Novak: Rove confirmed Plame's identity

Ziggurat said:
That's nice that you think that, but Fitzgerald, who not only knows more about the law than both of us but also has access to a whole lot more of the facts, apparently doesn't really think Rove fits into any such category.
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I think you are overstating your case a bit here. Fitzgerald has elected not to indict Rove. It is a big leap from that fact to inferences about what Fitzgerald really thinks. It is farily routine, I imagine, for prosecutors to think that somebody is guilty but decide against prosecution. My guess that is exactly what happened here.

One thing of some interest to me, is that Novak seems to have learned about Plame prior to the release of Wilson's piece. It seems like there are two ways to view that fact.
1. The administration was planting the seeds to discredit Wilson early on because they realized that his information and the information of others was not consistent with the story they were telling.
2. The release of Plame's CIA role, initially at least, was truly inadvertent.

Even given an early, inadvertent release of Plame's CIA role, it is surprising that the administration didn't do everything possible to contain that leak. I see two possible explanations:
1. The administration seized on the opportunity of the inadvertent leak to discredit Wilson.
2. The administration didn't think revealing Plame's CIA role was all that big a deal (because it wasn't) and they just decided to allow it to be confirmed rather than work to keep it secret by requiring Novak to not release the information about Plame.
 
davefoc said:
It is farily routine, I imagine, for prosecutors to think that somebody is guilty but decide against prosecution. My guess that is exactly what happened here.
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You're right, that is a possibility. But we don't know, and there's nothing beyond guesswork that Rove, or anyone else for that matter, actually broke any laws.

One thing of some interest to me, is that Novak seems to have learned about Plame prior to the release of Wilson's piece. It seems like there are two ways to view that fact.
1. The administration was planting the seeds to discredit Wilson early on because they realized that his information and the information of others was not consistent with the story they were telling.
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Wilson's actual report to the CIA (as opposed to what he wrote about publicly) actually supported the administration position: he found out that high-ranking Iraqi officials had visited Niger for some sort of trade talk, and even though it appears no sales were made, that's suggestive that they did try to obtain uranium. And remember: that Iraq sought uranium, and not that Iraq obtained uranium, was the administration's claim. So based only on what Wilson reported, it would not have made any sense to attempt to discredit him before he went public with pretty much the reverse position. If they made a decision to discredit him prior to the publication of his column, it would need to be based on more than what he reported to the CIA.
 
Upchurch said:
I knew it was her maiden name. I hadn't heard that she was using Plame as her covert name.
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According to articles available, Plame used various identities when working as a covert agent. For her front company, Brewster-Jennings & Associates, she listed her name as "Valerie Brewster," the sole employee of the company.

However, in 1999 she made a contribution as Valerie Wilson to Al Gore's campaign and listed her employer as Brewster-Jennings & Associates. Anyone with a bit of wherewithal could have discovered something very fishy was going on, as she was already listed in Who's Who as Valerie Plame. In the world of intel and counter-intel, it simply would have been a matter of connecting the dots, not to mention that she drove to work at CIA headquarters at Langley every day.

In a way, Plame outed herself or at the very least blew her own cover long before the Novak article came out. That's not to mention that either she or Joe Wilson disclosed her CIA status to her brother and another family member previously as well, as Joe Wilson admitted in an interview.

Those considerations were likely known to Fitzgerald and he also likely knew they would make for a dificult case of claiming Plame was covert, even if she actually was. I don't believe she was covert at the time, just in a classified position, or else Fitzgerald would have specifically stated so. He has not.
 
Apollyon said:
According to articles available, Plame used various identities when working as a covert agent. For her front company, Brewster-Jennings & Associates, she listed her name as "Valerie Brewster," the sole employee of the company.

However, in 1999 she made a contribution as Valerie Wilson to Al Gore's campaign and listed her employer as Brewster-Jennings & Associates. Anyone with a bit of wherewithal could have discovered something very fishy was going on, as she was already listed in Who's Who as Valerie Plame.
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I don't understand. How does this indicate that "Valerie Plame" was used as her covert name?

And what is your source for the 1999 donation?
 
DaChew said:
Why don't we go on ahead and read what Novak actually said rather than what CNN says Novak said?

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=15988

It should be noted that Novak said in his column that he had two sources: a primary source for the information, the identity of which he continues to withhold and a secondary source he used to confirm the information from the primary source. The secondary source, Novak says, was Karl Rove. Therefore, it is untrue to say that Rove was the source of the leak.

Novak goes on to say that he got Valerie Plame's name originally from "Who's Who". In other words, Joe Wilson is married to Valerie Wilson who works at the State Department. Which was not a secret. "Who's Who" lists Joe Wilson's wife as Valerie Plame, a person known to work for the CIA. How does "Who's Who" get their information? People write their own bios for "Who's Who" so that "Who's Who" can turn around and sell them a "Who's Who" book. Whoever wrote the bio outed Valerie Wilson as Valerie Plame.
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Deborah Orin, Washington Bureau Chief of the NY Post (like in Fox News's NY Post) had an item buried on page 19 today (July 13) which says:

http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/powell_aide_seen_as_novaks_leaker_nationalnews_deborah_orin________bureau_chief.htm


"Renewed speculation centered on Colin Powell's top aide Richard Armitage as the original leaker in the Valerie Plame case yesterday after columnist Robert Novak's latest revelations.
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No comment from Armitage on this latest speculation since he's "off-shore" somewhere ... er, out in the Gulf of Mexico says the Post. Other stories on Armitage has him in Tokyo and in Korea today as well. I guess nobody really knows where he is.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/15025157.htm
 
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*ahem*
Former CIA Officer Sues Cheney Over Leak
The timing is remarkable, isn't it?

From the CNN link in the OP:
Harlow was not available for public comment on Novak's latest account. But a former intelligence official said Harlow did not know what Plame's position at the CIA was at first and that he tried to talk Novak out of publishing her name when he did find out, making it clear the disclosure could be damaging.

Novak has said his recollection of their conversation differs.
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Maybe Novak didn't want to be named in the suit?
 
Upchurch said:
I knew it was her maiden name. I hadn't heard that she was using Plame as her covert name.
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Oh. I was under the impression that Plame was her covert name and that's why it would be illegal to identify her as Valerie Wilson. However, Apollyon points out that Plame must've been only one of her covert names (if it was, I'm still confused about that). In any event, that does answer my question - she had at least one covert name that was not Plame.
 
DaChew said:
Oh. I was under the impression that Plame was her covert name and that's why it would be illegal to identify her as Valerie Wilson. However, Apollyon points out that Plame must've been only one of her covert names (if it was, I'm still confused about that). In any event, that does answer my question - she had at least one covert name that was not Plame.
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I don't think the issue ever was whether or not people knew that Valerie Wilson/Plame was married to Joseph Wilson. "Naming her" in this case does not mean knowing her actual name, but rather identifying her as a CIA operative.

Novak's Who's Who reference, as I still understand it, is a red herring. It was the "Wilson's wife, who works for the CIA, yadda yadda yadda" that was the problem.
 
I believe that if Plame truly were considered "covert" when she was outed, information to verify that claim would have been leaked from the CIA by now. Certain factions in the CIA haven't been shy about leaking far more important secrets. There's no reason why they'd withhold from disclosing Plame as covert if she actually was.
 
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