Case of C.I.A. Officer's Leaked Identity Takes New Turn

In the same week in July 2003 in which Bush administration officials told a syndicated columnist and a Time magazine reporter that a C.I.A. officer had initiated her husband's mission to Niger, an administration official provided a Washington Post reporter with a similar account.

Mr. Pincus has not identified his source to the public. But a review of Mr. Pincus's own accounts and those of other people with detailed knowledge of the case strongly suggest that his source was neither Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's top political adviser, nor I. Lewis Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, and was in fact a third administration official whose identity has not yet been publicly disclosed.

4. Judith Miller's source is/was in the CIA

This is the most likely option, I think - after Joe Wilson's July 6, 2003 op-ed was published, Miller surely probed her WMD sources for info and from her series on WMD she most certainly had one or more good sources in the CIA. Might have been Tenet himself, might have been some other(s). She might well have previously known of Valerie Plame from researching WMD issues, but If she did learn about Valerie Plame from a CIA source, even one no longer with the agency, she would be most anxious to keep it under wraps. The whole thing about the source signing a release that might be 'coerced' could just be a red herring if in fact her source was someone who could not be coerced in that way because he was now ex-CIA...... that's my take on it, fwiw.....

Actually, after writing my previous post I am thinking about a case that Joe Wilson would indeed have become a key source for Miller immediately after 7/6/03, even though she did not get to the point of writing an article:

Miller was the resident "WMD expert" for the NY Times and had written a whole series of articles that were under harsh fire in the aftermath of the Iraq war. When Joe Wilson emerged on the scene with his confused fantasies of self-importance, Miller above all other journalists would have felt compelled to get a handle on the whole "Niger uranium" issue as quickly and as thoroughly as possible - this was her 'turf' and her whole reputation was under attack. It is difficult to doubt that she would have gone after an interview with Wilson as quickly as possible, for she considered the whole WMD thing to be her territory....

The careless braggart Joe Wilson probably used his wife's role for added credibility in talking with Miller and other journalists. Also, he very probably had Miller over to the house for drinks, and Valerie was there, and one thing led to another.....

Just my speculations, but how could Judith Miller continue her status as the resident WMD expert at the NY Times and in American journalism (and try to restore her reputation), without going right after the Wilson-Niger-uranium story on all cylinders, just as hard as possible????

Why didn't she write a story before the legal issues arose??? She may have been distrustful of Joe Wilson's pompous bragging, she may have known enough (much more than other journalists) to realize how preposterous it was for anyone to claim they had debunked all possible Iraqi interest in uranium from Africa based upon Joe Wilson's trivial conversations with non-entities, she may very well have wanted to nail down a lot more elusive aspects of the story before going to print, etc. etc.

Anyway, she was still trying to nail down the story a lot more thoroughly than other journalists when the stuff began to hit the fan with the Special Prosecutor.....

DISCLAIMER: This is all just my semi-conscious speculation...... :^)

Is it my imagination, or does the Washington MSM elites just need another Deep Throat since whatever his name is outted himself?

Absolutely...IF Deep Throat is leaking against a Republican president. We saw what happened to Gary Aldrich and Linda Tripp when they had the audacity to leak the misconduct of the Clinton gang. The MSM attacked the leak in order to defend the Dimwits' control of power.

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