Posted on 10/01/2003 3:20:05 AM PDT by kattracks
Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday that he will not appoint a special counsel to investigate the alleged White House "outing" of a CIA analyst married to a vocal critic of the Bush administration. Congressional Democrats continued to press for an "independent" investigation.
Ashcroft said the CIA requested an investigation last week.
"And after a prompt review of this request, the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, with the assistance of the FBI as the lead investigative agency, opened a full investigation, and that was last Friday," Ashcroft said. "The prosecutors and agents who are and will be handling this investigation are career professionals with extensive experience in handling matters involving sensitive national security information, and with experience relating to investigations of unauthorized disclosures of such information."
The attorney general has requested that both the White House and the CIA maintain any documents "that might be relevant to the investigation, to the extent not already done in the normal course of their activities. Ashcroft said that "such requests are standard procedures in investigations of this type." He also refused to answer any questions about the probe because it is "an ongoing criminal investigation."
Ashcroft's announcement came after former Ambassador Joseph Wilson admitted Tuesday morning that he had fabricated at least part of the story about White House advisor Karl Rove identifying Wilson's wife as a CIA employee.
"In one speech I gave out in Seattle not too long ago, I mentioned the name Karl Rove," Wilson told ABC's Good Morning America. "I think I was probably carried away by the spirit of the moment...I don't have any knowledge that Karl Rove himself was either the 'leaker' or the authorizer of the leak."
Almost immediately, however, Wilson again pointed the finger at Rove.
"I have great confidence that, at a minimum, [Rove] condoned it," Wilson alleged, "and certainly did nothing to shut it down."
Democrats blast Ashcroft, don't want to know if Wilson's wife was really a spy
Democrats, who seized on the issue Monday, continued to attack the Bush administration's credibility in general and Ashcroft specifically.
"We just think that for perception, for the sake of perception, I think there is always going to be a cloud hanging over whether or not this Justice Department, run by John Ashcroft, will ever have the objectivity and the independence to do the kind of investigation required," said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) "We don't have confidence in John Ashcroft."
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told CNSNews.com that focusing on who identified Wilson's wife as a CIA employee is "premature."
"I don't think the question is who it is. That's why, if we knew who it was, we wouldn't be asking for an investigation. I don't think that changes a thing," Schumer said. "We know that it was done. It's been reported it's been done by high up officials in the administration and in the White House, and we've got to get to the bottom of it."
Neither Schumer nor House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) would address reports that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, is actually a technical analyst for the agency, not an undercover officer in the CIA's clandestine service.
"That would not be something that I would be interested in confirming or denying at this time," Pelosi told reporters. "With the facts that I have before me, I'm calling for a special counsel because of reports that officials in the White House have disclosed the name of a clandestine officer."
Pelosi - who, in addition to her role as the highest-ranking Democrat in the House, is an ex-officio member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence - could legally confirm Plame's status with the CIA. Although Pelosi could not legally identify Plame as a clandestine officer, she could disclose if the former ambassador's wife was not an undercover agent.
Novak says Plame was a CIA analyst, not an undercover operative
The controversy began as the result of a trip Wilson took to Niger, where he had previously served as U.S. ambassador, on behalf of the CIA. He was sent to investigate claims that Saddam Hussein had tried to purchase uranium in that country, claims he concluded were false.
Wilson, who was the last U.S. ambassador in Iraq before the Gulf War, publicly criticized the Bush administration for including the uranium allegation in the president's State of the Union address.
Syndicated columnist Robert Novak commented on Wilson's report about that trip in his July 14 column and mentioned Wilson's wife as possibly being responsible for her husband being chosen for the assignment.
"Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction," Novak wrote. "Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate."
Responding to the charges that someone in the White House had intentionally put the career and possibly the life of an undercover CIA operative at stake as part of a political payback, and that he had been used as a pawn in the maneuver, Novak seemed almost livid.
"When I called the CIA in July, they confirmed Mrs. Wilson's involvement in a mission for her husband on a secondary basis," Novak said on CNN's Crossfire. "They asked me not to use her name but never indicated it would endanger her or anybody else."
Novak also disputed Democrats' claims that Wilson's wife was a secret agent.
"According to a confidential source at the CIA, Mrs. Wilson was an analyst, not a spy, not a covert operative and not in charge of undercover operatives," Novak added. "So what is the fuss about? Pure Bush bashing."
The career journalist, who has worked in Washington for 46 years, also criticized those who claimed the White House was "shopping the story" of Wilson's familial ties to the intelligence agency to friendly reporters.
"Nobody in the Bush administration called me to leak this. In July, I was interviewing a senior administration official on Ambassador Wilson's report when he told me the trip was inspired by his wife, a CIA employee working on weapons of mass destruction," Novak explained. "Another senior official told me the same thing."
Bush 'confident' in Justice Department, wants 'to know the truth'
Nonetheless, President Bush, traveling in Chicago, said he wants the source of the information identified.
"If there's a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. If the person has violated laws, that person will be taken care of," Bush warned. "I welcome the investigation, and I'm absolutely confident the Justice Department will do a good job."
The president hinted that someone, possibly Novak, could bring the probe to an end quickly.
"If anybody's got any information inside our administration or outside our administration, it would be helpful if they came forward with the information so that we can find out whether these allegations are true and get on about our business," Bush said.
Novak responded to a similar request earlier, saying: "I do not reveal confidential sources."
If Plame was, in fact, a CIA clandestine services officer, any government employee who divulged that fact could face 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000. Novak does not face prosecution, however. The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 (50 USC 421) exempts journalists from prosecution unless they engage in a "pattern of activities intended to identify and expose covert agents...with reason to believe that such activities would impair or impede the foreign intelligence activities of the United States."
See Earlier Story:
Bush Critic Suggests White House Used Dirty Tricks to Discredit Him (Sept. 30, 2003)
Listen to audio for this story.
E-mail a news tip to Jeff Johnson.
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We were informed last evening by the Department of Justice that it has opened an investigation into possible unauthorized disclosures concerning the identity of an undercover CIA employee.
Another happy Bush Basher I see.
Intelligence Identities Protection Act
1) The disclosure must have been made by someone with authorized access to classified information.
2) The disclosure must have been intentional.
3) The person accused must have known the agent identified was a covert operative.
4) The person accused must know the U.S. means to conceal the agent's intelligence relationship.
Those are the requirements for conviction.
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