16Oct03-Reuters-Ashcroft: Valuable Progress in CIA Leak Probe
Thu Oct 16, 5:45 PM ET
By James Vicini
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said on Thursday valuable progress had been made in investigating the leak of an undercover CIA officer's name, and he left open turning over the politically sensitive probe to a special counsel.
Ashcroft told a news conference he had directed that the investigation be done "thoroughly, completely and promptly."
The Justice Department late last month began a criminal investigation into who had disclosed the identity of a CIA officer whose husband had challenged President Bush's claims about Iraq)'s weapons threat.
Democrats in Congress have demanded that Ashcroft, who was appointed by Bush to head the Justice Department, should step aside and name an outside special counsel to run the probe.
"Attorney General Ashcroft should recuse himself immediately, and yet we get continued mistakes and continued mishandling of this case," Sen. Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said on the Senate floor.
"I have not foreclosed any option in this matter," Ashcroft said when asked about a special counsel.
Ashcroft said he has "every confidence" in John Dion, a 30-year Justice Department veteran and the counterespionage section chief who is leading the investigation.
Ashcroft said leaks of classified information represented a serious matter and anyone who purposefully leaks such information subordinates the national security "to some interests of their own."
The investigation stemmed from the disclosure in July that the wife of a former U.S. envoy in Iraq and Gabon, Joseph Wilson, was an undercover CIA officer specializing in weapons of mass destruction.
Wilson has charged that Bush administration officials made public his wife's name, Valerie Plame, in an act of revenge after he accused the White House of exaggerating the weapons threat from Iraq, Washington's main justification for going to war.
Wilson went to Niger early in 2002 at the CIA's request to assess a report that Iraq sought to buy uranium from Niger. Wilson found the allegation to be highly doubtful.
Asked about Bush's recent comment that the leaker may never be found, Ashcroft said, "I believe that we have been making progress that's valuable in this matter."
He said leak cases tend to be difficult, but not impossible, to solve and added that every effort would be made to get to "the bottom of this."
"I think what we are trying to do in the investigation is to develop an understanding of the source of leaks and the responsibility of any leaks. And when that information is clear, we will act upon it in ways that fulfill the justice requirements of this country," he said.
Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo said investigators were satisfied with the progress of the probe, including the cooperation of all government agencies involved.
The White House, the CIA, and the Defense and State Departments have been asked to turn over documents as part of the investigation.
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