"We'll start with the C.I.A.," said an F.B.I. official" - NY Times

[tinnypriv]

Looks like the Feds are on the case!

...

Soon after Mr. Novak's column first appeared, Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, pressed Mr. Ashcroft to open a criminal investigation, and the C.I.A. referred the issue in late July to the Justice Department.

Mr. Ashcroft decided during the past several days to move ahead with a preliminary inquiry, and the Justice Department notified the F.B.I. late today that the bureau would lead the investigation.

"We'll start with the C.I.A.," said an F.B.I. official. "They're the ones that held the information, so we'll go from there to find out who had access to it."

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/30/politics/30LEAK.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=

[thebigidea]

1. AAHHAHA! The Crisco Kid is ON THE CASE!

Our Ashcroft
who art insulting
contemptable be thy name...

quick! send out oldtime bushie coverup boy Mueller!

[Nottingham]

2. Oh Great The CIA! Isn't this getting ugly having the FBI

walking around investigating and getting into the computer databases of Secret Intelligence Agency! Maybe Shutting Down the CIA! Police agency in getting records and databases with a open warrant to go after anything in the CIA!! THIS IS GETTING UGLY! And I hope we get testimony about the frequent visits of Cheney there!

That was freakin Brilliant when the CIA conducted their own Investigation and gave the work to Aschcroft!

This is going to get a bit crazy! And UGLY!!

[Carmerian]

4. Nah, this shouldn't be a problem

CIA and the FBI love each other very much and only want to do what is best for the country.

Pass the popcorn, the show's about to start.

[thebigidea]

5. ah, hysterical... cartoonish rivalries play out on a cardboard stage

I wonder when we'll find out the full extent of the war between agencies.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. The FBI has been helping congress dismantle the CIA since

the early 90s. There were turf wars going on in the last decade which is the reason the two agencies didn't talk to each other, or share information prior to 9/11. I'm sure this is going to improve the situation.

[grytpype]

3. Huh? Don't they know who the leakers are?

I'd be amazed if the CIA letter wasn't very, very detailed and included names. I'll bet it's a tome.

[fizzana]

6. Fucking brilliant

Why don't we start looking where we know where the answers aren't.

[0rganism]

7. Translation: "Start purging the C.I.A."

If the CIA guys start, uh, "leaking" sensitive information about Bushco, things could start looking grim for a bush* election. So there's gonna be a shut-up-or-die sweep of some sort.

On the other hand, purging the CIA will require bush* to dig deep into its pockets, probably paying out to various organized crime families. This can be done in the guise of campaigning, if the crime families are willing to front as "grass roots political organizations".

[baby_bear]

8. Is Novak changing his story, and if so, why?

This is from his July column that started it all:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20030714.shtml

<snip>
Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him.
</snip>

This is from the NYTimes article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/30/politics/30LEAK.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=
<snip>
Mr. Novak disclosed in his column that although Mr. Wilson never worked for the C.I.A., his wife, Valerie Plame, "is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction" and that "two senior administration officials" told him that she was the one who suggested sending him to Africa.

Speaking on CNN today, Mr. Novak said, "Nobody in the Bush administration called me to leak this." Instead, he said he was doing reporting on Mr. Wilson's Africa trip when a senior administration official told him the trip was inspired by his wife.

It is a felony for any official with access to classified information to disclose the identity of a covert American agent. Mr. Novak said he did not believe that was the situation.

He said he checked with the C.I.A., which asked him not to use Ms. Plame's name but gave him no indication that doing so would endanger her or anyone else. He also suggested that Ms. Plame might not have been an undercover agent.

"According to a confidential source at the C.I.A., Mrs. Wilson was an analyst, not a spy, not a covert operative, and not in charge of undercover operatives," he said.

</snip>

Is Novak just blowing smoke now that he's stirred the pot (and perhaps running scared)? He clearly stated in the July column that Plame was an "agency operative" on WMD. Is he back-pedaling now, or was he lying then, or what?

very strange

s_m

[JackRiddler]

13. How to contradict yourself by repeating yourself...

Novak's original column:

"Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report."

So according to the usual rules of sourcing, in the second sentence he is implicitly stating it's senior admin who told him (i.e., leaked out) that Wilson's wife was CIA.

Novak's pretended retraction:

Speaking on CNN today, Mr. Novak said, "Nobody in the Bush administration called me to leak this." Instead, he said he was doing reporting on Mr. Wilson's Africa trip when a senior administration official told him the trip was inspired by his wife.

So who was the source that Plame is CIA? The same senior admin official(s) as in the original column! Perhaps they didn't call him explicitly "to leak this," but that's only his assessment of their motivation. Call him they did, leak it they did, and that is what he is actually saying.

I like this part, in which Novak then claims he called the CIA to confirm Plame's status, and they denied it:

"According to a confidential source at the C.I.A., Mrs. Wilson was an analyst, not a spy, not a covert operative, and not in charge of undercover operatives," he said.

Aha! CIA, back then, denied she's an agent. Well duh! That's what they always do.

But now they're saying she WAS, and in either one of Novak's versions, the leak to Novak about Plame's status remains the senior admin official(s).

Sure, Novak's squirming, but he's locked in. The drama now is between Tenet and Bush mob. Since Tenet is STILL there after 9/11 and after "falling on his sword" about the yellowcake lie (since when does one survive falling on one's sword?), I have to think he has the goods on Bush mob and is out (on his own or someone else's behalf) to cut them down to size.

[DrBB]

10. How about we start with WH phone records

...the ones they were so free and easy with when trying to smear Clark last week? Can't exactly claim executive privilege if you've been handing 'em out freely to any reichpundit who asks, can you?

[Padraig18]

11. I'll bet...

... that the CIA already has an VERY detailed dossier printed, bound and suitable for gift-wrapping. Bet they have LOTS of copies, too, just in case the ones the FBI gets hold of get 'lost', or something! :P

I'm gonna make some popcorn, and sit back and watch the fur fly. :bounce:

[PATRICK]

12. Don't ask, don't tell

Who in the CIA violated the WH policy?

Oh and it's sand in the wound day when we are informed Bush is too busy saving the world to bother about such insubstantial minutuae.

He is on the campaign trail raising money in Ohio, which considering the
weak Dems and the new voting machines there is really gilding the lily.