Dem CONGRESS: Investigations - Disclosure of CIA Agent Identity

[L. Coyote]

Disclosure of CIA Agent Identity
WAXMAN's House Committe on Oversight and Government Reform Investigations
http://oversight.house.gov/investigations.asp?ID=115


On July 14, 2003, columnist Robert Novak wrote an op-ed that appeared in the Chicago-Sun-Times, the Washington Post, and many other major newspapers publicly identifying Valerie Plame -- the wife of Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson -- as a covert CIA agent. Mr. Novak's column cited "two senior administration officials" as the source of the information. (Source: Robert D. Novak, The Mission to Niger, Chicago-Sun Times .)

Rep. Waxman has called for Government Reform Committee hearings on whether White House officials breached national security law by disclosing the identity of a CIA agent and has sought information from National Security Advisor Rice on how the White House responds to allegations regarding the release of classified information. Rep. Waxman and other senior members of Congress, including House Democratic Leader Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Daschle, have requested a GAO investigation into whether the White House complied with internal security procedures for protecting Valerie Plame's identity from disclosure and responding to the leak after it occurred.(Last Updated August 30, 2004)


Chronology ....................

[librechik]

1. may i be the first to say YEEHAH!

GO WAXMAN!

[Bandit]

2. Senate Democratic Leader Daschle,

Hmmm. I guess I got lost somewhere around the year 2000..

[L. Coyote]

3. Committe Chairman, the Honorable Henry Waxman, and his friend Dr. Watson

Here comes the modern-day Sherlock Holmes of the House. And, it was a long wait for Waxman:

January 14, 2004 - Rep. Waxman Investigates Inconsistencies in White House Leak Responses - http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=163

December 11, 2003 - Rep. Waxman Renews Request for Hearings on Disclosure of CIA Agent Identity

September 29, 2003 - Request for Hearings on Disclosure of CIA Agent Identity
In a letter to Chairman Davis, Rep. Waxman requests that the Committee hold hearings on recent disturbing allegations that White House officials breached national security law by disclosing the identity of a CIA agent.

[librechik]

4. whoops I thought this was new news

Is Waxman reviving the investigation or not?

[L. Coyote]

5. Waxman letter to CIA Director General Hayden reiterating their request

This is one of the fronts being stonewalled by the Executive Branch.

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Friday, May 11, 2007
Administration Oversight, Disclosure of CIA Agent Identity
Committee Reiterates Request for Documents Related to Plame-Wilson Disclosure

Chairman Waxman and Rep. Davis send a letter to CIA Director General Hayden reiterating their request for documents relevant to the Committee's investigation of the unauthorized disclosure of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson.
Documents and Links

* Letter to CIA Director General Hayden - http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20070511154657.pdf

On May 3, Walker wrote that they had their own, or "our oversight committees" in the House and Senate, the Select Committees in Intelligence.

Waxman gave them a May 18 deadline to produce the request. No announcement has followed.

[librechik]

8. thanks--thought I was hallucinating!

[L. Coyote]

6. Employees Report Evidence of Security Problems at the White House

New Evidence of Security Problems at the White House

Investigation Home Page Disclosure of CIA Agent Identity
http://oversight.house.gov/investigations.asp?ID=115

On July 14, 2003, columnist Robert Novak wrote an op-ed that appeared in the Chicago-Sun-Times, the Washington Post, and many other major newspapers publicly identifying Valerie Plame -- the wife of Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson -- as a covert CIA agent. Mr. Novak's column cited "two senior administration officials" as the source of the information. (Source: Robert D. Novak, The Mission to Niger, Chicago-Sun Times .)

Monday, April 23, 2007
New Evidence of Security Problems at the White House - http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1264

Current and former employees of the White House Security Office have reported to Chairman Waxman that there was a systemic failure at the White House to follow procedures for protecting classified information. According to the security officers, the White House regularly ignored security breaches, prevented security inspections of the West Wing, and condoned mismanagement of the White House Security Office.

[L. Coyote]

7. VIDEO: Hearing Examines Exposure of Covert CIA Agent Valerie Plame Wilson's Identity

VIDEO: Hearing Examines Exposure of Covert CIA Agent Valerie Plame Wilson's Identity

Hearing Examines Exposure of Covert CIA Agent Valerie Plame Wilson's Identity
Friday, March 16, 2007
Disclosure of CIA Agent Identity
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1205


VIDEO of the Hearing - http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1245

The Oversight Committee held a hearing on whether White House officials followed appropriate procedures for safeguarding the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. At the hearing, the Committee received testimony from Ms. Wilson and other experts regarding the disclosure and internal White House security procedures for protecting her identity from disclosure and responding to the leak after it occurred.

[L. Coyote]

9. Waxman Questions White House Security Practices

Waxman Questions White House Security Practices
Friday, March 16, 2007
Disclosure of CIA Agent Identity
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1213


Rep. Waxman asks White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten to explain why the White House failed to conduct any investigation following the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert CIA employment. The letter follows the testimony of the Director of the Office of Security at the White House, James Knodell, that the White House Security Office did not follow the investigative steps prescribed by Executive Order 12958.
Documents and Links

* Letter to White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten - http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20070316154127-11403.pdf
* Follow-up Letter to Joshua Bolten (April 10, 2007) - http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20070410130747.pdf

[L. Coyote]

10. Testimony: White House never conducted any investigation ..Rove, others guilty ...violated laws

Excerpt: Letter to White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten
http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20070316154127-11403.pdf


James Knodell, Director of the Office of Security at the White House, testified at the
hearing about White House procedures for safeguarding classified information. During his
testimony, Mr. Knodell made some remarkable statements about how his office handled the
disclosure of Ms.'Wilson's covert status. Specifically, Mr. Knodell testified:


The Office of Security for the White House never conducted any investigation of the
disclosure of Ms. Wilson's identity;

Under the applicable executive order and regulations, your senior political advisor, Karl
Rove, and other senior White House officials were required to report what they knew
about the disclosure of Ms. Wilson's identity, but they did not make any such report to
the White House Office of Security; and

There has been no suspension of security clearances or any other administrative sanction
for Mr. Rove and other White House officials involved in the disclosure.


Mr. Knodell also testified that it would be inappropriate to allow an individual who was a
security risk to retain his or her security clearance while a criminal investigation is pending. As
members of the Committee pointed out, a criminal investigation can last years, and it would
jeopardize national security not to investigate the officials implicated in the leak and suspend
their security clearances if there were reason to suspect their involvement. Mr. Knodell did not
dispute this point.

The testimony of Mr. Knodell appears to describe White House decisions that were
inconsistent with the directives of Executive Order 12958, which you signed in March 2003.
Under this executive order, the White House is required to "take appropriate and prompt
corrective action" whenever there is a release of classified information. Yet Mr. Knodell could
describe no such actions after the disclosure of Ms. Wilson's identity.

Taken as a whole, the testimony at today's hearing described breach after breach of
national security requirements at the White House. The first breach was the disclosure of Ms.
'Wilson's identity. Other breaches included the failure of Mr. Rove and other offrcials to report
their disclosures as required by law, the failure of the White House to initiate the prompt
investigation required by the executive order, and the failure of the White House to suspend the
security clearances of the implicated officials.

..............

[L. Coyote]

11. Fitzgerald: Leak Prosecutor Says Plame Was Covert

May 30, 2007, 9:15 am
Leak Prosecutor Says Plame Was Covert
By Mike Nizza
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/30/valerie-plame-covert-indeed/

Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert status at the C.I.A. is old news for many observers of the inquiry into the leaking of her identity. One side of the political divide argued that she was actually on desk duty at Langley at the time of Robert Novak’s infamous column naming her, which would mean that the leaking of her identity was, if not exactly nice, not illegal either. The other side, and Ms. Wilson herself, said the opposite.

Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor, could have easily cleared up the confusion during his more than two years of prosecuting the case, but he waited until now.

Ms. Wilson “was a covert employee,” Mr. Fitzgerald wrote, according to Newsweek. “The CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States.” More detail:

    While assigned to CPD, Ms. Wilson engaged in temporary duty (TDY) travel overseas 
    on official business. She traveled at least seven times to more than ten countries.
    When traveling overseas, Ms. Wilson always traveled under a cover identity — sometimes 
    in true name and sometimes in alias — but always using cover — whether official or 
    non-official cover (NOC) — with no ostensible relationship to the CIA.

Those statements emerged in a court filing concerning the pending sentencing of Lewis I. Libby, Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff, who was convicted on five felony counts of obstruction of justice and perjury ...........

[L. Coyote]

12. Simon and Schuster and Valerie Plame Wilson Sue CIA

Simon and Schuster and Valerie Plame Wilson Sue CIA
May 31, 2007 - By Kimberly Maul
http://www.thebookstandard.com/bookstandard/news/author/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003592363

Former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, have filed a lawsuit against J. Michael McConnell, Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, and Michael V. Hayden, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Wilson and S&S believe that the agency is unconstitutionally interfering with the publication of her memoir, Fair Game, which is set to be published in October, by not allowing Plame to mention the dates she served in the CIA, even though those dates are public information. ..........

[L. Coyote]

13. Intel panel seeks to toughen penalties for outing undercover agents

Intel panel seeks to toughen penalties for outing undercover agents
Nick Juliano
Published: Friday June 1, 2007
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Intel_panel_seeks_to_toughen_penalties_0601.html

A Senate committee is seeking tougher penalties for government officials who knowingly release the identity of undercover intelligence agents, in an apparent reaction to controversy in recent years over officials in the Bush administration disclosing the identity of CIA officer Valerie Wilson.

The Intelligence Authorization Act would increase the maximum penalty for outing a covert agent from 10 to 15 years for government officials who have "authorized access to classified information that identifies a covert agent," according to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's report accompanying the bill. Penalties for officials who learn an agent's identity then disclose as a result of their access to classified information would increase from five to 10 years.

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