Posted on 07/23/2005 10:34:08 AM PDT by wagglebee
The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into whether Democratic Senators Dick Durbin, Jay Rockefeller and Ron Wyden leaked details about a secret "black ops" CIA satellite program last December in a move that may have seriously compromised national security, former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Jed Babbin said on Saturday.
"The CIA made a request to the Justice Department to investigate and possibly bring criminal charges against these three [senators]," Babbin told WABC Radio host Monica Crowley. "My information is that investigation is ongoing."
Mr. Rockefeller is the Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Mr. Durbin is the number two ranking Democrat in the Senate.
Media reports on the satellite leak last December indicated that the Bush administration was concerned about public comments by Durbin, Rockefeller and Wyden and that the CIA had requested a Justice Department probe.
"The formal request for a leaks investigation would target people who described sensitive details about a new generation of spy satellites to The Washington Post, which published a page-one story about the espionage program Saturday [Dec. 11, 2004]," a Justice Department official told the Associated Press at the time.
But the same official told the AP that Justice "has not decided whether to investigate."
Former Deputy Undersecretary Babbin's comments on Saturday were the first indication that such a probe was actually launched and is ongoing.
"The fact of the matter is that [Durbin, Rockefeller and Wyden] divulged something that was above and beyond top secret and frankly, they probably blew the strategy and the hundreds of millions of dollars that were being spent to pursue it," he told Crowley.
"The acknowledgement of [the "black ops" program's] existence is not even proper and the acknowledgement of them and the details of them can very well damage national security," Babbin added.
Asked if he thought the three Senate Democrats should have their security clearances revoked for the duration of the leak probe, the former Defense Department official said, "Absolutely and forthwith. I mean, they should have been revoked at the time of the leak."
"There's really not much doubt about the leak having occurred," Babbin told Crowley. "It's in the press records, it's in the Congressional record. We know what they did."
"The only question," he explained, "is how much damage was done by the leak. And that's part of the criminal investigation right now - to do a damage assessment, to figure out how much this is going to cost us strategically and militarily."
...Of course, this has been all over the MSM. The media is outraged by this leak.
NOT.......
Not is right. This is the first I've heard of it.
"Those wimpy Republicans better do something about the fifth column Democrats. Durbin releases a false FBI memo the sole purpose of which is to undermine the war and our troops!
Now he's releasing classified secrets? No, It must be Rove."
I bet we now get Bolton confirmed very quickly.
Sorry for the confusion.
ping
Thanks for the explanation. :-) Sac
I happened to catch this bit on MSNBC. I don't usually watch Monica because I can't stand Ron Reagan, but as I recall it, NewsMax is exact in their quoting of Jed Bannin. I nearly fell off of the chair.
Now, none of us can tell if Babbin knows what he is talking about, but we can hope.
I might try to dig up the Congressional Record on this to see just how much info the RATs gave up. If they used a code name, they're in deep doo-doo.
It would be of special interest to see when the probe began..... Pre Rove rant?
I'v maintained that the Rove controversy was pre emptive. Now I know why.
Send em to Gitmo....Durbin needs to go on a diet of Muslim food...and he needs a Koran to read...and a mat to shit (opps)sit on....
In fact, lets send all the Democrats there, good place for them...while Fat Boy was there, we didn't hear a peep out of him...
awwww the quite of it all.....
I would argue this thread might indicate otherwise. Always is an incorect description because in the present some action appears to be in process.
Rats can whale away at windmills but if Pubbies draw blood it will be a great victory even if not publicized by the MSM.
I think the entire SP investigation involves a CIA leak to Judy Miller. There could be quite a little CIA "leak" infrastructure involved here, reaching as far as the Senate. I don't think Porter Goss will let this one rest.
I don't have time now, but we do have our own posts on FR about this. I found a few of them. I think one came from the NYT. I think I just searched LEAK, and found them.
That's good news. I say this because I have very often gotten my hopes up with NewsMax reports, and it has always turned out that they have creatively patched together bits of things that people have said, or that they are simply publishing their opinion as the factual headline.
I know that the MSM does this all the time, but liberals are too stupid to know or care anyway.
Sounds positive. I keep having this little flicker of hope that there have been some investigations quietly going on in the background.
To me - granted, knowing nothing about this from the inside- it sounds as though the CIA was a true nest of vipers that was virtually hypnotized by its political connections to the Clinton regime, and which valued its political bias more than anything else, including national security.
Let's see.........
On a scale of 1-10, Rove's so-called leak, at the most is a .05, while these idiots rank a 15.9!
Monica also asked him about Leahy's role in leaking the details of OBL's satt phone being tapped. I had read this a few years ago in a book and I could never find out who leaked it. Way to go liberal scum.
Thanks! I sent a letter to the LA Times since I live in LA. At the end I said if they don't mention the Satellite outing then I'll know once and for all which side of this war they are on - the terrorists!
Leave contrasting articles on their breakfast table for reading first thing in the morning!
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