[Newsjock]

From Friday's Washington Post. No link yet.

By Mike Allen
(c) 2004, The Washington Post

CRAWFORD, Texas--The Justice Department investigation into the leak of a CIA agent's identity could conclude that administration officials disclosed the woman's name and occupation to the media but still committed no crime because they did not know she was an undercover operative, legal experts said this week.

``It could be embarrassing but not illegal,'' said Victoria Toensing, who was chief counsel of the Senate Intelligence Committee when Congress passed the law protecting the identities of undercover agents.

... The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 specifies that the revelation is a crime only if the accused leaker knew the person was a covert agent. The July column by Robert Novak that touched off the investigation did not specify that Valerie Plame was working undercover, but said she was ``an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction.'' That raises the possibility that the senior administration officials he quoted did not know her status.

``The fact that she 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.

more to come

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. They are setting the excuses I see

[deacon]

17. el lame-o, a weak set-up

there are 2 felons in the white house. they have a patriot act and homeland security. find them. it's not like an APB is needed. you don't need columbo. It is 2 senior administistration officials.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

26. This is as good as when Condi said they pulled the yellow cake

out of a speech because the CIA said to, but forgat that it was bad info in the SOTU address.

Fucking amazing.

[Military Brat]

2. Oh, good grief, Wash Post, haven't we been over that already?

This matter was discussed to death. Novak twisted and turned every which way, trying to get out of taking responsibility for what he had written in his original column.

I can't believe they're still singing this worn-out song. No, wait, I take that back. I do believe it. For a moment I forgot that we're living in Bizarro World.

[are_we_united_yet]

3. Hmmmmmmm lets see........

That new BMW sedan on the lot with the writing on the windshield that says "TAKE ME HOME TODAY. I'M YOURS". I didn't realize I had to pay for it. So I'll just give it back to the dealership. No questions asked. I'm soooooooooooooo embarassed.

[Cocoa]

4. one thing I read about Fitzgerald

he's known for being willing to indict, without having a slam dunk case for conviction.

Not necessarily great from a civil liberties perspective, but as far as getting to the bottom of this one, that may be a good trait.

[KoKo]

5. Oh Yeah! Vickie Toensing from the Geraldo Days! Whose Hubby was a

big Poppy/Reagan Prosecutor along with "herself" who just loved Poppy and Prosecuted for him! Give me a break! Mike Allen of WaPo quotes her?

[madaboutharry]

7. Victoria Toensing

was also one of those coven members who chaperoned Paula Jones around during the impeachment atrocity. Toesing and her husband are right wing hacks. She has no credibility. Your right, what the hell is Mike Allen doing quoting her. He should know better.

[desi]

9. Her husband Joe DiGenova was also the ''Independent Counsel''

...who "investigated" Poppy prying into Clinton's passport records and travels during the '92 campaign. Needless to say that good ole Joe brags that he spent a fraction of the money Starr did, took a fraction of the time, and found no smoking gun. Why was that not a surprise?

[RainDog]

12. thanks for the heads up

this is the spin they've gone with since they learned they couldn't make it go away.

the repukes on tv who tried to say she was an administrative asst. were so lame. So, she's a woman, so of course she's a secretary and of no consequence??

I thought ignorance was no excuse for the law.

But you know what gets me is that none of the pundits are outraged that Bush has not demanded to know who did this and has not tossed that person out on his ass.

Bush cares so much about national security my ass. He cares about his own ass.

[spotbird]

6. It must be Rove or Libby

rather than someone they want to hang out to dry. Thus the need for spin.

[Democrats unite]

8. Victoria Toensing...

I put her right up there with KKKoulter.

[demgrrrll]

13. I remember her from the Geraldo days. She was one of those folks

whose facial expression looks like they have just stepped
in a pile of dog do or smelled a bad odor.
She and her husband are hacks of the first order. No credibility at all.

[pinto]

10. well split me with a hair...here's Ms Toensing on a parallel issue:

writing in the National Review about the dangers of naming names:

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-toensing081202.asp

<snip>

The identity of a person in custody should not be known to the terrorists. Why? Because they will know who is no longer available to carry out a prearranged plan and can send a replacement. Because the detainee's relatives as well as the detainee could be threatened, maimed or killed, thwarting any desire to cooperate with law enforcement.


she makes a case for "suspects" but dismisses the case about outing US intel operatives.

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Oh, please this is the best they can do?

Why bother calling up 6 journalists to leak this little tidbit and then make sure it got reported in the national news media?

I can just imagine Rove on the phone with Novak. "Hey, you know this schmuck Wilson? Yeah the one who's fucking with us? You know is wife? Yeah the hot bab with the twins, the one that works for the agency. Yeah, some sort of WMD operative. It sure would be a shame if that got out. Thanks Bob, I know I can count on you."

[ant]

14. and up is down, black is white, etc.

From the article:
The July column by Robert Novak that touched off the investigation did not specify that Valerie Plame was working undercover, but said she was ``an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction.'' That raises the possibility that the senior administration officials he quoted did not know her status.

One of the definitions of "operative" is "undercover agent; spy." The word clearly has clandestine implications. It's not like they said she was simply a CIA employee or even an analyst, after all; she's an OPERATIVE.

How this guy can then write that Plame being "an agency operative" raises the possibility that officials did NOT know her status is absurd. The only other explanation is that these officials have absolutely no experience with or exposure to intelligence community lingo and chose to use a word closely associate with undercover activity for no apparent reason.

Yeah, that must be it.

[gulliver]

15. Not sure that helps Bush

So a couple Bush Administration officials "accidentally" blew the cover of a CIA agent while trying to attack her husband. I guess they justify it ... how? By saying that her husband deserved it because he pointed out that Bush used fradulent evidence of Iraqi nuclear efforts in the State of the Union?

How does that help Bush? He still tried to weasel word a dubiously grounded, highly incendiary, false statement into the State of the Union.

The only way they can find out if the two Bush Administration officials who did this "knew" Plame was an undercover operative is to find those officials. Then they could close the criminal case. But the political case for Bush would be a disaster.

[Zhade]

16. And let's not forget: that is a FEDERAL CRIME.

He still tried to weasel word a dubiously grounded, highly incendiary, false statement into the State of the Union.

It is highly illegal to lie to Congress. He should be impeached for this alone (not to mention everything else he and his handlers have done).

[creeksneakers2]

18. If this was an innocent mistake

Those who were responsible should have come forward long ago.

According to the Post last week, the heat is turning up.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30842-2003Dec25.html

[Rose Siding]

37. OR be charged with obstruction!

If they didn't come forward to protect themselves from embarrassment, then there is that pesky obstruction charge, isn't there?

[kainah]

19. Obviously, though, the pot is simmering

As everyone has pointed out, these are the usual suspects trotting out the same old tired excuses. On the up side, they're having to trot out the usual suspects with the same old tired excuses.

I think we should all be coming up with theme music and designing logos for this scandal and then sending them to the cable news networks. Without theme music & a logo, the story will die. So let's help them do their job with subtle, humorous jabs at their ineptness.

[Cocoa]

20. above all, the scandal needs a name

I nominate "Scootergate."

[Solly Mack]

21. Oh? Then publish the names of all agents ..

make a list public of those agents that fall into the category of "with the agency" but not undercover...
Go ahead...do it. Since it's not illegal....publically name agents..com'on...do it.Let the entire world know the names of all CIA agents who aren't "covert"...humor me. Let's play by your standard and go with it.

[w4rma]

22. Corrupt to the core. (n/t)

[peacetalksforall]

23. Victoria? huh? That means...

they are starting to bring out the big-guns. Mark Levin next? Then C Boydon Grey, then Meese, then Baker? They'll save T Olson for the courtroom. Let's see - I think that spot right over there is the best place to watch the parade. Oh, here come the clowns...with Hatch leading them.

[young_at_heart]

24. This too, will be dismissed and swept under the rug

It makes me sick to think about all the stuff these people are getting away with....where's the justice?

[Gloria]

25. Heard an analysis last night on Leher...the appointed Prosecutor,

Fitzgerald, has loads of experience in making the tough calls, etc. etc.....The analyst was asked if he could make the "tough call" to end the probe and the analyst said...Yes.

Watch this thing get stopped in its tracks.....

[Timefortruth]

29. And you win the gold ring!

Fitzgerald was brought in to not find anything. They have vetted all the evidence and there will be no suspects.

or

This is going to be pinned on a Democratic hold over (of whom there is only one),

or

They will blame Wilson for the leak.

[PurityOfEssence]

27. But didn't "everyone in Washington" know that Plame was a spymaster?

That was the previous poo-pooing of the whole thing: everybody knew that she was an undercover operative, so it wasn't a crime to expose her. Suddenly, even the people in the highest aeries of power are unaware of what "everyone" knows?

This is amateur hour.

Rove and his greasy little stormtroopers aren't geniuses, they're just hard-working, ruthless, well-funded and extremely lucky.

[loudnclear]

28. Thanks, now we know the outcome.

this is how the neocons work. They get the propaganda out there first and the country falls in line.

[Beetwasher]

30. Utter Bullshit! She Was NOC!

No one should have even known she worked for the CIA. If they knew she worked for the CIA, they also knew they weren't supposed to know and that therefore she was undercover.

[Clyde39]

31. What was the leaker's reason?

Motive---motive---motive! Come on reporters---let's hear the reason her name was menitoned at all. You'd think a high-level person in the Administration would be VERY careful about names in the CIA.

[The White Rose]

32. Just posted something like this on a similar thread.

Is it conceivable in any way that a person or persons unknown, working at the White House, would know that Valerie Plame was a CIA operative but would NOT know ANYTHING more about her? Even if her actual status was classified, the traitor(s) involved wouldn't even need a security clearance to be aware of her professed occupation (i.e. NOT CIA. If Plame was running an undercover network, which she was, it's reasonable to assume that she wasn't advertising the fact that she was a Company employee).

Taking that as a given, the Bushies can hardly claim that it was common knowledge that she worked for the Agency. And if they knew she was "an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction" (a highly sensitive area), but was pretending not to be, by definition they blew her cover. End of story.

[grasswire]

33. Mike Allen oughta know better

.......than to use her as a source quote

[e-mail]

[Must_B_Free]

34. This defense wont work - here's why!

Remember the operative phrase here is "fair game" - Wilson's wife is "fair game".

"Fair game" implies maliciousness, which means intent.

The standard old "I didn't know" excuse DOESN'T APPLY HERE!

[stickdog]

35. The Bush rallying cry: "We're just woefully incompetent!"

Never criminal, just incomprehensibly incompetent.

But don't worry. We can be as hideously incompentent as we want because God bless each and every indefensible fuck up.

[Rex]

36. Ignorance is not an excuse for illegal activity

Sorry, but laws were broken, and the so-called ignorant parties must, BY LAW, pay the piper.

[Malva Zebrina]

38. It will go down the memory hole, believe me

whoever did it will get away with it. You know why? Because they have been allowed to get away with "murder" in the three years since Bush couped the election process.

They will get away with it, because they are bully enough to intimidate those who are weaker and because they can threaten those who would go against them, instilling fear. They have enormous amounts of money to do so. Far more than this person has ever seen in my entire life. And far more than I will ever see, predictably , given my age and my life's contribution.

My advice, for what naive,m stupidity it may be worth is to buy a piece of land somewhere if you can and buy enough acreage to grow your own food--in that way, you are not tied into a regime that is exploiting you for their own profit-you can "be independant"-if you can grow your own and feed a family, by hook or by crook , and survive, then you will make it. Research--it can be done.

Those who are tied into corporations who rule over them--for thier own survival, are missing something--we do NOT need to sell our soul to corporations. We do NOT need to go along to get along!! We CAN take control of our own lives if we put our minds to it.