Dick Cheney Walking The Plank?

Following the revelation that, unbeknownst to Special Counsel Fitzgerald,  Bob Woodward received the leak about Valerie Plame before Lewis Libby, folks are wondering whether Woodward's source could be Dick Cheney.

I don't think Cheney is walking the Plank, but he ought to be reading it - Jason Zengerle rounds up speculation that Cheney's The One, but eventually leans towards the guess that he probably is not.

As an aside, I am not convinced by the point made by Ryan Lizza:

UPDATE II: Another strike against the Cheney theory. As Ryan Lizza helpfully points out, Woodward, in a statement, says that on June 23--which was some time after his source told him Wilson's wife worked for the CIA--Woodward told Libby he was going to send him an "18-page list of questions I wanted to ask Vice President Cheney." That makes it sound as if Woodward had not already interviewed Cheney (unless he had 18 pages of follow-up questions).

From the Woodward statement, we see that Woodward had at least two sets of questions, so who knows:

I testified that on June 27, 2003, I met with Libby at 5:10 p.m. in his office adjacent to the White House. I took the 18-page list of questions with the Page-5 reference to "yellowcake" to this interview and I believe I also had the other question list from June 20, which had the "Joe Wilson's wife" reference.

My official position is this - if Cheney was Woodward's source, he ought to be impeached.  Not for any national security issues, or legal reasons - he ought to be impeached for utter gutlessness.

If Colin Powell, or someone in the State Department, or a White House aide wanted to lay low and see how Fitzgerald's investigation played out before coming forward, well - I don't like it, but whatever.

But *if* Cheney were Woodward's source, he should have stood up in October of 2003, following the criminal referral, and said so.  Let the chips fall where they may.  Lead.  End the madness.  That sort of thing.

I strongly suspect that Cheney would not be guilty of anything - the Vice President may have an implicit authority to declassify information, and he very probably lacked any criminal intent or awareness that Ms. Plame's status was, in fact, classified (see SIDEBAR).

Per the ABC Note, the White House isn't denying a Cheney connection - they are laughing at it.  Parse that.

SIDEBAR:  My view is that Ms. Plame's status as a formerly covert operative remained classified, just as I suspect that the formerly covert status of agents who are retired and/or dead remains classified.  Now, does that mean that, as a matter of semantics, she is still "covert"?  I don't know.  But I am highly confident that the national security implications of her outing were small, and that she has not been operating covertly overseas for a while.

I base that on various leaks of "no damage" from the CIA, and the "sloppy tradecraft" argument - the CIA did not act aggressively to (a) prevent Joe Wilson from calling attention to his won CIA activities, which were sure to attract attention, or (b) quash Novak's column.

Comments

[Creepy Dude]

The deprogramming is proceeding nicely.

[Geek, Esq.]

The VP has the same inherent authority as Peyton Maning's backup.

I don't think it's Cheney. The don doesn't walk the plank for a capo.

[Sam Samstein]

Re the siebar... I agree that Plame's outing probably didn't do much bad to our national security, but not because the discredited (by the Post) Bob Woodward and the partisan gunslinger Joe DiGenova say so. Rather, I think that this issue has been attracting so much attention that someone would surely have turned up something by now.

[Marcel]

It is more likely to be Hadley. But that is still close to Cheney. Libby and Hadley are both part of Cheney's inner circle, and he would know what they were doing. It is time for Cheney to visit his doctor, look into taking some time off.

[Creepy Dude]

Hadley's a good guess-rememember the rumor is Hadley felt strongly he was going to be indicted. So what's the deal?

It's all about the Big Encheneylada though.

[Jeff]

he very probably lacked any criminal intent or awareness that Ms. Plame's status was, in fact, classified

The indictment appears to speak against the second claim at least. #9 states the on June 12, 2003 Libby was advised by Cheney that Wilson's wife worked at CPD, which is to say on the operations side of the CIA, which they would know -- right? -- makes it much more likely that her status was classified. That Libby did so know gains further plausibility from #13, which states that Libby said to Edelman on the phone that sharing info about Wilson's trip with the press would cause complications at the CIA and that he could not discuss the matter on a non-secure telephone line. So it is not so hard to imagine that Cheney knew Plame's status was classified information (which is different from covert under the very restrictive definition of IIPA).

[Geek, Esq.]

Raw Story is reporting that it's Hadley.

[Marcel]

Woodward doesn't bother with minor officials. His sources are known to include the Presdient and Vice President, Cabinet Secretaries, Deputies and Under Secretaries, Chiefs of Staff, and maybe one level down from that.

Whoever it was - and we know it wasn't Libby or Rove - here is one more senior administration figure known to have passed along information about Wilson's wife to reporters (whatever her status may have been).

[Creepy Dude]

The funny thing is Woodward didn't run it with it though-they forgot he's no longer a regular reporter. Of course, neither did Miller.

You can now see what happened:

The Big Encheneylada (BE) eagerly scans his morning Wapo...

BE: Goddamn it Hadley-I thought I told you to plant the Plame story.

Hadley-I did Boss

BE; Well I don't see it in here Assmunch. Get Scooter in here.

Next day, BE eagerly scans the NYT...

BE: Goddamn it !!! I told you morons to plant the Plame story.

Scooter: I did boss, I swear. I told Judy...

BE: Goddamn it-to the torture dungeons with you two...Get Rove in here pronto. That sneaky bastard knows how to get dirt out.

[Jim E.]

"Per the ABC Note, the White House isn't denying a Cheney connection - they are laughing at it. Parse that."

I'll consider it a non-denial denial.

[Cheryl]

Take a look at the comments over at the stratasphere. Maidmarion suggests Rand Beers as Seymour Hersh's "former CIA source".

I think it is a dot worth connecting. An dit brings into focus just how nefarious this scheme really was. Beers is it up to his eyeballs. And is good friends with Pal Joey Wilson. And perhaps Mr. John Kerry might have some 'splainin to do, since apparently Mr. Beers jumped ship 5 days before the war broke out - only to land in Mr. Kerry's lap.

Curiouser and Curiouser. No wonder the lefty blogs have gone utterly silent about this, and old Joe himself has slithered under a rock. Haven't seen or heard from him days.

[Geek, Esq.]

Btw, if Hadley told Woodward, there's a very good chance he's Novak's primary source who's no partisan gunslinger.

[Creepy Dude]

And now we know what Rove gave Fitzgerald on indictment eve...

[Syl]

Creepy

Now that's funny.

Wrong.

But funny. :)

[David Walser]

Can't the description of Woodward's source, an administration official, include someone at the CIA? (This is an honest question. I don't know the rules of attribution the press is required to follow.) If so, the possible suspects are too many to name.

That shouldn't keep us from speculating. One of us is bound to be right -- this time.

[Syl]

Creepy

I meant the 'I thought I told you to plant the Plame story' bit was funny.

[Syl]

Well, I think it's laughable myself that Cheney was a source. I mean like he didn't have anything else to do but pick up the phone and call reporters about a stupid story in the NYTimes?

He was more concerned at the time about finding out who this jerk Wilson was, why he went, what he found, what he reported, did he see it, what is right, anything else corroborate, how do we know, what else do we have.

The Niger thing was just one of hundreds of items.

[Creepy Dude]

Many a truth is spoken in jest, Syl.

Be sure and stay for the late show. The guy that follows me (Patty Fitzgerald) will have you in stitches!

[DougJ]

No way Big Time was the source. He's way too smart. More likely it was Richard Clarke or perhaps Wilson himself.

[Marcel]

Whoever told Woodward could not have expected him to report on it in the Post, as he was doing research for a book to be published much later. So maybe it was just gossip at this point, and not part of a smear campaign. Woodward found out about Wilson's wife in "mid-June", and Miller on June 23, but neither wrote about it. Most likely the pressure intensified to get the story out after Joe Wilson's July 6 op-ed. Hence Novak's article on July 14.

[Geek, Esq.]

The only CIA person considered a Senior Administration Official would be the DCI.

[Marianne]

It looks like we'll have to wait for Miller's book and Woodward's book to find out what they know (and want to tell us). Here are 2 of the most prestigious newspapers in the country, and neither one of them has been able to publish reporting done by their own paid staff. News reporting is not being managed by the Managing Editors.

[Justin]

Of course Cheney's not a source. If Cheney was a source, Libby wouldn't be a source. It's not like Cheney's chief of staff took it under his own accord to leak the name without first discussing it with (or more likely, receiving instructions from) the boss. Everyone whose worked in an office, political or not, knows that Cheney is a source, but only in the sense that Libby acts as Cheney's agent.

Thus, there are other sources, which Kevin Drum has noted.

[Marc]

Is Woodward's knowledge of Plame's identity the information Rove's attorney gave Fitzgerald that gave him "pause" in indicting Rove on the last day of the Grand Jury? Could Rove's attorney have said something like, look, we know another official in the White House told Woodward about Plame a month before Libby and Rove starting discussing it with Cooper, Miller, et al. And, is this same person who told Woodward Novak's source? Just a thought.

[Justin]

PS note that Cheney + Libby would not equal two independant sources, the gold standard for journalism.

[Syl]

Geek

Woodward didn't characterize his source as 'Senior Administration Official'. The reporters who wrote about it at the WaPo did.

[The "Esq" can't possibly stand for Esquire]

Geek-

Wrong. The DCI is not a CIA position, even if the Director of the CIA is also the Director of Central Intelligence. Those are two separate hats, my friend.

[Geek, Esq.]

SAO doesn't mean underlings at the CIA in any parlance.

Anyone below DCI would be described as a Senior Agency Official.

[Geek, Esq.]

Wow, a troll named him/herself after me.

I'm flattered.

[Gary Maxwell]

SAO of curse may not have any parlance since Woodward own words dont use the "senior" part. Lots of levels of admin officials and lots of agencies. Then there is that pesky comment from Woodward about a "former" admin official.

Colin Powell anyone?

[Gary Maxwell]

meant course but given the level of discourse today, perhaps curse is better in an odd sorta way.

[FedUp]

I said from the start to people I discussed it with that my guess was Colin Powell. He always seemed the most logical person because he felt he had so much to lose (like his reputation) if Wilson's "report" got traction.
It explains why Pres. Bush told Powell that his services were no longer needed when Powell let it be known that he would be amenable to staying on in the second term.
I made a bet with my fiance that Powell was the source.

[TM]

not because the discredited (by the Post) Bob Woodward

I may not be fully up to speed on the left's talking points, but I believe the reference is to the WaPo story that refuted Woodward's claim that a CIA assessmrent had shown tiny damage.

For folks who like to read past the headline:

CIA Yet to Assess Harm From Plame's Exposure

By Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 29, 2005; A09

More than Valerie Plame's identity was exposed when her name appeared in a syndicated column in the summer of 2003.

A small Boston company listed as her employer suddenly was shown to be a bogus CIA front, and her alma mater in Belgium discovered it was a favored haunt of an American spy. At Langley, officials in the clandestine service quickly began drawing up a list of contacts and friends, cultivated over more than a decade, to triage any immediate damage.

There is no indication, according to current and former intelligence officials, that the most dire of consequences -- the risk of anyone's life -- resulted from her outing.

But after Plame's name appeared in Robert D. Novak's column, the CIA informed the Justice Department in a simple questionnaire that the damage was serious enough to warrant an investigation, officials said.

The CIA has not conducted a formal damage assessment, as is routinely done in cases of espionage and after any legal proceedings have been exhausted. Yesterday, after a two-year inquiry into the leak, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald issued a five-count indictment against Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, for perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements during the grand jury investigation.

...Intelligence officials said they would never reveal the true extent of her contacts to protect the agency and its work.

"You'll never get a straight answer about how valuable she was or how valuable her sources were," said one intelligence official who would speak only anonymously.

I beleive the "no straight answers" part. Also the "no lives in jeopardy" bit.

As ot the notion that an assessment of the damage done by a critical leak has been put on three-year hold pending trials - uh huh.

[Truzenzuzex]

The CIA has not conducted a formal damage assessment, as is routinely done in cases of espionage and after any legal proceedings have been exhausted.

Maybe they haven't. Perhaps they are holding this as a trump card in case this whole thing blows up in their face. If Libby skates and the trial makes the leak inquiry look bad, the CIA can always recover by making a dramatic and harsh "damage assessment" that somehow leaks out.

[Syl]

Tru

the CIA can always recover by making a dramatic and harsh "damage assessment" that somehow leaks out.

And, voila, what do they reveal? That Wilson's career as a CIA agent with DoS cover has been ruined forever.

Such a tremendous loss.

Oy.

[p.lukasiak]

I strongly suspect that Cheney would not be guilty of anything - the Vice President may have an implicit authority to declassify information, and he very probably lacked any criminal intent or awareness that Ms. Plame's status was, in fact, classified (see SIDEBAR).

what sidebar?

First off, there is simply no "implicit" authority to declassify information. Either he had it, or he didn't.

Secondly, Cheney told Libby that Plame worked in Counter-Proliferation. That's Operations, and everything in Operations is classified. "Cheney didn't know it was classified" isn't gonna cut it.

Cheney's only defense, if he is a source of ANY reporter, is that the information was disclosed on "deep background" -- which (IIRC) means that the reporter CANNOT use the information, and cannot follow-up on the information -- at least not directly. That kind of defense --- that there was never any intent to disclose Plame's employment status, might keep him from being convicted on an IIPC charge.

Again, look at Fleitz and Bolton. What we may be looking at is a "whispering campaign" that got out of hand when Wilson went public. Bolton has never shown a lot of finesse and nuance when it comes to damaging those he doesn't like, and Fleitz was perfectly positioned to know that Plame was covert.....

[p.lukasiak]

I made a bet with my fiance that Powell was the source

Can I get some of that action?

(um, the bet, not the fiance) :)

[Syl]

We don't know that more than one of three of Woodward's conversations involved a 'former' anything.

And Libby is 'former'. So he might be the only one.

[Kate]

p. lukasiak, CP is a joint office. It has tons of analysts, it is not operational per se.

Cheney and Libby had security levels at the highest level of the US Government. Probably global access with access to the most sensitive information. They have the right to discuss this info with each other, and trust me they would guess that any info on Plame would be admin or internal use, nothing compared to what they had access to. I would bet trying to figure out who sent Wilson would just be another item on their discussion agenda, probably further down.

Plame was not that big a deal compared to what they saw. They probably didn't even know it was classified.

The only wrong thing would be to talk to reporters knowing her status was classifed. I doubt they did that.

[Strick]

I see that Raw Story says Hadley was Woodward's source, too. If that's the case, it's got to be someone else. Those guys don't seem to have gotten one right on this story yet.

Lots of sensational headlines, but no real meat in their stories.

[Cecil Turner]

Secondly, Cheney told Libby that Plame worked in Counter-Proliferation. That's Operations, and everything in Operations is classified.

You mean like their missions to Niger? When they're not sending faux missions, it seems they're too busy writing books critical of the war effort and leaking embarrassing details from personnel records to get much real work done. (At least that last incident led to a badly needed
shakeup and overdue resignations from the leakmeisters.) I'm also having a hard time keeping up the polite fiction that Plame had nothing to do with the leaks . . . or feeling the outrage over naming one of the anonymous leakers.

Cheney's only defense, if he is a source of ANY reporter, is that the information was disclosed on "deep background" . . .

I'm not sure where you get this stuff, but I don't recall anywhere in the statutes where "deep background" makes leaking okay. (I'm fairly sure it isn't in there.)

[Syl]

Cecil

I don't recall anywhere in the statutes where "deep background" makes leaking okay. (I'm fairly sure it isn't in there.)

No, it's not there. But strictly enforcing the statutes means the equivalent of an Official Secrets Act.

I think Fitz strongly hinted in his presser that one has to choose one's cases very carefully if they solidify the wall between govt sources and journalists.

[stevesturm]

There are two questions that need to be answered: 1) who was Woodward's source, and 2) who told Fitzgerald that Woodward knew something. They may or may not be the same person.

As I posted, Woodward only talked to Fitzgerald this past Monday.... so either Fitzgerald was just told about Woodward having these conversations two years ago or Fitzgerald just learned of Woodward from materials he already had in his possession... and given how thorough Fitzgerald is supposed to be, it's unlikely the latter possibility turns out to the case.

So, somebody told Fitzgerald just recently... and, given how Fitzgerald has been burned in the past for not having inquired about 'all' of the conversations with reporters his interview subjects have been, I'd guess it is.... actually, I have no guess.

But the possibility it is that Cheney is the one who passed the word to Fitzgerald is contingent on either Cheney not being the person who talked with Woodward, but somehow knowing of the conversation, or Cheney was the one who talked to Woodward and is absolutely positively sure that he (Cheney) won't be getting in any trouble for what he told Woodward.

As for the question you asked earlier, why now, it's possible that Cheney and Cheney's attorney have had some time to pore over the indictment, realized they had information that undercuts at a minimum Fitzgerald's claims that Libby was the first to tell, double and triple checked to make sure that Cheney was in the clear and then made a phone call to Fitzgerald's office (probably not to Libby's counsel, as that would be radioactive).

[Cecil Turner]

No, it's not there. But strictly enforcing the statutes means the equivalent of an Official Secrets Act.

If the contention is that leaking classified national security information to reporters is okay--as long as they don't publish--then I think we're going to have to agree to disagree.

[p.lukasiak]

I'm not sure where you get this stuff, but I don't recall anywhere in the statutes where "deep background" makes leaking okay. (I'm fairly sure it isn't in there.)

I'm sure you are correct. But "deep background" raises serious questions about intent -- the IIPC was written to punish those who disclosed the identity of covert agents in a way that endangers them or national security, and putting information on "deep background" would be considered relevant to intent.

(And I didn't mean to imply that "deep background" meant an absolute defense against an indictment --- merely that it provided the possibility of avoiding an indictment, or avoiding conviction.)

[Syl]

Cecil

If the contention is that leaking classified national security information to reporters is okay--as long as they don't publish--

No. Not that it's okay, but that if you're bringing a case, you'd better be damned sure that the leak was damaging.

[Syl]

stevesturm

1)who was Woodward's source

Actually, this brings up a good point. We don't know Novak's source either. Nor Pincus. And, we don't need to know unless they did something illegal and are charged.

But there's no doubt that we'd sure like to know. :)

[Cecil Turner]

But "deep background" raises serious questions about intent -- the IIPC was written to punish those who disclosed the identity of covert agents in a way that endangers them or national security, and putting information on "deep background" would be considered relevant to intent.

By my reading, the only intent required is to leak the information, knowingly, to someone not authorized to receive it. (Which would include the janitor, let alone a reporter.)

[p.lukasiak]

You mean like their missions to Niger?

Cecil, IIRC, the Niger trip was arranged and approved through WINPAC, which is "Analysis", not "Operations." We don't actually know if she as assigned to CPD or WINPAC at the time Wilson was sent to Niger (given Libby's notes of his convo with Cheney, however, it seems likely that she remained assigned to CPD/Operations, and worked WITH but not FOR WINPAC at the time.)

(And please don't bring in irrelevancies like the fact that people from Operations have written books. That doesn't make Operations any less covert --- and doesn't foward the discussion.)

[p.lukasiak]

By my reading, the only intent required is to leak the information, knowingly, to someone not authorized to receive it. (Which would include the janitor, let alone a reporter.)

I would tend to agree.... but there is such a thing as prosecutorial discretion, and juries are unpredictable.