Last year, I caught second-hand speculation within the CIA that Valerie Plame was "outed" from inside the CIA because she and her husband were politicizing intelligence. (A friend of mine had contacts in the Iraq Survey Group.) That speculation seems to be even more likely today.
Question from the Captain's Quarters.
I think it may even be more than that, at least on the media's part, and specific to the New York Times. They know who Judith Miller's source is, and they're trying their best to keep it quiet. One wonders why they're carrying so much water for a story they never broke. Could it have something to do with their publication of Joseph Wilson's original op-ed article that started the whole mess?
I could care less who Miller's source was (unless it was the same as Novak's). Rather, who was Novak's original source given that Rove was the confirming one? Let's look at the characteristics as described by Novak:
- A senior administration figure
- Not a partisan gunslinger
- Would know the answer of why the CIA sent Wilson to Niger
This would give us either Colin Powell or George Tenet. (Commenters please give any other candidates here.) A spokesman for Powell denied that he ever talked with Novak at all about the Plame affair. This leaves George Tenet. A friend of Wilson's asked Novak about Wilson on July 8, 2003, the same day that Rove confirmed Novak's story. Novak told Wilson's friend:
“Wilson’s an asshole. The CIA sent him. His wife, Valerie, works for the CIA. She’s a weapons of mass destruction specialist. She sent him.”
On July 10, Wilson confronted Novak before Novak ran the story:
Novak apologized, and then asked if I would confirm what he had heard from a CIA source: that my wife worked at the Agency. [emphasis mine]
After Novak ran his story, Wilson contacted Novak again and noted the discrepancy of Novak's sourcing. Novak replied, "I misspoke the first time I contacted you".
What if Novak didn't misspoke and was trying to protect his source? What if characteristic number 4 is works for the CIA? That leaves George Tenet as the source of who sent Wilson to Niger. Whether the source specifically named Valerie Plame is difficult to surmise because apparently her identity was an open secret. In the end, that's for the prosecutor and the grand jury to figure out.
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