Novak told not to out Plame but he did it anyway

[donsu]

http://www.prospect.org/print-friendly/webfeatures/2004/02/waas-m-02-12.html

Plame Gate
Did Robert Novak willfully disregard warnings that his column would endanger Valerie Plame? Our sources say "yes."

Two government officials have told the FBI that conservative columnist Robert Novak was asked specifically not to publish the name of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame in his now-famous July 14 newspaper column. The two officials told investigators they warned Novak that by naming Plame he might potentially jeopardize her ability to engage in covert work, stymie ongoing intelligence operations, and jeopardize sensitive overseas sources.

-snip-

The two administration officials questioned by the FBI characterized Novak's statements as untrue and misleading, according to a government official and an attorney official familiar with the FBI interviews.

-snip-

The two officials say Novak was told, as one source put it, that Plame's work for the CIA "went much further than her being an analyst," and that publishing her name would be "hurtful" and could stymie ongoing intelligence operations and jeopardize her overseas sources.

-snip-

(After Novak's column appeared, an anonymous administration official said the CIA warned Novak of "security concerns" that would arise if he were to publish Plame's name. Novak has disputed that account as well.)
-spin-
-----------------------------

will the cops bop him?

[Loonman]

1. Traitor

What a scumbag that Novak is.

No integrity, whatsoever.

[Richardo]

2. As are the numbnuts that told him....

...they should be on adjoining gurneys for the big injection. :grr:

[demnan]

3. In this herd of liars

who lied the most?

[Bozola]

7. Yep. A pack of liars. Arrest 'em all.

Two government officials have told the FBI that conservative columnist Robert Novak was asked specifically not to publish the name of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame

For they ALL broke some pretty serious federal laws.

What were these "officials" doing giving some of the most sensitive information to a private citizen who makes a career blabbing every bit of gossip he gets?

[On the Road]

4. My Problems with this Explanation Are:

(1) Why would they share unecessary details about a covert operative if they were intended to go no farther than Novak?

(2) How could this information have been used without identifying Plame?

I understand the logic, if not the ethics, or exposing Plame as a warning to her husband. But I don't understand the logic of two officials giving the information to Novak and telling him not to use it.

Can anyone help me on this? It sounds like a bullshit excuse that doesn't make sense.

[Doctor_J]

5. Blame transfer

the 3 or 4 wingnuts who buy this can say, "See? The actual treason was committed by Novak, not Cheney!"

[Bozola]

9. Someone should write Nofacts and ask

"How does it feel to be abandoned and setup as the fall guy by the administration you love sooooo much?"

Too damn precious.

[Love Bug]

8. *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*

Was what they were doing when they told Novack "not" to out Plame. What a bunch of liars. "Funny" thing is, they're now willing to let Novak take the fall. Goes to show there really is no honor among thieves.

[BillZBubb]

10. The officials were asked by Novak to verify on Plame

They did not offer the original information. According to Novak, his White House source told him about Plame. He then contacted people he knew in the CIA to see if it was true and to determine the repercussions for outing her.

If the story of these two officials is true, Novak is in deep ethical trouble. He may not have any legal worries because of the way the laws are written. He should be finished as a journalist. We can all hope.

[NoKingGeorge]

12. It would be very difficult to verify if you did not know the Info

and to know this information takes a high level security clearance. The one with that clearance would have had to tell it to the two Verifiers OR the one with high level clearance verified it and is guilty of treason.

[xxqqqzme]

19. I don't understand

why he has not been fired! Considering the consequences of what he did - what he did IS illegal after all - why is he still on air?

He is still on air because......??

[Dookus]

20. Novak did nothing illegal

and I wouldn't want to live in a country where journalists are jailed for telling the truth.

I don't like Novak, and what he did was despicable, but not illegal.

The government is responsible for keeping its own secrets. Somebody in the White House broke the law, but Novak did not.

[Zero Gravitas]

6. Riiiight

What BS. They are just trying to cover their own sorry lying butts.

[HootieMcBoob]

11. Question?

Were the two administration officials who say they told Novak not to publish Plame's name the ones who gave the name to Novak in the first place?

Because if they were then just by telling a journalist they are guilty of outing her and it's obvious that they knew that she was undercover for the CIA, otherwise why would they tell Novak not to publish her name?

Than that means that Novak is also guilty because he was told the nature of Plame's work. He was also told by the CIA not to publish her name.

That's three guilty of felonies right there.

How many will there finally be? How many people are going to go down because of the Valerie Plame leak?

Stay tuned. :)

[Stephanie]

17. I think the poster above has it right, probably he called for confirmation

Didn't he call Wilson for confirmation too? Someone did.

[knight_of_the_star]

13. That is total bull

They say that they told him NOT to leak her name but they gave her name to them expecting him NOT to?

That sounds like either a lie of extreme stupidity.

[Paulie]

14. Should have never GAVE him her name.

The people that told him BROKE THE LAW (atleast that's how the law is written, the people who have the classified information giving it are the ones to get hard time. Receiving it isn't).

Novak is still a dirtbag, and should go to jail for being a lying sack as part of the coverup from the whitehouse

[Terwilliger]

15. TRAITOR!

This partisan Puke scumbag INTENTIONALLY outedValerie Plame KNOWING she was a hidden asset BECAUSE he's a pedantic little shill for his Repuke masters.

Throw the fucker in jail and see how bi-partisan the brothers are with his ass!!

[9215]

16. Doesn't make sense???

Why would someone give Novak the name of an undercover operative unless he/she expected Novak to publish it?


Novak, as despicable as he is, is still a small fish. We want the big fisheez, so's we can eats them! :bounce: yummy yummy.

[Devils Advocate NZ]

18. I've figured out how they are going to handle this!

It's actually rather simple: They are going to say that someone in the White House knew that Plame worked for the CIA, but didn't know that she was actually an undercover operative rather than a unclassified analyst.

This person told Novak that Plame was a CIA analyst and was involved in getting her husband selected for the mission as a means of exposing "nepotism". Next Novak approached his contacts in the CIA and asked them to confirm whether Plame was in fact an analyst at the CIA. When asked they both said "she is more than an analyst and exposing her would damage national security".

But Novak went ahead and exposed her anyway.

So the excuse will be - The White House source did not knowingly leak any classified information, The two CIA sources did not leak the information but instead tried to supress it, and Novak, as a journalist, had the constitutional right to report what he had discovered.

Nobody will be charged becuase no one person was responsible for leaking classified information, and Novak has a right to report what he discovered.

That, I believe, is how they are going to cover up this treasonous act.

[ThoughtCriminal]

21. I think that would still leave Novak screwed

by current Federal law.

[Dookus]

23. not at all

Novak isn't even being investigated for breaking any laws. Why?

Because there's no law that says a journalist can't publish the truth.

[htuttle]

22. If somebody knew she worked for the CIA, but didn't know she was a NOC

...Then the Bush administrations handling of classified information is STILL woefully inadequate, and still probably illegal.

This hypothetical person who knew she worked for the CIA, but somehow missed the fact that she was undercover obviously did NOT have clearance to know any of this in the first place (or they would have known she was an undercover agent). So then the question is: How did THEY find out?

There honestly can't be more than half a dozen people in the White House who had both the clearance, and the need, to know the identity of any given NOC undercover agent. One of them MUST have broken the law 'originally' by passing this information on, even if only to someone else in the White House. All the rest of the leaking comes off of that original crime.

WHO would even have clearance and the 'need' to know this:
Bush
Cheney
Rice

I'm at a loss to list any other person, except perhaps some of Rice's aides, maybe, who had clearance to know this.

Karl Rove, for example, had NO RIGHT OR BUSINESS to know the identities of covert intelligence agents. He's a f*cking political operative! He has NO special 'pull' as far as security clearances go -- at least as far as CIA NOC agents is concerned (the same *should* be true of nuclear launch codes, for example).

[waterman]

24. Someone should give him two black eyes.... oh wait....oooops

Nevermind