Phila.'s FBI chief, part of CIA-leak case, leavingJohn C. Eckenrode was the lead investigator in probing the '03 disclosure of Valerie Plame's name.By John ShiffmanInquirer Staff WriterThe senior FBI agent in Philadelphia, who is also lead investigator in the CIA-leak case, will retire at the end of the month, officials said yesterday.
John C. Eckenrode, special agent in charge, will leave the FBI in early March, concluding a 32-year career with the bureau. He will become a director of forensic support services for the consulting firm KPMG.
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Though he ran the nation's ninth-largest FBI division, Eckenrode is best known as the chief investigator for Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who is probing the 2003 leak of then-CIA employee Valerie Plame's name by Bush administration officials to journalists. The leak was allegedly made to discredit her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had written a newspaper column that accused Bush of exaggerating Iraq's threat.
Eckenrode is still expected to be a key witness next year during the trial of the only person charged in the case, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff. Libby is charged with perjury before a grand jury and lying to federal agents. Eckenrode is the agent who conducted the Libby interviews, and his investigative report is cited in Libby's indictment.
When Fitzgerald announced the Libby indictment last year in Washington - with Eckenrode by his side - the prosecutor said the case was continuing.
Fitzgerald yesterday described Eckenrode as "invaluable... a key leader on a team effort, a delight to work with, a terrific agent who rolls up his sleeves and gets the job done."
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"I admired the way he showed the energy and hustle of a rookie coming out of the academy," Fitzgerald said. "For two years, he gave it everything he had."
Joseph A. Tate, one of Libby's lawyers, said he was surprised by Eckenrode's retirement but didn't think it would affect the case.
Tate called Eckenrode "very fair and very thorough - what an agent should be."
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