Don't blame me! Blame that fellow behind the tree!
Speculation Over
Woodward Source
Draws Denials
By JOHN D. MCKINNON and ANNE MARIE SQUEO
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
November 18, 2005; Page A3
WASHINGTON -- The range of current and former administration officials who may have identified a CIA agent to the Washington Post's Bob Woodward narrowed as numerous officials denied they had spoken to the journalist about the covert operative.
Mr. Woodward, an assistant managing editor at the Post, testified Monday before the special prosecutor investigating the outing of Valerie Plame, a Central Intelligence Agency official, about interviews he conducted with three current and former Bush administration officials in June 2003.
After testifying, Mr. Woodward publicly said a Bush administration official told him in mid-June 2003 -- apparently before any other reporter -- that the wife of Joseph C. Wilson, a former ambassador who criticized the administration over the war in Iraq, worked at the CIA on weapons of mass destruction. The official came forward to the prosecutor recently to inform him of his conversation with Mr. Woodward, who was writing a book at the time. The journalist said he received a waiver of confidentiality from his source, allowing him to be deposed but not permitting him to publicly identify the person.
Vice President Dick Cheney isn't believed to have talked to Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald since last year, nor has he given a waiver to Mr. Woodward. That removes him as Mr. Woodward's source. Also ruled out are President Bush, who was interviewed by Mr. Woodward for his book, and Dan Bartlett, a senior adviser.
Others suspected of being sources for Mr. Woodward yesterday denied their involvement. Douglas Feith, former undersecretary of defense for policy, said he didn't talk to Mr. Woodward about Mr. Wilson and his wife, as did Carl Ford Jr., former assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research. A spokesman for former CIA Director George Tenet and his former deputy, John McLaughlin, said neither provided that information to Mr. Woodward.
A person speaking on behalf of former Secretary of State Colin Powell said he didn't share that information with the reporter, and a National Security Council official eliminated Stephen Hadley, the head of the NSC, as a possibility. Spokesmen for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was National Security Adviser at the time, and John Bolton, a former top State Department official and now U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said neither was Mr. Woodward's source.
Marc Grossman, a former undersecretary of state for political affairs known to have discussed Mr. Wilson's trip to Niger and his wife's CIA role with Mr. Libby, didn't respond to phone calls or an email seeking comment. A spokesman for Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, who remains under investigation in this case, said his client didn't discuss Ms. Plame with Mr. Woodward.
One official among those who knew of Ms. Plame's identify is former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. He was out of the country and hasn't responded to recent requests for comment on this subject.
Administration officials' discussions of the agent's identity with other reporters, a possible violation of federal law, prompted the CIA to seek a criminal investigation. That led late last month to an indictment of Mr. Cheney's then chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, on charges of obstruction of justice and lying to investigators. Prosecutors say Mr. Libby sought to cover up his role in disclosing details of the agent's identity to other reporters. He has denied the charges, but he resigned his post and was quickly replaced by Mr. Cheney's general counsel. Yesterday a person familiar with the situation said the vice president was expected to name Shannen Coffin, a Washington lawyer who has previously represented him in litigation over his energy task force, as his new general counsel.
Mr. Fitzgerald, in a news conference yesterday in Chicago related to his job as U.S. attorney there, declined to comment on the late-hour involvement of Mr. Woodward in the case and what it could mean to his investigation, which had appeared to be winding down just a few weeks ago.
The identity of the agent, Ms. Plame, wasn't widely known before her cover was blown in a column by Robert Novak in July 2003. Only a small number of people had knowledge of her job in the counter-proliferation division at the CIA at that time.
The other two sources Mr. Fitzgerald asked Mr. Woodward about were Andrew Card, the White House chief of staff, and Mr. Libby. Mr. Woodward told Mr. Fitzgerald that he has no recollection that either man discussed Ms. Plame with him. |
