The Third Leaker
[lengthy update below and correction]
Check out this buried scoop in the new TIME article:
Does that rule out someone who was formerly at the White House? Ari Fleischer is the name that comes to mind. Other possibilities: Fred Fleitz, Bolton's chief of staff and John McLaughlin, the former deputy director of the CIA. Any other suggestions? Could it be another journalist?
UPDATE: Commenters have suggested a few more possible candidates for the "third leaker," specifically, John Bolton, George Tenet, and Stephen Hadley. These are all logical suspects (at least in theory) and I would not be entirely shocked if one of them turned out to be the culprit. That being said, I have my doubts about each of them.
Bolton:
A strong argument can be made for Bolton, at least in theory. He certainly had a motive to push back against Joe Wilson's charges and he could have learned about Plame through his chief of staff, Fred Fleitz, who worked in a dual capacity for the State Department and CIA. On the other hand, it's hard to ignore the fact that Fitzgerald does not seem to have paid much, if any, attention to Bolton. Moreover, I find it hard to believe that the White House would have nominated Bolton to be the U.N. ambassador if there was any chance that he was a target of Fitzgerald's investigation. Many people have cited the fact that Bolton visited Judy Miller in jail as evidence that he might be involved in the leak probe. If anything, though, that fact leads me to the opposite conclusion. If Bolton was in Fitzgerald's crosshairs, I find it inconceivable that his attorney would have allowed him to visit Judy Miller in prison.
Tenet:
I explained in a previous post why I don't think Tenet was Novak's source. Quick summary: 1) he seemed genuinely angry about the leak when it first occurred, and 2) he was the one who ultimately referred the matter to the Justice Department for investigation, a fact that is hard to explain if Tenet is himself the culprit. [see correction below]
Hadley:
Hadley is also a logical suspect in theory. He was the Deputy National Security Advisor, a long time associate of Dick Cheney, and he was very much involved in the White House Iraq Group and the response to Joe Wilson's charges. But I can't get over the fact that his name has so seldomly been mentioned in media reports thus far. For instance, I don't even know if Hadley has testified before the grand jury. My sense (and I may be wrong about this) is that the identity of the "third leaker" is somewhat of an open secret among the Washington press corps. If they don't know who it is, I think they probably have their suspicions. If Hadley was Novak's source, I'd expect his name to come up more often in the coverage of the investigation.
The very same line of reasoning keeps bringing me back to former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, whose name has made all sorts of seemingly gratuitous appearancess in the press coverage of the Plame affair. The press corps seems to be hinting fairly strongly that Fleischer may be in trouble. Then again, in light of the quote from the TIME story above, perhaps we should be paying more attention to non-White House folks (like Fleitz).
CORRECTION:
A helpful commenter, PollyUSA, points out that one of my key statements above about George Tenet is incorrect. Back in October 2003, the Washington Post reported the following:
I don't know how I missed that fact, but it's an important one. It completely undercuts the chief prong of my argument against Tenet being Novak's original source. Moreover, it seems to contradict the version of events described by Chuck Schumer. Schumer claimed that Tenet was furious when he first learned about the leak and immediately called the Justice Department to demand an investigation. Did Tenet lie to Schumer? Could Tenet be the leaker afterall? This requires more thought.
Check out this buried scoop in the new TIME article:
Another character in the drama remains
unnamed: the original source for columnist
Robert Novak, who wrote the first piece
naming Plame. Fitzgerald, says a lawyer
who's involved in the case, "knows who it is
Âand it's not someone at the White House."
Does that rule out someone who was formerly at the White House? Ari Fleischer is the name that comes to mind. Other possibilities: Fred Fleitz, Bolton's chief of staff and John McLaughlin, the former deputy director of the CIA. Any other suggestions? Could it be another journalist?
UPDATE: Commenters have suggested a few more possible candidates for the "third leaker," specifically, John Bolton, George Tenet, and Stephen Hadley. These are all logical suspects (at least in theory) and I would not be entirely shocked if one of them turned out to be the culprit. That being said, I have my doubts about each of them.
Bolton:
A strong argument can be made for Bolton, at least in theory. He certainly had a motive to push back against Joe Wilson's charges and he could have learned about Plame through his chief of staff, Fred Fleitz, who worked in a dual capacity for the State Department and CIA. On the other hand, it's hard to ignore the fact that Fitzgerald does not seem to have paid much, if any, attention to Bolton. Moreover, I find it hard to believe that the White House would have nominated Bolton to be the U.N. ambassador if there was any chance that he was a target of Fitzgerald's investigation. Many people have cited the fact that Bolton visited Judy Miller in jail as evidence that he might be involved in the leak probe. If anything, though, that fact leads me to the opposite conclusion. If Bolton was in Fitzgerald's crosshairs, I find it inconceivable that his attorney would have allowed him to visit Judy Miller in prison.
Tenet:
I explained in a previous post why I don't think Tenet was Novak's source. Quick summary: 1) he seemed genuinely angry about the leak when it first occurred, and 2) he was the one who ultimately referred the matter to the Justice Department for investigation, a fact that is hard to explain if Tenet is himself the culprit. [see correction below]
Hadley:
Hadley is also a logical suspect in theory. He was the Deputy National Security Advisor, a long time associate of Dick Cheney, and he was very much involved in the White House Iraq Group and the response to Joe Wilson's charges. But I can't get over the fact that his name has so seldomly been mentioned in media reports thus far. For instance, I don't even know if Hadley has testified before the grand jury. My sense (and I may be wrong about this) is that the identity of the "third leaker" is somewhat of an open secret among the Washington press corps. If they don't know who it is, I think they probably have their suspicions. If Hadley was Novak's source, I'd expect his name to come up more often in the coverage of the investigation.
The very same line of reasoning keeps bringing me back to former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, whose name has made all sorts of seemingly gratuitous appearancess in the press coverage of the Plame affair. The press corps seems to be hinting fairly strongly that Fleischer may be in trouble. Then again, in light of the quote from the TIME story above, perhaps we should be paying more attention to non-White House folks (like Fleitz).
CORRECTION:
A helpful commenter, PollyUSA, points out that one of my key statements above about George Tenet is incorrect. Back in October 2003, the Washington Post reported the following:
Sources close to Tenet say the director himself
was not responsible for initiating the leak
investigation. They say lawyers in the agency's
general counsel's office referred the matter to
the Justice Department in July -- without
consulting the CIA director -- as part of the
routine way of responding to the disclosure of
classified information.
I don't know how I missed that fact, but it's an important one. It completely undercuts the chief prong of my argument against Tenet being Novak's original source. Moreover, it seems to contradict the version of events described by Chuck Schumer. Schumer claimed that Tenet was furious when he first learned about the leak and immediately called the Justice Department to demand an investigation. Did Tenet lie to Schumer? Could Tenet be the leaker afterall? This requires more thought.
posted by A.L. at 11:59 AM
8 Comments:
what about bolton himself?
Could it be another journalist?
As I wrote at Needlenose last night, This rumor seems to be holding up rather well:
"According to our sources, Miller shared Plame’s identity with her perfidious fellow neocon after deciding not to publish it herself; Novak then called his two White House sources—one of whom was Karl Rove—for confirmation and wrote the July 14, 2003 column that blew Plame’s cover."
What about Stephen Hadley, former deputy national security advisor? Has he testified before the grand jury?
Douglas Feith?
George Presidential-Medal-of-Freedom Tenet?
If you take the news at face value;
Fitzgerald, says a lawyer who's involved in the case, "knows who it is and it's not someone at the White House."
I would start by wondering which "lawyer who's involved in the case" leaked this information to Time and what was motivating this lawyer.
Next I would consider how Fitz knows the identity of Novack's first senior administration source. I think it likely that Novak spilled his guts per Swopa's link above. He may well have heard it first from Miller, but Miller or any other journalist would not qualify as they are not senior administration officials.
Novak did have this to say on CNN last June.
I'd like to say a lot about the case, but because of my attorney's advice I can't. But I will. And there might be some surprising things.
There is also this from a Wilson interview, where Novak originally tells Wilson his source is CIA then pulls it back.
Wilson says, he called Novak and said, "When you asked for the confirmation you said a 'C.I.A. source.'" "I misspoke," Wilson says Novak replied.
If Novak got it from the CIA, it could be Tenet, McLaughlin, or Harlow. All three were interviewed by prosecutors.
I like Harlow for a couple of reasons. Harlow is the person at the CIA that we know Novak talked to before he wrote his column and Harlow and Novak have been arguing in the press over what was said.
Maybe Novak protests too much here. It's clear, if you believe Rove, that Novak doesn't require much to think he has confirmed something. I'm unsure however if Harlow could be considered "senior".
McLaughlin??
Tenet is an interesting case. Why would he have been interviewed.
Pincus article from 10/3/03 says Tenet didn't initiate the investigation.
Sources close to Tenet say the director himself was not responsible for initiating the leak investigation.
"not at the WH", now or when Novak was told? Either way it would eliminate Rice, Hadley, Bush, Cheney, and Libby. Might eliminate Fleicher as you say.
Pollyusa
Your comment sent me looking around again and it was reported both ways.
In the WAPO 9/28/03 article by Mike Allen and Dana Priest had it this way.
At CIA Director George J. Tenet's request, the Justice Department is looking into an allegation that administration officials leaked the name of an undercover CIA officer to a journalist, government sources said yesterday
I believe Pincus. His story is later and he probably talked to Tenet.
Pollyusa
Me again
I think you have the question of the hour up in this post.
Tonight on Hardball (no link to transcipt yet) Isikoff was able to squeeze in (in the 3 seconds when Matthews wasn't talking) that Novak's first administration source is important.
Isikoff referred to a lawyer (the one I referred to above?} with knowledge of a large body of the GJ testimony. I got the feeling Mike Allen has also talked to this lawyer.
Isikoff implied that this Novak source may be cooperating and might have knowledge of inside conversations.
He also said that it is very likely that Fitz knows Novak's first source and Mike Allen agreed citing a Bloomberg article. Here is the quotes from the Bloomberg article.
Novak, who was first to report Plame’s name and connection to Wilson, has given a somewhat different version to the special prosecutor, the person said
Questions
Is the State Department considered WH?
Is Fleitz "senior"?
Pollyusa
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