Here is Walter Pincus talking about his baby, the Joe Wilson affair. Note that he also includes a link to the Bob Novak column from last July and debunks the Karl Rove was fired by George the elder story.
White House Intelligence Leak?
Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 29, 2003; 3:30 PM
President Bush's aides promised Sunday to cooperate with a Justice Department inquiry into an administration leak that exposed the identity of a CIA operative. An administration official told The Washington Post on Saturday that two White House officials leaked the information to selected journalists to discredit former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV.
Washington Post staff writer Walter Pincus was online Monday, Sept. 29 at 3:30 p.m. ET, to discuss the possible intelligence leak, the role of the press and what comes next in the investigation.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
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Washington, D.C.: The idea that Bush was "out of the loop" on the decision to destroy the career of CIA undercover operative seems incongruent with everything we know about what the White House says regarding the president's involvement in national security matters. Especially on things like intelligence secrets, the political people know to act only in unison with the NSC professionals who assure that the mantle of the presidency is not sullied by the politicization of national security issues. Nonetheless, it seems too easily accepted that Bush didn't know.
Walter Pincus: The White House story is that the president does not know about any one who may have leaked the information from the White House, not the tory itself. Since I'm sure the original Novak column was read within the White House, the matter must have been called to his attention back on July 14. Whether anything was done at that time by either the president or his aides is something that the press and Congress are now pursuing.
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New York, N.Y.: Hi Walter,
It seems to me that this is the most immediately dangerous and simple to explain political bomb that the Bush administration has faced so far. At this point in the election cycle, the Democrats, foreign and domestic press, and others who are ethically principled will be most interested in the full investigation of this situation, and Bush has few plausible explanations available. The leakers must be sacrificed. This has it all, like a West Wing episode -- laws broken by senior Bush advisors, lives endangered, confidences violated, intrigues with spies, and all due to another untruth (Niger yellowcake) by the President, and increasing curiosity and pressure. Time to wag the dog with another crisis before this one gets a Special Prosecutor appointed just in time for the election cycle?
Walter Pincus: I would caution you that this is not fiction but fact and won't be solved in an hour episode or even several. It also is not guaranteed that the story gets beyond where it stands. To review: Only Bob Novak, as of today, says the name of Amb. Wilson's wife was leaked to him from administration officials and even when The Washington Post's source said they were White House officials that still covers a wide number of people. Some official steps need to be taken and as of this moment there has been as far as I know no official steps taken by the Justice Department to initiate an investigation.
There is a long way to go before anyone is identified as the leaker.
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Austin, Tex.: Mr. Pincus,
The story in the Post said that it was high-level White House officials that leaked to the media. Based on folks you have spoken with, do you have any thoughts as to who they might be? Also, any insights as to why they thought they could get away with this.
Thank you.
Walter Pincus: I would not speculate as to who may be involved.
I can say the reason for putting out the story out about Wilson's wife working at the CIA was to undermine the credibility of his mission for the agency in Niger. Wilson, as the last top diplomat in Iraq at the time of the Gulf War, had credibility beyond his knowledge of Africa, which was his specialty. SO his going to Niger to check the allegation that Iraq had sought uranium there and returning to say that he could find no confirmation was considered very credible. WIth Richard Leiby, I had written a story about Wilson, including quotes from him that was published in The Post on July 6, the same day his own op-ed appeared in the New York Times.
He was then being interviewed having come forward by name, I and others had published his story without naming him weeks earlier. Whoever leaked his name was attempting to say that his trip was not really officially, just generated by his wife.
Ironically, there was no reason in leaking that story to give out her name or to publish it.
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Reston, Va.: Didn't Rove get fired by George H.W. Bush for leaking something to Novak back in '82?
Walter Pincus: Not that I am aware of.
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New York, N.Y.: Hi Walter - Now that the Independent Counsel law has expired, what alternatives are available for an independent investigation completely outside of the Justice Department?
Walter Pincus: If the president wanted to, he could appoint a special counsel, which is how Clinton initially handled Whitewater naming a former Republican prosecutor when the act had died.
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Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.: Why is the media failing to expose that Mr Wilson is a bitter foe of the Bush administration who clearly is pursing a political agenda?
Also, are you aware that he admitted today on a morning television program that he simply MADE IT UP when he said he thought the "leak" came from Karl Rove?
For the sake of fairness, these points need to be publicized by the press.
Walter Pincus: It was no secret that Amb. WIlson was an outspoken critic of going to war without first getting support from the U.N. We did have that in our July 6 story. "Bitter" seems strong wince he supported the idea of regime change having been one of the few U.S. diplomats who dealt directly with Saddam Hussein.
He did get excessive when he named Karl Rove as being involved or approving the leak without giving any direct evidence and tried to remedy it today by his admission.
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Paris, France: Do you personally know one or more names floating about in connection with this?
Walter Pincus: I know some of the names "floating around" but don't believe it right to identify anyone without actual evidence and without talking to them directly.
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Dallas, Tex.: What is the mood of the CIA over this affair?
A reporter on CNN said it was sort of "routine." That the CIA sends cases like this to DOJ 20 or 30 times per year.
Is that true? Is CIA treating it as a routine affair, no big deal? Or, are the CIA people upset at Plame's outing?
Walter Pincus: CIA does send form requests for investigation to Justice but I doubt they consider one that involves the naming of a clandestine officer and perhaps the Whit House is "routine."
As with anything that has the political implications of this situation, there are some who are concerned and some who think as of today that too much is being made of it.
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Ft. Myers, Fla.: Shouldn't Robert Novak be taken to the wood shed?
Walter Pincus: Bob Novak has been writing well for years and not avoiding controversy, which he must have known would be generated by the column. The only question he should face is why he used Wilson's wife's name, not the story itself.
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Washington, D.C.: Two basic questions:
How big could this get?
To what extent do you think the general public would care about a story like this? It seems some outside the beltway may write this off as a "it's just politicians being politicians" story, but could this have traction with the public?
Walter Pincus: It is too early to say whether this will grow. It is an inside the beltway type thing right now. And it diverts from more serious questions about Iraq and the U.S. future there.
On the other hand,it indicates that within the administration some people appear uneasy about how this type of thing is being handled. And if it is the first of more such leaks, it could be come big.
Almost 40 years ago I ran an investigation for Sen. J.W. Fulbright based on a story I had done in a magazine on foreign government lobbyists. he said when I started that I should remember, in Washington "It's not what you did that counts, it's what you do after you are caught." Coverup has always been the undoing of government officials.
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Takoma Park, Md.: The Post said six journalists were told. Who were the five other than Novak? Is Novak the only one of the six who wrote a story based on the leak?
Walter Pincus: The one other name The post was given was Andrea Mitchell of NBC. We are checking to see who else may have carried it before Novak. There were others told who apparently did not write the story, but many carried it after the column appeared. I did not write about it until Sen. Schumer requested the FBI to look into it because I had checked the basic allegation, that it was Wilson's wife who "suggested sending him to Niger" and did not believe it was true. My own first story about Wilson going to Niger, without my naming him, that appeared June 12 was mentioned in Novak's column.
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Annapolis, Md.: Annapolis, Md.: Can you summarize what Novak wrote?
washingtonpost.com: Robert Novak: Mission to Niger, (July 14, 2003)http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20030714.shtml
Walter Pincus: Novak's column described Wilson's mission to Niger to check on the alleged Iraq seeking of uranium, as generated at a "low level" in the CIA without Director Tenet's knowledge. It said that "two senior administration officials" had told Novak that Wilson's wife, who was named, had "suggested sending him to Niger". Novak said Wilson's report was not regarded by the CIA as definitive but that Wilson became more critical of the administration after he was disclosed as the diplomat who inquired about the Niger story. Novak concluded by saying Wilson's report should be made public.
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Grand Rapids, Mich.: Since our current President is the son of a former CIA Director, isn't it curious that he has not ordered an internal investigation of this matter since it broke over two months ago? Of note, I found Condi Rice's Sgt. Schultz (of Hogan's Heroes) imitation, "I know nothing, I see nothing", on the Sunday talk shows yesterday particularly troubling.
Walter Pincus: There is a certain irony to the president's position, another being that his father had highly praised WIlson for his action's before and during the Gulf War.
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Brunswick, Maine: Mr. Pincus,
In your opinion, why has it taken two months for this story to get the traction it developed over the weekend?
Walter Pincus: It is a difficult story to take further than a column was sourced to "two senior administration officials" without have some official steps taken unless some inside source stepped forward. And this weekend, one did.
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