US and the World

Plame Leak Investigation -- Situation Report

The Leak of CIA Agent Valerie Plame Wilson's Identity

John Dean has this good analysis of where the situation stands in the investigation of who leaked Plame's identity in FindLaw's Writ.

In short, neither Ms. Plame's former colleagues nor the Democrats are inclined to give the Administration a pass on this matter. This matter is not going to go away. So what, if anything, do these actions mean?

He's as up to date on the political possibilities as he is on the legal aspects of what's going on in both the Justice Department investigation and in one or more Congressional investigations. While there may be some risk to the Democrats that a Congressional investigation might provide the culprits the immunity that Congress provided the Iran/Contra culprits, he suspects that will not occur.

He concludes:

There is every reason to believe the White House will once again go into full stonewalling mode when GAO comes knocking with respect to the Plame Wilson leak. Doubtless, it will make some new claim that GAO has no authority to pursue the matter.

But doing this in a campaign year, given the Administration's record of excessive secrecy, may be risky. This is a very legitimate GAO inquiry, so it will be interesting to see how the White House handles it. No president wants to claim executive privilege in an election year.

This is an issue of fundamental government operations -- of the protection of national security secrets. There could not be a more important area of Congressional inquiry in this age of terrorism. But we'll see.

Posted by Donald Douglas at January 30, 2004 10:10 AM