Authors: James B. Stewart
Tags: #History, #United States, #General, #Law, #Ethics & Professional Responsibility
Tangled Webs (28 page)
The article seems to have been a classic case of Libby getting more than he bargained for when he called Cooper to complain about the first article. For Libby was the only administration official in the story quoted by name. Although he wasn’t explicitly identified as one of the government officials who told Cooper about Wilson’s wife, he might as well have been: all signs pointed to him.
R
emarkably, it apparently didn’t occur to anyone at a White House purportedly focused on national security that identifying a CIA officer might be a breach of security. It took two
Newsday
reporters, Timothy Phelps and Knut Royce, to point out that naming a CIA operative might put that person in danger, compromise U.S. intelligence efforts, and undermine national security. It might also be a crime. “Columnist Blows CIA Agent’s Cover” ran in
Newsday
on July 22, more than a week after Novak’s column:
emarkably, it apparently didn’t occur to anyone at a White House purportedly focused on national security that identifying a CIA officer might be a breach of security. It took two
Newsday
reporters, Timothy Phelps and Knut Royce, to point out that naming a CIA operative might put that person in danger, compromise U.S. intelligence efforts, and undermine national security. It might also be a crime. “Columnist Blows CIA Agent’s Cover” ran in
Newsday
on July 22, more than a week after Novak’s column:
Wilson and a retired CIA official said yesterday that the “senior administration officials” who named Plame had, if their description of her employment was accurate, violated the law and may have endangered her career and possibly the lives of her contacts in foreign countries. Plame could not be reached for comment. . . .“If what the two senior administration officials said is true,” Wilson said, “they will have compromised an entire career of networks, relationships and operations.” What’s more, it would mean that “this White House has taken an asset out of” the weapons of mass destruction fight, “not to mention putting at risk any contacts she might have had where the services are hostile.”
Novak himself told
Newsday
that his sources in the administration had pushed the story on him. “I didn’t dig it out, it was given to me. They thought it was significant, they gave me the name and I used it,” he said.
Newsday
that his sources in the administration had pushed the story on him. “I didn’t dig it out, it was given to me. They thought it was significant, they gave me the name and I used it,” he said.
Washington loves a mystery, and this was the biggest leak mystery since the identity of Watergate’s Deep Throat: Who had revealed Plame’s identity and CIA role to Novak?
This was no ordinary leak either. Novak had identified his sources as “two administration officials,” and given the subject’s position as a covert CIA agent, the leak might well be a federal crime under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.
Whoever, having or having had authorized access to classified information that identifies a covert agent, intentionally discloses any information identifying such covert agent to any individual not authorized to receive classified information, knowing that the information disclosed so identifies such covert agent and that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such covert agent’s intelligence relationship to the United States, shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.–U.S. Code Title 50, Section 421(a).
Congress called for an inquiry and the rest of the media jumped on the story. On August 21, at a public conference on the handling of intelligence, Wilson said that the leak of his wife’s name should be investigated, and added, “At the end of the day, it’s of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs. And trust me, when I use that name, I measure my words.” He didn’t elaborate, but fingering Karl Rove, Bush’s senior political adviser in the White House, and the architect of Bush’s successful campaign, had the effect of pouring fuel on the media fire. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said allegations of any involvement in the leak by Rove were “totally ridiculous.”
The CIA, its relations with the White House already strained over its role in Iraqi intelligence, responded with a formal request to the Department of Justice to investigate the possible criminal offense of revealing Plame’s identity. On September 26, the Department of Justice formally launched its investigation, which triggered another wave of media attention and speculation about the identity of Novak’s two sources. Novak himself said nothing further, intensifying the mystery.
That week White House press conferences were consumed by more questions about the leak investigation and the identity of the leakers. McClellan said repeatedly that the “president believes the leaking of classified information is a very serious matter,” that it should be “pursued to the fullest extent,” and that no one in his administration was authorized to do such a thing. Asked about Rove as a possible source, he reiterated that the president “knows” Rove wasn’t involved, and added, “It’s a ridiculous suggestion in the first place. . . . I said that it’s not true. And I have spoken with Karl Rove.” Then a reporter asked McClellan about I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the vice president’s chief of staff.
“If you have any specific information to bring to my attention–like I said, there has been nothing that’s been brought to our attention. You asked me earlier if we were looking into it, there is nothing that’s been brought to our attention beyond the media reports. But if someone did something like this, it needs to be looked at by the Department of Justice, they’re the appropriate agency charged with looking into matters like this. . . . I think we could go down the White House directory of every single staff member and play that game. I’m not going to do that. What I’ve made clear is that if anybody has information relating to this, they need to report it to the Department of Justice, and the Department of Justice should pursue it to the fullest. It is a serious matter. But I’m not going to go down a list of every single staffer in the White House.”
But Libby subsequently complained to Andrew Card, Bush’s chief of staff, and McClellan, saying it wasn’t fair to exonerate Rove and not him. As Libby recalled, “There was no list to go down. The only people they were really talking about was me. . . . I felt it was unfair they were saying that about Karl and not about me when there was no long list, it was just . . . as far as I was concerned there were only two of us that were getting a lot of attention in part because of this, you know, the one time I had gone on the record at the vice president’s request, put my name on something.” But Card and McClellan disagreed.
Later in the summer, Libby was with the vice president in Wyoming, where he rented a condo to be near Cheney’s home. Speculation that he was a Novak source had continued unabated, but White House press secretary Scott McClellan refused to clear Libby’s name, telling reporters he wasn’t “going to go down a list of every single staffer.” Libby called McClellan. “Look, there is no list. There’s not a long list, there’s just the two of us and I think you ought to be saying something about me too.”
Back in Washington, Libby went to the vice president, who was sitting at his desk. “You know, I was not the person who talked to Novak.”
“You don’t have to tell me. I know you were not the source of the leak,” Cheney replied.
Libby had gone so far as to draft some talking points for McClellan, writing about himself in the third person:
“I said it was ridiculous about Karl and it’s ridiculous about Libby. Libby was not the source for the Novak story, period. And he did not leak classified information, period.” Libby handed his notes to Cheney.
“Let me take it,” Cheney said.
The vice president subsequently added his own notes to Libby’s:
“Has to happen today. Call out to key press saying same thing about Scooter as Karl. Not going to protect one staffer and sacrifice the guy that was asked to stick his neck in the meat grinder because of the incompetence of others.”
At Cheney’s behest, McClellan spoke directly to Libby. According to McClellan, he called Libby in Jackson Hole, where he was with the vice president, and asked, “Were you involved in the leak in any way?”
“No, absolutely not,” Libby replied.
“All right. I plan to tell reporters that you did not leak the classified information, nor would you condone doing so. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
(McClellan later described Libby as “never one for many words.”)
On October 4, the
New York Times
reported, “2 Disclaim Leaking Name of Operative”:
New York Times
reported, “2 Disclaim Leaking Name of Operative”:
The White House on Saturday added to the list of senior officials who it said had disclaimed responsibility.Spokesmen said I. Lewis Libby, the chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, and Elliott Abrams, the director of Middle East affairs at the National Security Council, were not sources of the leak. The White House has said the same of Karl Rove, the president’s chief political adviser.Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said that Mr. Libby “neither leaked the classified information, nor would he condone it.”
It was a small story and ran deep in the paper. But Libby had gotten the official vindication he’d asked for.
That same week, President Bush flew to Chicago, where he, too, was dogged by questions about the leak. During a news conference with Mayor Richard Daley, the president turned to the subject:
“Let me just say something about leaks in Washington. There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There’s leaks at the executive branch; there’s leaks in the legislative branch. There’s just too many leaks. And if there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of.
“And so I welcome the investigation. . . . I have told . . . people in my administration to be fully cooperative. I want to know the truth.
“If anybody has got any information, . . . it would be helpful if they came forward with the information so we can find out whether or not these allegations are true and get on about our business.”
A reporter interrupted: “Yesterday we were told that Karl Rove had no role in it.”
“Listen, I know of nobody–I don’t know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I’d like to know it, and we’ll take the appropriate action. And this investigation is a good thing. . . . I want to know who the leakers are.”
FIVE
“All the Reporters Know It”
F
BI special agent John C. Eckenrode’s wife, Linda, sounded excited when he answered her call on September 28, 2003. “Are you watching the news?” He wasn’t. “It’s about a CIA agent who was outed. There’s going to be an investigation. The Justice Department may be involved,” she continued. “Is this going to be assigned to you?”
BI special agent John C. Eckenrode’s wife, Linda, sounded excited when he answered her call on September 28, 2003. “Are you watching the news?” He wasn’t. “It’s about a CIA agent who was outed. There’s going to be an investigation. The Justice Department may be involved,” she continued. “Is this going to be assigned to you?”
“I haven’t heard anything,” he said.
But Jack Eckenrode was an obvious choice. At age fifty, he was the only senior agent in Washington who already had experience in a sensitive leak case with national security overtones. That afternoon, Bruce Gebhardt, the FBI’s deputy director, stopped by his office in the sprawling FBI headquarters building. “Do you want it?” Gebhardt asked, referring to the Plame case.
“Sure,” Eckenrode replied. You don’t turn down the deputy director.
“Then you got it. What do you need for resources? You can have anybody from the Washington field office.”
Despite all the media attention, it wasn’t exactly a plum assignment. Leak cases had a notorious reputation within the FBI for never getting resolved, which generally seemed to be the way the Justice Department wanted it. That way there were no political repercussions, no embarrassment to high-level officials caught leaking, and above all, no clashes with the press over sources, with the inevitable criticism that would result. Eckenrode often wondered why they bothered to investigate these cases at all. He couldn’t think of a single leak case that had been successfully prosecuted, including the last one he’d worked on, the leak of a confidential congressional briefing to a CNN reporter. Evidence had pointed to Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama as the source, but the Justice Department didn’t want to issue subpoenas to reporters or pursue the case. The matter was referred to the Senate ethics committee, where it languished. “At no time during my career as a United States senator and, more particularly, at no time during my service as chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have I ever knowingly compromised classified information,” Shelby said in a carefully worded statement.
Eckenrode looked the part of a senior FBI agent: tall, square-jawed with dark hair, in good physical shape. He’d grown up in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, graduated from St. Francis College, and as an FBI agent helped investigate fraud after the savings-and-loan crisis. He was quietly determined that this new case, the Plame leak, not suffer the same fate as the Shelby investigation.
Of the dozen or so agents offered him from the DC field office, Eckenrode settled on Deborah Bond and several other younger agents, those he felt had energy and determination, who weren’t jaded by the failure of previous leak investigations. Their mandate was to investigate a possible violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act prohibiting disclosure of the identity of a covert agent and any related crimes.
Their primary focus was the two sources mentioned in Novak’s column, which had triggered the investigation. But the agents also had a copy of Matt Cooper’s online article for
Time
reporting that “some government officials” had leaked Plame’s identity to him as well. Who were these administration officials, and how many were leaking Plame’s name to
Time
? Eckenrode wondered. Was the Novak leak part of a broader White House effort to “out” Plame and discredit her husband? All Eckenrode and his team had to go on were the Novak and Cooper articles.
Time
reporting that “some government officials” had leaked Plame’s identity to him as well. Who were these administration officials, and how many were leaking Plame’s name to
Time
? Eckenrode wondered. Was the Novak leak part of a broader White House effort to “out” Plame and discredit her husband? All Eckenrode and his team had to go on were the Novak and Cooper articles.
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