Valerie Plame: External Links 2002-2003

Valerie Plame: External Links 2002-2003 provides links to articles related to the Valerie Plame case.

• Also see:

• Valerie Plame: External Links 2004
• Valerie Plame: External Links 2005
• Valerie Plame: External Links 2006

2002

• Peggy Noonan, Loose Lips, Pink Slips. How President Bush made the White House leak-proof, OpinionJournal/WallStreetJournal, January 18, 2002: "Someone once said the White House is the only sieve that leaks from the top, but the Bush White House is, so far, famously leak-proof. Or rather almost leak-free....The Bush White House doesn't leak because George W. actively and affirmatively does not want it to."

2003

• Matthew Cooper, Massimo Calabresi, and John F. Dickerson, A War on Wilson? Inside the Bush Administration's feud with the diplomat who poured cold water on the Iraq-uranium connection, Time.com, July 17, 2003.
• Tom Spencer, CIA Back-stabbing, New York Press, July 18, 2003: "It appears the administration outed Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA agent who works as an operative in---get this---the agency's Weapons of Mass Destruction program. They've apparently ruined her career and potentially compromised national security simply to lash out at Wilson."
• Some Dare Call It Treason. A Story of Two Unidentified Senior Administration Officials Who Allegedly Betrayed the National Security of the United States: No Response from the White House, and No Coverage in the Mainstream Press, Buzzflash Editorial, July 21, 2003: "Yes, it is once again a probable Bush administration betrayal that is so horrifyingly ironic, hypocritical, cynical, and destructive that it is hard to comprehend. Two Bush administration officials allegedly render a CIA operative useless, whose specialty is providing valuable information on exactly the threat that the Bush administration continues to insist justified the invasion of Iraq: Weapons of Mass Destruction."
• The Politics of Personal Destruction, Cooped Up, July 22, 2003.
• Newsday finds a new angle on Uraniumgate, WashingtonPost.com, July 23, 2003: "The identity of an undercover CIA officer whose husband started the Iraq uranium intelligence controversy has been publicly revealed by a conservative Washington columnist citing 'two senior administration officials.'... Intelligence officials confirmed to Newsday yesterday that Valerie Plame, wife of retired Ambassador Joseph Wilson, works at the agency on weapons of mass destruction issues in an undercover capacity -- at least she was undercover until last week when she was named by columnist Robert Novak.... Wilson, while refusing to confirm his wife's employment, said the release to the press of her relationship to him and even her maiden name was an attempt to intimidate others like him from talking about Bush administration intelligence failures....'It's a shot across the bow to these people, that if you talk we'll take your family and drag them through the mud as well,' he said in an interview."
• Dietz Smith, The Story of Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame, TheRant, originally posted July 23, 2003.
• John McCrory, Did Bush blow Valerie Plame's CIA cover? "They leak what Mr. Bush wants leaked", johnmccrory.com, July 24, 2003.
• Mark Gisleson, Achieving critical mass, Babelogue, July 25, 2003: "The Internet is, of course, all over this story. A regular Google search for "'joseph wilson' wife CIA" now pulls up 515 links. It's been noted by many that rightwing bloggers avoid certain topics entirely. Valerie Plame ... certainly appears to be one of those verboten topics."
• Searching for Valerie, MetaFilter.com, July 25, 2003: "Search the New York Times website for any occurrence of the words 'Valerie Plame' during the last week ...and you'll find nada, zilch, zip. The so-called 'paper of record' has remained totally mum on what may be one of the biggest scandals of the Bush administration yet. You can read about it at Newsday, CBS, Time, and The Nation, and it's been mentioned on NBC... but not a word from the New York Times (save for a reference to it last week by syndicated columnist Paul Krugman, and a wire service story today; neither of those pieces mentions Plame by name). The Times' news and editorial divisions are asleep at the switch on this story. Maybe the Jayson Blair scandal was a distraction from the deeper problem: a paper that is so concerned with being balanced and respectable, it refuses to cover any politically controversial stories."
• Insiders Outed, MotherJones.com, July 24, 2003.
• Jonathan E. Kaplan,Lawmakers demand probe into outing of undercover CIA agent. Some blame leak on a White House bent on vengeance, The Hill, July 29, 2003.
• Josh Marshall, Investigation? No, Bush should pick up the phone, The Hill, July 30, 2003: "Now, as it happens, it's not even clear that this charge -- that Wilson's wife got him the gig in Niger -- is true. The more relevant point, however, is that two senior administration officials publicized her identity which they almost certainly knew only because of their access to government secrets."
• Valerie Plame Wilson Update, Cooped Up, August 1, 2003.
• Mark A.R. Kleiman, The Valerie Plame Affair, Open Source Politics, September 2, 2003: "A retired career ambassador has just publicly accused the President's chief official political advisor of revealing the identity of a covert intelligence operative: an aggravated felony that carries a ten-year term in federal prison. Yet no newspaper, newsmagazine, wire service article, or television or radio network news broadcast has yet reported that charge. Why not?".
• Valerie Plame Wilson - The CIA Wants Justice!, JustOneMinute, September 27, 2003.
• Howard Dean, Governor Dean Calls For Accountability, DeanforAmerica.com, September 27, 2003.
• Valerie Plame ad nauseum, rc3.org daily, last posted September 29, 2003: Good analysis of "motives", including: "So if the Bush defenders are right and this is somehow a plot against Bush, then we've entered bizarro world. Either Novak lied about his sources or his sources are disloyal senior administration officials looking to bring Bush down. In either case, wouldn't the administration have launched a full court press to figure out who the leakers are back in July? If someone is feloniously leaking information to journalists and simultaneously trying to bring down the sitting administration, wouldn't logic demand an investigation to find and lynch the leaker? Instead the administration has ignored this incident entirely. If this was a betrayal of Bush by someone in the executive branch, then it makes no sense that the Bush administration officials who are commenting on the affair are so blasé about it."
• Mike Allen, Bush Aides Say They'll Cooperate With Probe Into Intelligence Leak, Washington Post, September 29, 2003: "An administration official told The Washington Post on Saturday that two White House officials leaked the information to selected journalists to discredit Wilson."
• Mike Allen and Dana Milbank, Bush Vows Action if Aides Had Role in Leak. Democrats' Demand for Special Counsel Rejected, Washington Post, September 30, 2003: "The White House rejected those calls, also saying it has no evidence of wrongdoing by Bush adviser Karl Rove or others and therefore no reason to begin an internal investigation."
• Chronology of Key Events in Controversy Over White House Leaks.
• Edward Walsh and Susan Schmidt, Rarely Invoked Statute Could Play a Role. Few, if Any, Have Been Prosecuted Under 1982 Law to Shield Agents' Identities, Washington Post, September 29, 2003.
• Text of E-Mail to White House Staff on Justice Investigation, AP, September 29, 2003, and Full Text: White House Memo on Leak Investigation (follow-up message), AP, September 30, 2003.
• Walter Pincus, White House Intelligence Leak?, Washington Post, September 29, 2003.
• James C. Moore, The Truth is Puttin' on its Shoes: An Inquiry Into the "Innocent" Mr. Rove, Buzzflash, September 30, 2003. Moore is the Co-Author of "Bush's Brain," The Political History of Karl Rove.
• Todd S. Purdum and David E. Sanger, Accusation of Leak and a Bush Memo Come at a Bad Time, New York Times, October 1, 2003.
• Howard Kurtz, One Heckuva Leak, Washington Post, September 30, 2003.
• The knives are out for Joe Wilson, TalkingPointsMemo, October 1, 2003.
• How Do You Parse Treason?, Buzzflash Editorial, October 1, 2003.
• Valerie Plame Undercover Since She was 10 years old?, NewsMax.com, October 1, 2003: "Former CIA agent Larry Johnson told PBS's The News Hour last night that Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, had been operating undercover for 'three decades.' ... The Washington Post, however, says that Ms. Plame is an attractive, slim blonde with film star looks who happens to be just 40 years old. ... If both accounts are true, that means Plame was placed undercover by the CIA when she was just 10 years old. ... Either Mr. Wilson has been caught fibbing again, this time about his wife's age, or Mr. Johnson needs to update his chronology." News story also covered at the Drudge Report.
• Jefferson Morley, The Leak and Its Consequences. A Guide to the Scandal, Washington Post, October 2, 2003.
• Anita Snow, Ex-CIA Agent Discusses Leak of Name, AP, October 2, 2003: "Former CIA agent Philip Agee, whose actions in the 1970s inspired a law criminalizing the exposure of covert U.S. operatives, said Wednesday the recent leak of one such agent's identity was motivated by 'dirty politics'."
• W.House Asks Anyone with Leak Info to Come Forward, Reuters/New York Times, October 2, 2003.
• Denise Ross, Sens. Johnson and Daschle seek action on CIA leak, Rapid City Journal, October 2, 2003.
• Richard W. Stevenson and Eric Lichtblau, White House Looks to Manage Fallout Over C.I.A. Leak Inquiry, New York Times, October 2, 2003.
• Justin Raimondo, Cheney Chief-of-Staff Named as Spy-gate Leaker, Antiwar.com, October 2, 2003: "MSNBC'S Buchanan & Press scored a major scoop on Wednesday, all but unmasking the high government official who 'outed' a CIA operative via a July 14 column by Robert Novak. Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst who worked with Valerie Plame, the reported agent, all but identified I. Lewis Scooter Libby as the government official who outed her - and at least one other in the Vice President's office."
• Doug Giebel, Kiss and Smear. Robert Novak and the Valerie Plame Affair, CounterPunch, October 2, 2003.
• Dan Eggen, If the Secret's Spilled, Calling Leaker to Account Isn't Easy, Washington Post, October 3, 2003.
• Susan Schmidt and Mike Allen, Justice to Begin Leak Interviews Within Days, Washington Post, October 3, 2003.
• Paul Krugman, 'Slime and Defend', New York Times, October 3, 2003: "In any case, Mr. Wilson's views and character are irrelevant. Someone high in the administration committed a felony and, in the view of the elder Mr. Bush, treason. End of story.... But the true test of patriotism isn't whether you are willing to wave the flag, or agree with whatever the president says. It's whether you are willing to take risks and make sacrifices, including political sacrifices, for the sake of your country. This episode is a test for Mr. Bush and his inner circle: a true patriot wouldn't hesitate about doing the right thing in the Plame affair, whatever the political costs.... Mr. Bush is failing that test."
• Eric Lichtblau, White House Is Told to Hand Over Records, New York Times, October 4, 2003: "The Justice Department is demanding that the White House turn over "all documents that relate in any way" to the unauthorized disclosure of a C.I.A. officer's identity, and the White House on Friday gave its employees until next Tuesday to comply.... The demand signals that the FBI's investigation into the question of who leaked the identity of the C.I.A. officer is focusing squarely on the White House and is moving into a critical early phase, as investigators seek a paper trail of all relevant documents.... The Justice Department has also directed the C.I.A., the State Department and the Pentagon to retain all records that might be relevant to the investigation. But only the White House is known to have been directed to turn over records."
• Elisabeth Bumiller, C.I.A. Chief Is Caught in Middle by Leak Inquiry, New York Times, October 5, 2003.
• Eric Lichtblau, More Agents Are Added to Leak Case, New York Times, October 10, 2003: "'I don't know,' Mr. Bush said, 'if we're going to find out the senior administration official' who told Robert Novak,... that Valerie Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, was a C.I.A. employee.... Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey, said in an interview that the comments threatened to undermine the inquiry by lowering expectations.... 'If the president says, `I don't know if we're going to find this person,' what kind of a statement is that for the president of the United States to make?' Mr. Lautenberg asked. 'Would he say that about a bank-robbery investigation? He should be as indignant as everybody else is over this breach.' ... Mr. Wilson said Mr. Bush 'certainly seems far less certain about finding the leaker than he is about finding Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein.'"
• Curt Anderson, Ashcroft Sees Progress in CIA Leak Probe, AP, October 17, 2003.
• Kevin Johnson, Attorney general keeps options open over CIA leak, USAToday, October 17, 2003.
• Paul Bedard, Wilson adds ammo to hit war credibility gap, USNews.com "Washington Whispers", October 20, 2003: "Just as former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's story that Bushies blew his CIA wife's cover to get back at his criticism of the war in Iraq was getting old, he has stumbled on new ammo to hit the administration's credibility. Wilson tells us he plans to circulate the text of a briefing by analyst Sam Gardiner that suggests the White House and Pentagon made up or distorted over 50 war stories. You know some tall tales, like the Pvt. Jessica Lynch story. But there's more, says Gardiner, a war gamer who has taught at the National War College. Like how defense officials said the first Iraqi unit marines encountered, the 51st Mechanized Infantry Division, had surrendered four days before it actually did. And he says Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard D. Myers gave bad or deliberately incomplete info on several topics. Sure, propaganda has always been used in war to deceive and demoralize the enemy. But these guys went way overboard, Gardiner says. 'Never before have so many stories been created to sell a war,' he insists. 'And they probably didn't need it.'"
• Dems Air Ad Critical of Bush on CIA Leak, AP, October 20, 2003: "'It keeps getting worse ... scandals in the Bush White House,' the ad says. 'Now they illegally leaked the identity of an American CIA agent ... all to hide Bush administration deceptions about the war in Iraq.'"
• Ed Henry, Valerie Plame - Are We Missing the Point?, DebateUSA.com, October 20, 2003.
• Curt Anderson, Rove, McClellan Interviewed in Leak Probe, AP, October 23, 2003: "Despite the talk of progress in the probe, President Bush himself has said the leaker's identity may never be found. In his review a year ago, Ashcroft noted that only one non-espionage leak case has been successfully prosecuted in the past half-century."
• David Corn, The Leak, WMDs, and the Dems, The Nation, October 28, 2003.
• Caught in the crossfire, Alternet.org Blogger "Christopher", December 9, 2003: "A new online campaign is building pressure on those perpetuating the 'Plame Affair' cover-up, in which Iraq whistleblower Joe Wilson's wife was outed through an anonymous leak planted in right-wing pundit Robert Novak's column. The leak was clearly intended to put the chill on anyone else from within the government who would be so bold as to challenged [sic] the lies of the Administration. The Progressive Majority is behind the Bust Bob Novak! campaign, which urges folks to tell Novak's employer, the Chicago Sun-Times, to fire him for his irresponsible use of the leak. Meanwhile, the feds are silent in the alleged investigation they claimed they would pursue to find the leaker..."
• Mike Allen and Dana Milbank, Leaks Probe Is Gathering Momentum, Washington Post, December 26, 2003: "The Justice Department has added a fourth prosecutor to the team investigating the leak of an undercover CIA officer's identity, while the FBI has said a grand jury may be called to take testimony from administration officials, sources close to the case said. ... Administration and CIA officials said they have seen signs in the past few weeks that the investigation continues intensively behind closed doors, even though little about the investigation has been publicly said or seen for months. ... According to administration officials and people familiar with some of the interviews, FBI agents apparently started their White House questioning with top figures -- including President Bush's senior adviser, Karl Rove -- and then worked down to more junior officials. The agents appear to have a great deal of information and have constructed detailed chronologies of various officials' possible tie to the leak, people familiar with the questioning said. ... The Justice Department has added a prosecutor specializing in counterintelligence, joining two other counterintelligence prosecutors and one from Justice's Public Integrity section. ... But sources said the CIA believes that people in the administration continue to release classified information to damage the figures at the center of the controversy, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV and his wife, Valerie Plame, who was exposed as a CIA officer by unidentified senior administration officials for a July 14 column by Robert D. Novak."
• William Rivers Pitt, Bush's Worst Enemy, TruthOut.org, December 30, 2003: "You won't hear about Valerie Plame, or her savaged intelligence network that was protecting you. You won't hear about the missing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. You won't hear the names, nor see the faces, of the nearly five hundred American soldiers who have died because of the Bush administration's lies. You won't see the ripped flesh or bloody stumps on the thousands of American soldiers who were torn up because of the Bush administration's lies."
• Charlie Savage, Ashcroft steps aside in probe into CIA leak, Boston Globe, December 31, 2003: "After months of resisting Democratic demands that he step aside from the investigation into who in the Bush administration leaked the identity of a CIA agent, Attorney General John Ashcroft abruptly recused himself yesterday from any further oversight of the case, and his deputy immediately appointed a special prosecutor to take over."
• Lynn Sweet, Chicago's Fitzgerald to probe CIA leak, Chicago Sun-Times, December 31, 2003: "Patrick Fitzgerald, Chicago's top federal prosecutor, was appointed Tuesday to lead the investigation into who leaked the name of a CIA operative to Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak. ... Fitzgerald landed the assignment of the politically charged probe after Attorney General John Ashcroft Tuesday decided to withdraw from the investigation."
• Murray Waas "Pressure on Ashcroft to Recuse Grows", Alternet, Oct. 30, 2003.
• Larry Margasak, Attack Naming Leak Prosecutor, Guardian/UK (AP), December 31, 2003: "... the Democratic presidential contenders made clear that the decision will be a campaign issue. ... 'Whether it is a special counsel or the Justice Department inspector general, the American people deserve a person whose honesty, objectivity and fairness are guaranteed to investigate this serious matter,' Howard Dean said."
• The Right Thing, at Last, New York Times Op-Ed, December 31, 2003: "We may never know what damage was caused by Mr. Ashcroft's delay of nearly two months in taking the proper action. Further time will now be lost as Mr. Fitzgerald gets up to speed on the investigation."
• Press Release: "Rep. John Conyers, Jr. Calls Ashcroft's Decision to Recuse Himself in CIA Leak Investigation 'Too Little Too Late'," BuzzFlash, December 31, 2003: "It is too late because the action should have been taken months ago, when it was entirely obvious that the Attorney General investigating the White House presented a blatant conflict of interest. As a result of this delay, actions like the Department's giving the White House 11 hours notice before the investigation was officially started on September 30, can and should be called into question. ... It is too little, because the Department has failed to appoint a Special Counsel as required by the Department's own regulations. 28 CFR Sec. 600."