Nick Kristof - A Plame Leak Recipient?

Was Nick Kristof aware that Valerie Plame was at the CIA prior to the publicatiobn of the Novak column on July 14, 2003?  He has not disclosed this to be the case.  However, he may be waiting in the wings as the next Bob Woodward, with a bombsheel revelation o fhis own.  There are three separate strands suggesting that Kristof may have been "in the know".  Let's review:

In the Vanity Fair article made famous by the photo of the loving Wilson couple, we learn this about Joe Wilson's first sit-down with Nick Kristof:

In early May, Wilson and Plame attended a conference sponsored by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, at which Wilson spoke about Iraq; one of the other panelists was the New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof. Over breakfast the next morning with Kristof and his wife, Wilson told about his trip to Niger and said Kristof could write about it, but not name him.

So Valerie Plame, CIA officer, sat and listened politely while her hubby rattled on about a trip her own department had organized.  Did Mr. Kristof, trained observer, detect by the most subtle of body language that she had heard this before?  Or did she blurt out, "Oh, Joe, we set it up differently, tell the story the right way", like any other wife in the world?  Oh, never mind.

Let's flash forward to October 2003, following the announcement of the criminal referral and the commencement of the Plame leak investigation.  Nick Kristof writes an "Everybody chill" column with these near-confessional moments:

I know Mrs. Wilson, but I knew nothing about her CIA career and hadn't realized she's "a hell of a shot with an AK-47,'' as a classmates at the CIA training "farm,'' Jim Marcinkowski, recalls. I'll be more careful around her, for she also turns out to be skilled in throwing hand grenades and to have lived abroad and run covert operations in some of the world's messier spots. (Mrs. Wilson was not a source for this column or any other that I've written about the intelligence community.)

Uh huh.  We have emphasized the obvious weasel words.  For example, I know Mr. Kristof is a Times columnist, but I am unfamiliar with his career; similarly, he may have known Ms. Plame as a CIA analyst without being aware of her glam and covert past.

And if Ms. Plame was never a source for a column, why not just say so?  The particular phrasing leaves one wondering if she was a source for an article about something other than the intelligence community - North Korea's nuclear aspirations, for example.

Here is a bit more:

Third, Mrs. Wilson's intelligence connections became known a bit in Washington as she rose in the CIA and moved to State Department cover, but her job remained a closely held secret.

Meaning what?  Her intelligence connections were known but her job was not?  Huh?

One might almost read that as "Folks knew she was at the CIA, but did not know about her past".  Do tell.  And just who was Kristof's source for that?  Hold on, I'm getting a name... Andrea Mitchell?  Or had Mr. Kristof simply heard from several folks about her CIA link? Why wouldn't he have heard that - as far as the INR was concerned, she was a CIA liason person with nothing to hide.

Oh, well.  One last straw in the wind is this: Nick Kristof broke the story of the mysterious envoy with his May 6 column, and rejoined the effort with columns in June and July of 2003. 

He wrote the "Be Cool" column in Oct 2003, and then - two years of radio silence.  As best I can tell from the Times archives, he did not tackle the subject of the story he broke until just before Mr. Fitzgerald was slated to announce indictments.  His theme then (which included the use of the phrase "Javert") - Special Counsel Fitzgerald had gone too far.

Hmm.  Bob Woodward had a similar view.  He, of course, was criticized for offering his opinion without disclosing his own personal involvement in the case.

Well, maybe back in 2003 Mr. Kristof was advised by an editor that he was a bit too close to this story, and he did essentially what folks say Woodward should have done - lay low.

Again, it is an easy question to ask, if some intrepid reporter can get ahold of Mr. Kristof.  In the interest of avoiding a chat with Mr. Fitzgerald, we assume Mr. Kristof will duck it.  However, his time with the Libby team will come soon enough.

Comments

[TallDave]

Geez. Can't we find anyone who didn't know she was a spy?

Kudos to Wilson, though. His crazy allegations that she was outed to punish him not only successfully obscured the fact he lied repeatedly in interviews, columns, and books to secure his first 15 minutes of fame, they also gave another extended career as a lefty martyr. Lecture circuit, here he comes!

[Jeff]

TM - Glad to see this subblog isn't actually defunct. I can understand why you'd go for Kristof now that the whole Pincus thing hasn't worked out. Kristof always struck me as a more likely candidate anyway.

One thing. Woodward wasn't supposed to be offering his opinion at all, since he's a WaPo reporter/editor. Kristof is an opinion columnist. He's paid to offer his opinion. What's more, while important questions remain unanswered, we are all aware of, and Kristof himself comments on, his own role in the whole matter. Woodward, in contrast, offered his dim opinion of Fitzgerald while representing himself as utterly uninvolved in the whole matter. So there are no leaps to be made if you want to imagine that Kristof was motivated to criticize Fitzgerald in the hopes of staying out of a trial or whatever. Whereas we now pretty much know that part of Woodward's criticism was motivated by his own desire to avoid a subpoena, mention in an indictment, and any role at a trial.

[Eoqi]

Plame was picked to get rid of WMD at CIA before the war. Her intent with trying to get everybody to leak in the US government was to get rid of those intelligence connections.

[Eoqi]

Jim got elected to Congress?

[karen millen]

Well, maybe back in 2003 Mr. Kristof was advised by an editor that he was a bit too close to this story, and he did essentially what folks say Woodward should have done - lay low

[Jade sale]

Plame was picked to get rid of WMD at CIA before the war. Her intent with trying to get everybody to leak in the US government was to get rid of those intelligence connections.