Was George Tenet the Leaker?

When I read Bob Novak's column the other day, I noticed the same thing Bob Somerby did: a seemingly gratuitous reference to George Tenet (Digby discusses this as well). At the end of his column Novak writes:

"I have previously said that I never would have
written those sentences if Harlow, then-CIA Director
George Tenet or anybody else from the agency had
told me that Valerie Plame Wilson's disclosure would
endanger herself or anybody."

Somerby speculates that Tenet may have been Novak's original source. He points out that Tenet fits Novak's description of the original leaker in that he is "no partisan gunslinger." Tenet, after all, served under both Clinton and Bush. Somerby also notes that, in his book, Wilson claims that Novak told him in July 2003 that he learned about Plame from "a CIA source."

So why am I not convinced? First, there's this report in which Senator Schumer describes Tenet as having been "furious" about the leak. According to Schumer, Tenet promptly called the Department of Justice to demand a criminal investigation. It's possible, of course, that Schumer was overstating things. And it's possible that Tenet went out of his way to put on a show for the panel of Democratic Senators, knowing all the while that he was the leaker. But it seems to me that one fact is very difficult to reconcile with this theory, specifically, Tenet's approval of the CIA's criminal referral to DOJ. Tenet certainly had the power not to issue such a referral, and but for that referral, this whole affair never would have become the story that it did. The mainstream press paid no attention to Novak's column until the CIA referred the matter to Justice. If that referral had never been issued, it's hard to believe that the story would ever have gained any traction, and there certainly wouldn't be a special prosecutor investigating the issue now. Now it's possible, I suppose, that Tenet felt pressure within the agency to issue the referral and did not think he could simply sweep it under the rug. I don't know enough about the internal politics of the CIA to speak intelligently about such matters, but it strikes me as unlikely that Tenet would have demanded that DOJ investigate the matter if he knew that he himself was the culprit.

To be fair to Bob Somerby, he clearly wasn't putting all his eggs in the Tenet basket, he was merely putting the idea on the table (I apologize for the mixed metaphor). Somerby also suggests Deputy CIA Director John McLaughlin as a possibility. This strikes me as more plausible. McLaughlin also squares with Novak and Wilson's accounts, and he, unlike Tenet, likely would not have had the authority to stop a criminal referral from being issued.

One last note, much of this speculation about Tenet and McLaughlin is based on the statement Wilson attributes to Novak in his book (where Novak says he learned about Plame from "a CIA source"). This call reportedly took place on July 10, 2003, four days before Novak's column was published. Is it possible that the CIA source Novak is referring to is Bill Harlow, the CIA spokesman? Harlow did, after all, confirm for Novak that Plame was a CIA employee. Novak's first call with Harlow, according to the Washington Post, reportedly occurred "at least three days before" Novak published his column. It's possible, therefore, that Novak had spoken to Harlow prior to his conversation with Wilson. If so, Novak may simply have been referring to Harlow's confirmation of Plame's employment, and not his original source. If that's the case, then Novak's source could very well have been in the White House (or the State Department).

Anyway, that's quite enough speculation for one night. For the readers of this blog who don't give a wit about the Plame affair, I apologize for the obsessive focus on that subject of late. I promise to return to more meaningful issues soon.