The WaPo Covers The Armitage Story

The WaPo gets some dish from a "former Armitage colleague at the [State] department" and rehashes the Newsweek story, giving us an excuse to engage in some unseemly gloating:

The leak of information about an undercover CIA employee that provoked a special prosecutor's investigation of senior White House officials came from then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage, according to a former Armitage colleague at the department.

Armitage told newspaper columnist Robert D. Novak in the summer of 2003 that Valerie Plame, the wife of a prominent critic of the Iraq war, worked for the CIA, the colleague said. In October of that year, Armitage admitted to senior State Department officials that he had made the remark, which was based on a classified report he had read.

Let me toss in one belated "They told you so", based on this - although the report Armitage read was classified, "Armitage did not know at the time that Plame's identity was considered secret information...".

At the time when the story of the INR memo first broke, many folks were adamant that anyone reading the report had to know that the Plame info was classified.  As a reminder, here is a WSJ description of the document - their lead:

Memo Underscored Issue of Shielding Plame's Identity

By ANNE MARIE SQUEO and JOHN D. MCKINNON
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
July 19, 2005; Page A3

A classified State Department memo that may be pivotal to the CIA leak case made clear that information identifying an agent and her role in her husband's intelligence-gathering mission was sensitive and shouldn't be shared, according to a person familiar with the document.

...The memo's details are significant because they will make it harder for officials who saw the document to claim that they didn't realize the identity of the CIA officer was a sensitive matter. Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor, may also be looking at whether other crimes -- such as perjury, obstruction of justice or leaking classified information -- were committed.

...The paragraph in the memo discussing Ms. Wilson's involvement in her husband's trip is marked at the beginning with a letter designation in brackets to indicate the information shouldn't be shared, according to the person familiar with the memo. Such a designation would indicate to a reader that the information was sensitive. The memo, though, doesn't specifically describe Ms. Wilson as an undercover agent, the person familiar with the memo said.

And here is a link to the memo in question, thanks to Josh Gerstein and the NY Sun.

Cecil Turner, Captain Ed, and many others were quick to draw on their own experience, or that of their readers, in handling classified documents, and made the following point (from the Captain):

In any classified document, each paragraph has to carry a label indicating the level of classification for the information contained within. Later in the article by Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei, we find out that the paragraph contains seven sentences, and that Plame only gets mentioned in two of them. That doesn't establish that her identity was classified, although it could. It could just as easily mean that other information in the same paragraph carried that classification.

In other words, each paragraph (in this case, a block of seven sentences) carries the classification of the most classified sentence in the group.  If one of the sentences in a Top Secret paragraph notes that Albany is the capitol of New York, well, that tidbit does not become Top Secret.  Cecil Turner made the further point that no one in their right mind would ever bandy the name of a NOC about so casually - unless the person's "NOC" status was unknown to them.
If I had a truly dark and vengeful heart I would go back and hunt down examples of bloggers who mocked that argument (and the day is young!).  Evidently, it persuaded Fitzgerald and helped to get Armitage (who has surely seen one or two classified documents in his time) off the hook.

And as a reminder - based on what he has released so far, Fitzgerald can not prove that Libby was aware of Ms. Plame's classified status prior to July 14, 2003.  However, at some point after the Novak column appeared Libby was in a meeting where a CIA official warned folks about something, although it is not clear the word "classified" was used:

To support his case, Fitzgerald disclosed that at some time after Robert D. Novak's July 14, 2003, column identified Plame as a CIA "operative," Libby was part of a conversation with a CIA official and one other Cheney employee who is not identified in court papers. The CIA official discussed "the dangers posed by disclosure of the CIA affiliation of one of its employees," according to a May 12 court filing by the government.

I happen to think that, given the world-wide popularity of the CIA, there may be a danger in publicly identifying anyone as a CIA employee, covert or not.  But I am not a Special Counsel.

MORE:  Once the Sun published the actual memo, a very detailed analysis was done by some enterprising bloger who pulled out the rules on classification and a guide to acronyms and discovered the following: Per the classification rules, memos should include a "Classification Authority".  This tells archivists what department to go back to to check whether, years later, a particular documwent can be de-classified.

And just as each paragraph can have a separate security classification, each paragraph (or sentence) can have a separate classification authority.  Very logical, yes?

But here is the punchline - the *only* classification authority for the INR memo was Carl Ford, head of the INR.  Which could not have been right if the memo author wanted to communicate that Ms. Plame's identity was classified - the classifying authority for that tidbit ought to have been the CIA, since that was originally a CIA secret (and there may have come a time when the CIA would have been comfortable de-classifying that, but for an archivist to go back and ask the INR wouldn't really have been helpful, would it?)

So by that argument, only offered after the INR memo was produced, an experienced reader of the memo should have been confident that Ms. Plame's identity was not the information which made that paragraph classified.  [Just to be clear - a reader drawing that conclusion would have been wrong, since Plame's staus was in fact classified, per Fitzgerald; however, it would have been a very reasonable conclusion reflecting an error made by the drafter of the memo.]

Sorry, I can't find the link to that - it was quite ingenious, and the blogger with the original idea was a teenager (IIRC, but I am highly confident; a mere youngster, anyway [who helpfully posts as "Real Teen"; thanks, Rocco]).  Well, as noted, the day is young.  [And props to Patton, who made the same point in a comment.]

Comments

[Asoe]

The famous Bush speech promised to double the size of the CIA, which was done quickly. He also stated the he intended to double the size of Peace Corps in the same sentence. Peace Corps took exception to that and everyone knew Wilson's, Peace Corps volunteer, was a CIA agent. Some have seen her claim files to threaten. She has always been known as very dangerous in the Federal government from DIA to other agencies.

She was leaked because she was too dangerous and this was done during the interview with Wilson on CNN where he claimed he was afraid of her. So, someone leaked and it was probably someone Plame went after in the past, who is still alive.

[vnjagvet]

Here we go again. Another Post story to get on the right side of history before it's too late. It's relation with Newsweak sometimes comes in handy, doesn't it?

ASOE, you sure do have a way with sarcasm.

[Forbes]

TM: After several years of covering the Plame Name Blame Game, you've been vindicated, as this has been a big deal about nothing.

The "leaker" was Armitage, and there was no violation of the IIPA or the Espionage Act.

What are the chances that anyone opining otherwise, here on JOM, will weigh in and apologize for their now baseless allegations and/or credit the Minuteman for his astuteness in this episode?

Good job, TM!

[clarice]

I want to concentrate on what should be done now.
Should Gonzales revoke the appointment?
Should the President pardon Libby?
Should Libby move to dismiss? On what grounds?
Should Fitz be investigated for his misleading affidavit to the Miller Court? For his presser lies?

Should we demand Armitage be called to account in some way?

This has been a rank injustice which proved exceedingly damaging , not only to Libby, but to the Administration as well.

[Birkel]

Wasn't her cover blown because of a NYT article back in 1998 (or thereabout) when some Boston company was revealed as a front?

Thanks in advance.

[Thomas Morrissey]

an excuse to engage in some unseemly gloating

You need a Dancing Armadillo,like Goldstein.

Typical dead-tree WAPost c.y.a, months behind the truth,days behind the news.

Anything in the N.Y Times yet?

[Slartibartfast]

I don't think TM's proven that she wasn't NOC so much as shown that it's very unlikely that she was NOC.

I think Cecil and I (and others) have been making similar points for some time now: Plame's name in a classified document, or even in a classified paragraph, doesn't make her name classified. And even if it was, if her name was revealed by someone who came knew her identity by piecing bits of unclassified information together, there's no crime. If that was the case, the CIA was doing a piss-poor job of preserving her identity.

[Slartibartfast]

Slight adjustment: I think the INR classification authority point is a very good one, but it's possible that Ford knew of Plame without having been briefed on her.

That aside, I've never, ever seen a document that had multiple classification authorities. That doesn't mean there's no such thing, just that I've never seen one. I'd guess that such things would be far less uncommon in State and CIA than in, for example, the safe of a defense contractor.

[Bob]

where's jeff... or is it too early for his comedy routine?

[clarice]

This morning's comedy relief comes from CREW in the Wa Po article(last graph--how far has Wilson fallen?)
"Just because Armitage did this on his own, earlier, doesn't mean that there wasn't a White House conspiracy to 'out' Valerie [Plame] Wilson. We don't think it affects the case," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the group pressing the lawsuit.

Maestro, a chorus of "Just Because", please...

[Slartibartfast]

Hmmm...let's see how that works: "Just because Vince Foster actually committed suicide, doesn't mean there wasn't a conspiracy by the Clintons to have him snuffed."

Yep. Fits.

[Cecil Turner]

So by that argument, only offered after the INR memo was produced, an experienced reader of the memo should have been confident that Ms. Plame's identiy was not the information which made that paragraph classified.

It makes a good story, but I doubt any normal reader could've picked it out, even if it were the intent of the classifier. What does stand out is that on July 7th, the day after Wilson's NY Times Op-Ed, the idea that the subject line of the memo ("Niger/Iraq Uranium Story and Joe Wilson) would still be "SECRET" and not releasable to foreign nationals is risible. It's also obvious that the really sensitive part of the memo was the NIE/INR disagreement over the assessment. More detailed commentary on the markings are here, here, and here.

[Sue]

Well, at least CREW has Jeff's story down for him.

[maryrose]

Slartbartfast:
What's good for the goose...
Clarice:
I also am very interested in what comes next. I believe some action should be taken pronto. This has been a series of lies from the get-go. Enough is enough, time for Fitz to fold his tent.

[Jane]

I want to concentrate on what should be done now

Not much can be done because the damage has already happened.

It seems to me that the best thing that can happen (and given all the faux photopgraphy scandals the timing is right) is someone can boil it all down to the bare bone facts about how the left and the media rode this horse to infamy, while hurting Libby, the administration and the country, and how this is just one such example of what the left has been up to.

You are a good candidate for that Clarice, as obviously is TM.

The problem you have to avoid is getting caught up in the minutia that makes one's eyes glaze over.

I'd write it from the Wilson's perspective, as the protagonist, and show how he and his took this country on a muti-million dollar ride in a time of war, capitalizing on BDS, to snag support.

This needs to be back on the front page - because just about everyone has lost interest.

I hope we can rely on Judge Banks to dismiss the civil suit.

Libby's lawyers should also file a motion to dismiss, based on the fact that the entire premise of the charges, as Fitzy outlined in his press conference, has now crumbled. He needs to feel some pressure.

Someone should put Libby (and Powell's) feet to the flame about how they could let Libby hang in the wind while they let the lies go on.

The administration should stay out of it.

[Syl]

Oh, shoot. I dropped a comment at RLS re the same notion--that the left was crucifying Rove et al over the INR memo but now gives Armitage a pass.

I didn't get it from here, honest. GMTA, or more realistically, Greater and Lesser Minds think Alike. :)

[Ranger]

Well, of course they are going to give Armitage a pass. He was a "good leaker" who just made a mistake. It's all about intentions and motivations, not outcomes.

[clarice]

I'm mulling it over, Jane, and all good suggestions are welcome.

The tale has such a Dreyfusian quality to it, maybe Devil's Island Redux..How almost 3/4 of the nation was taken in on this swindle , concocted by an idiotic serial liar, some friends in the Senate and an utterly disreputable press. Maybe it ends with Libby removing a glove and smacking Armitage and Kristof and Wilson and Pincus across their faces or something.

[Jeff]

Well, at least CREW has Jeff's story down for him.

Now, Sue, that doesn't seem really fair. After emphatically refusing to believe me when I told you, over and over, what my story was, and that it had been my story for months and months, you're now finally accepting that it's my story only in order to say that, sensibly enough, it's been adopted by the Wilsons' lawyers, after their initial, silly assertion suggesting that if Armitage were Novak's first source, he'd just be added to the conspiracy?

Tom

Haven't several lefties long suggested that the INR memo was a red herring, and precisely not a damning bit of evidence as the source for info on Plame? It makes sense that they would say as much, since it's pretty clear neither Libby (whatever David Corn mistakenly says) nor Rove ever saw the INR memo. In the coverage, the INR memo seemed mostly to be used to point the finger at Powell and Fleischer, no?

[Ranger]

Also, remember that the press itself had the power to end this any time they wanted by simply coming clean. The only one who seems to have actuall had the integrity to do that was Woodward, be even had waited until the Libby indictment was out before publicly coming forward with what he knew, and still wouldn't finger the PoS who stayed silent while others were falsely accused.

[Dell]

Plame was leaked by Ames. This is why she is known. If you were somehow, possibly, maybe involved in some type in his arrest; she involved herself. The problem was why would she threaten someone maybe involved with the Ames problem, unless she was bad?

Her history regarding working with others, especially other operations officers in Iraq, is obvious. They are all dead.

Foster rumor: If you go to Bill's old house, you might get that he and Hillary were involved a long time ago.

[Jane]

The tale has such a Dreyfusian quality to it, maybe Devil's Island Redux..How almost 3/4 of the nation was taken in on this swindle , concocted by an idiotic serial liar, some friends in the Senate and an utterly disreputable press.

Jack Kelly does a good job at a start here:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/08/plame_and_the_bush_lied_meme.html.

What I want is a banner that extends from sea to shining sea, that states the truth that Bush didn't lie, Joe Wilson did, and his lies have prolonged this war, and helped the terrorists. I want people to know that he is an enemy of this country, who is motivated by greed and self interest; and the lap dogs on the left are too stupid to live.

Or something like that.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

From David Corn's blog today:

'Conspiracy theorist--moi? Where have I proposed a conspiracy theory?'

For starters in his July 16, 2003 column, where he several times made statements like:

'Did senior Bush officials blow the cover of a US intelligence officer working covertly in a field of vital importance to national security--and break the law--in order to strike at a Bush administration critic and intimidate others?

'It sure looks that way, if conservative journalist Bob Novak can be trusted.'

The book should have been titled; 'Chutzpah'.

[paul]

Does this mean Joe Wilson implications to the media about Rove's complicity is...gasp...a lie?

If we can't trust Wilson, who can we trust?

[Jeff]

Does this mean Joe Wilson implications to the media about Rove's complicity is...gasp...a lie?

Wilson lacked knowledge one way or the other at the time about Rove's pre-July 14 conduct, though he knew Rove was pushing the story shortly thereafter. But it turned out that Wilson was right. The two senior administration officials Novak cited for the claim that Wilson's wife was a CIA operative who had suggested Wilson's name for his mission were Armitage and Rove. Plus Rove disclosed the information, unsolicited, to Matt Cooper on July 11.

[Rocco]

Is RealTeen the link you were looking for?

[j wilson]

Trust me it was Rove.

It only took me two weeks of 'tea-drinking' in Niger to come to my conclusions about WMD's (sorry I didn't give a written report).

I've been drinking a lot more kool-aid, for a lot more years, here in DC, so my conclusions should be that much more correct.

I won't risk losing my crediblity by not ammending my wife's lawsuit to include Dick Armitage, and his boss, Colin Powell.

[vnjagvet]

Clarice:

I used to have a form for a Petition For Trial By Mortal Combat.

Were I Libby, I might consider such an action against Armitage and Powell for allowing him to twist slowly in the wind in what I consider to be truly Nixonian fashion.

I agree with Tom that Rove comes through this relatively unscathed, although I am sure he had some deep breathing moments over the past few years.

The real story of all of this is the viciousness of Washington politics fought with the gloves off. But it was a chess match as well. A Presidential election was the real goal of this entire exercise.

The Wilson article was meant to be the beginning of a series of increasingly heavy blows against the administration to undermine its national defense advantage after 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Remember the "20 point advantage" the MSM was prepared to give the anti-Bush forces.

The Wilson article had a twofold mission. One was to plant the seed that "Bush Lied and People Died". The other was to tempt the Whitehouse into a Watergate-like dirty tricks campaign. One misstep, and it was Watergate all over again. The Dem's finest moment recreated.

It almost worked.

I would like to think that people like Tom, Captain Ed and their regulars helped to foil this little scheme and make it a footnote to history, instead of history itself.

[Ranger]

Jeff,

I think you are mischaractorizing the Cooper/Rover interaction. Cooper called Rover immidiately after his colaborating author called and talked to Wilson. Then his collaborating author immidiately called Wilson back after the call. Cooper also misrepresented the purpose of the call as being about "Welfare Reform" and the fact that it was a misrepresentaiton is proven by the fact that Cooper didn't even remember that it was the reason he'd given for the call when he was called before the GJ. Finally, Cooper's entire story is compromised because he apparently wrote multiple and controdictory versions of what happened at the time of the events. All in all, it sounds a lot like Wilson, with the help of a couple of friendly reporters were specificly trying to set Rove up for Wilson's later charge. Hardly "unsolicited".

[Sue]

Now, Sue, that doesn't seem really fair.

Seemed fair to me.

I would like to point out that I was right, and you were wrong. It did matter if Armitage was the original leaker. The left, and MSM, can't figure out what to do with him. Being Republican is just not enough. As you yourself have figured out...recently.

[cathyf]

Just because Armitage did this on his own, earlier, doesn't mean that there wasn't a State Dept conspiracy to 'out' Valerie [Plame] Wilson.

Just because Armitage did this on his own, earlier, doesn't mean that there wasn't a CIA conspiracy to 'out' Valerie [Plame] Wilson.

Just because Armitage did this on his own, earlier, doesn't mean that there wasn't a French conspiracy to 'out' Valerie [Plame] Wilson.

Just because Armitage did this on his own, earlier, doesn't mean that there wasn't a conspiracy by pink unicorns from outer space to 'out' Valerie [Plame] Wilson.

Yep, check, all of those statements are unarguably true...

[Slartibartfast]

Plus Rove disclosed the information, unsolicited, to Matt Cooper on July 11.

Unsolicited? Is this the "you heard that too" exchange?

[Jeff]

Sue - I'll admit it, Rove would have been a bigger prize for lefties. But so you finally believe me that, as I've been saying for months, my working theory of the whole thing is that there was a coordinated effort in OVP and Armitage was not a part of it?

[Chants]

Per Clarice's request, a "just because":

"Just because the CIA physically stationed Plame at CIA headquarters doesn't mean they didn't take affirmative steps to conceal her affiliation with them"

Well. It's pretty much over, unless something pretty unlikely happens. All that is left is the denumount. Who else did Armitage talk to? How tilted was the investigation to begin with? An just what was in that CIA referral letter?

It's going to be very hard to disabuse 72% of the American public of the propaganda they have been exposed to over the past 3 years without making it look like a Noam Chomsky essay on semiotics. Actually, I exaggerate. It will look nothing like Noam Chomsky's work, but it will be longer than most people will want to spend time with. Plus so many are too invested with the propaganda to let it go.

Thanks everyone for doing all the heavy analysis necessary to keep my modest abilities just sharp enough to follow along for the ride. I really enjoyed it!

[Jeff]

Is this the "you heard that too" exchange?

Nope. Cooper learned about Wilson's wife from Rove.

[Carol Herman]

CLARICE: WHERE IS THE JUDGE?

Does this case just run out of the courtroom? No restrictions on licenses? No thoughts on what Americans would expect from a sitting judge? In so public an arena?

[Other Tom]

"...he knew Rove was pushing the story shortly thereafter." Pushing? You mean, like, calling people up and alerting them to the fact that Plame sent Wilson? Didn't happen. And neither Rove's statement to Novak nor his statment to Cooper was "unsolicited." Remember, it was Cooper who called Rove, not the reverse, and the purpose of the call was to discuss welfare reform. Cooper brought up the Wilson thing.

I want to take this rare opportunity to brag a bit. Back when the "paragraph classification" stuff came out, I made the point in a post here (not as succinctly as the Albany example) that if a paragraph labeled "secret" referred to the fact that there was a coffee shop at 17th and K, that didn't make that info secret.

What I'm wondering is when, and what, we're going to hear from Kristof, Pincus, Waas and the rest.

And as for what is to be done now, I must say that I'm sitting here with steam coming out of my ears. The idea that Armitage and Powell could sit silently by and watch their colleagues endure this nightmare, without ever stepping forward like honorable men, is simply unforgivable. I would hope that shortly after the November elections, either Gonzales or Bush will order that this investigation be terminated and the charges dropped--in short, I don't think he should dignify the charges with a pardon. I believe they have the power to do this, and I think they should do it and let the chips fall where they may. There is simply no valid reason for Fitzgeral to have continued this investigation once the Armitage information was made known to him.

[clarice]

vnjagvet--I'd love that form.

Actually, I think the second point plan--to induce a Watergate misstep--failed because this is a grownup administration with a unique sense of decency. That didn't save them from being accused of wrongdoing any way . The oppo just assumed everyone was --as they are--sleazebags.

Now, put your fine noodle to work and help me figure out what I should propose be done at this late juncture that doesn't violate anti-dueling laws, PLEASE.

[Carol Herman]

I'm serious, Clarice.

THE JUDGE HAS TO WRITE SOMETHING UP, DOESN'T HE? Or he stalls to January? Or February? While Scooter Libby just hangs out there?

What would YOU write IF YOU WERE THE JUDGE?

And, if you had to guess; since lots of Americans know law school is not enough; BUT YOU HAVE TO PASS THE BAR. Is the bar just something called "Paddy's?"

[Jeff]

Yep, check, all of those statements are unarguably true...

Ayup, and there doesn't seem to be any or much evidence for any of them except perhaps the CIA one, if you consider Tenet's role and Harlow's closeness with Tenet. Of course, there's a lot more evidence if you insert OVP in the relevant place. And there's some evidence for the idea that State was going after Wilson too, but not beyond Armitage's conduct.

[topsecretk9]

Also, remember that the press itself had the power to end this any time they wanted by simply coming clean.

Well THAT'S not going to happen. There is much embarrassment in doing that.

Some>wanted to believe not only Wilson's claims about Cheney, but Wilson's suggestion that any response from the WH should be accepted as nothing other than a "smear campaign" Enter Chris Matthew's and his questionable contribution to the farce with "fair game"

[Rick Ballard]

Clarice,

Is there any way that Libby could make his wishes known, given his circumstances? If he were able to do so, I would be in favor of whatever he felt was appropriate.

It might be thrilling to think of him turning down the public offer of a Presidential pardon in order to clear his name in court but the truth is that going to court is a roll of the dice - and the dice are shaved in DC.

Without knowing Libby's wishes, I would favor the DoJ not assigning any more cases to Fitzgerald and quietly transferring responsibility for other cases away from him until all that he had left was this farce. Let it roll out until a week before trial and then have the President issue a pardon. Then let the House Judiciary Committee flay Fitzgerald in public for a week concerning ethical impropriety.

As to the rest of the players, Wilsons and journos foremost and Powell and Armitage right behind - I am unaware of anything that can truly damage sewage, so I suppose the best thing is simply to let it naturally degrade.

[Sue]

I've been saying for months, my working theory of the whole thing is that there was a coordinated effort in OVP and Armitage was not a part of it?

And Armitage just happened to trip into a coordinated effort that he wasn't part of. Yep, I believe you.

[Sue]

Nope. Cooper learned about Wilson's wife from Rove.

And Novak learned from Armitage. One is part of a coordinated effort the other just a bumbling fool.

[ordi]

Jeff,

Aren't your teeth getting tired? You keep biting down on the dead stinking "Frog" known as your theory. Give it up! IT IS DEAD!

[topsecretk9]

Nope. Cooper learned about Wilson's wife from Rove.

Well, that wil sorta hld up at least until trial.

[topsecretk9]

hid = hold

[cathyf]

Plus Rove disclosed the information, unsolicited, to Matt Cooper on July 11.

We don't know that. Simply repeating something enough times doesn't make it true.

Rove says he doesn't remember the conversation at all. Cooper's recollections are not particularly believable. Each of them has contemporaneous notes, and neither set of notes supports the claim Jeff makes.

Therefore Jeff is:

a) guilty of the federal felony of bugging the White House in 2003, or

b) really not human but rather a flea in Karl Rove's or Matt Cooper's nose hair, or

c) making shit up.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

I don't think TM's proven that she wasn't NOC so much as shown that it's very unlikely that she was NOC.

Slarti, having once upon a time been under a non-official cover (thirty years ago, no longer sensitive that I was) I can tell you I'm pretty darn well certain she wasn't. When I was, I could only meet my contact in social settings and we never did it twice in the same place, and I never ever ever saw his office or went anyplace connected. With val driving to CIA Langley on a regular basis, she just wasn't NOC. Just wasn't.

Proving a negative is impossible, but the likelihood she was a NOC is negligable.

[Bob]

Seems like Leopold just can't let this go either!

"This is the first time the man who met Novak on the street has spoken out publicly about his interaction with Novak three years ago. He was interviewed by Truthout several times over the past two months and has requested anonymity for fear of retribution for disclosing his role in the leak investigation. Truthout has confirmed the man's identity with former Ambassador Wilson. He is a former magazine publisher, and currently works as a consultant, mainly with private businesses helping local governments improve their infrastructure - such as building pipelines to improve water flow in one municipality. The man no longer lives in Washington, DC.

[snip]

The man then asked Novak what his thoughts were about former ambassador Wilson. Novak stopped dead in his tracks, looked directly at the man he had just met and said pointedly, "Wilson is an asshole. Let me tell you what really happened. His wife works for the CIA as a weapons of mass destruction specialist and she sent him."