Pretty simple stuff.
A very simplistic view for a nuanced guy like you.
The fact that the CIA concluded the leak came from the Administration means next to nothing unless it can pinpoint the leak.
The CIA has an interest here, in case you haven't noticed. You'll see how much of an interest when you read Novak's statement published yesterday which I am linking at the bottom of this post.
In a post to you, CB asked about who sent Wilson to Niger in the first place. The answer, according to the article Wilson published that allegedly caused the Administration to leak his wife's name, is--you ready for this--the CIA. See the text of the article. I'm linking it fully along with Wilson's statement below:
fairandbalanced.net
It was my experience in Africa that led me to play a small role in the effort to verify information about Africa's suspected link to Iraq's nonconventional weapons programs. Those news stories about that unnamed former envoy who went to Niger? That's me.
In February 2002, I was informed by officials at the Central Intelligence Agency that Vice President Dick Cheney's office had questions about a particular intelligence report. While I never saw the report, I was told that it referred to a memorandum of agreement that documented the sale of uranium yellowcake — a form of lightly processed ore — by Niger to Iraq in the late 1990's. The agency officials asked if I would travel to Niger to check out the story so they could provide a response to the vice president's office.
After consulting with the State Department's African Affairs Bureau (and through it with Barbro Owens-Kirkpatrick, the United States ambassador to Niger), I agreed to make the trip. The mission I undertook was discreet but by no means secret. While the C.I.A. paid my expenses (my time was offered pro bono), I made it abundantly clear to everyone I met that I was acting on behalf of the United States government.
Here is the pertinent text of the allegedly offending article that Novak wrote. Please read it carefully:
Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him. "I will not answer any question about my wife," Wilson told me.
Not a single thing about Administration officials identifying Wilson's wife as a CIA analyst, is there? If any leaking can be said to have taken place, it seems from the text of the article that the CIA is the culprit, though even that's a bit of a stretch until today, as you will see below.
After reading Novak's original article, one could validly ask why did the CIA--not Administration officials--ask his wife to contact Wilson to suggest the trip to Niger. This suggests some link between the CIA and his wife, but it is still a tenuous thing, IMO.
Now, here is Novak's most recent statement, published yesterday. Read it, weep, and acknowledge your bias if you have a bit of honesty in you:
fairandbalanced.us
The leak now under Justice Department investigation is described by former Ambassador Wilson and critics of President Bush's Iraq policy as a reprehensible effort to silence them. To protect my own integrity and credibility, I would like to stress three points. First, I did not receive a planned leak. Second, the CIA never warned me that the disclosure of Wilson's wife working at the agency would endanger her or anybody else. Third, it was not much of a secret.
Got that, John? Straight from the horse's mouth..no planned leak and "..the CIA never warned me that that the disclosure of Wilson's wife working at the agency would endanger her..." Obviously, the CIA knew that Wilson knew she was employed by the Agency, otherwise why would Novak now comment about the Agency's failure to warn him? The question then becomes: How did Novak know? He disclaims a planned leak on the Administration's part. What's left? Either it was an open secret and/or Novak was told by these unidentified Agency non-proliferation officials who set up the trip and arranged for Wilson's expenses to Niger to be paid by the CIA.
I think it was an open secret, like Novak says, which was acknowledged by the CIA officials.
Remember that Novak is risking his career on this. No reason for a reputable journalist like him to lie. |
