The OTHER Federal Law Rove Broke (Phila. Inquirer Excerpt) [View All]

[JPZenger]

Excerpt from article in July 18, 2005 Phila. Inquirer.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/12157726.htm
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"What's now on record ... is that Rove confirmed Novak's information by telling the columnist that he had heard the same stuff elsewhere. But that means Rove may have violated the Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement, a document known as SF 312 that must be signed by any administration official who receives a national security clearance.

Here's a provision: "Information remains classified until it has been officially declassified... . Before disseminating the information elsewhere or confirming the accuracy of what appears in the public source, the signer of SF 312 must confirm through an authorized official that the information has, in fact, been declassified. If it has not, further dissemination of the information, or confirmation of its accuracy, is also an unauthorized disclosure."

Mehlman, asked about this, said it's wrong to assume that Plame's CIA status was classified. But that remark is contradicted by the record. In the summer of 2003, Attorney General John Ashcroft's Justice Department - acting on a request from the CIA - agreed to launch a probe of the leak because the department agreed with the CIA's argument that Plame's status, as an NOC staffer, had been classified."


(Note - Although Plame was assigned to the White House, she was given a cover as an energy analyst working for another entity.)