Friday, October 03, 2003
The Plame Affair
Well, the Plame Affair seems to be losing steam—NPR gave it a sentence this morning, placed in the context of the larger "struggle for Iraq" (as the Times would put it). However, as alert reader anonymous reminds us, these things take time. And alert reader Melanie points out that the CIA will drive the schedule.
The original story is as compelling as ever: A White House official shops a story all around DC designed to undermine the reputation of Niger yellowcake whistleblower Joseph Wilson, for revenge, and in the process reveals the identity of Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA operative in WMD, which is a felony. Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame agrees, saying "It seems to me appropriate to find out if somebody in the White House put ideology above the law."
To repeat: A potential felony, committed by a high White House official. Motives: intimidation and revenge. That should be the story.
Three factors are converging to reframe and bury the story—not all, it must be said, driven by the White House.
First, the press is framing the story under the heading "Iraq"; that is what NPR did this morning, and that is what the Kremlinology yesterday did as well.
This takes the focus off the commission of a crime, and puts the focus on Inside Baseball-style political commentary and "analysis." (The keyword is "partisan squabbling" or putting the word scandal in quotes.) Here the press is much more comfortable, since no legwork or reportage is required, and little in the way of actual work. Moreover, no offense need be given to powerful sources. (Today, the Post put "Steno Sue" Schmidt on the case, presumably hoping that the great work she did with Ken Starr's "career prosecutors" will be repeated with the DOJ investigators in The Plame Affair.)
Second, the press will not focus on its sourcing, nor on its behavior. Obviously, it's necessary for the press to protect sources, or there'd be no whistleblowers at all—and indeed, the intricate dance of "anonymous sources", "administration officials," "White House aides," "confirmation" and so forth would come to a halt. This predictable story is how the news is done. So the idea of simply subpoena-ing Novak, in whose column Plame's name first appeared, for the name of the criminal who revealed Plame's identity is not on. (Incidentally, the statute under which the criminal would be prosecuted protects Novak.)
However. The criminal shopped the story to six different journalists/news organizations. As Atrios wrote yesterday, every Beltway insider already knows the name of the criminal. Only the American citizen doesn't know. As Richard Cohen wrote yesterday of the original story, "Somehow, someone got in with a conscience." But the person with a conscience was the administration official who broke the original story of the crime.
We have yet to see a person with a conscience come forward from journalism. For example, the Post wrote a "balanced" editorial this morning on whether an independent counsel might shield the investigation from political pressure. Well and good—but suppose that one of the six different journalists to whom the criminal shopped the story was a Post reporter?
Will the Post break the logjam by asking its reporters to see of their source will release them from their pledge of confidentiality in this matter? From its side, will the White House break the logjam by asking its officials to release journalists from their pledge of confidentiality in this matter? If not, the press and the White House are colluding to maintain business as usual regarding sourcing and the creation of the news, and that is a new story.
Third, DOJ and the White House together have reframed the story. The story is a felony committed by a White House official. The FBI, however, is treating The Plame Affair as a leak of classified information. This shifts the focus from the White House to the White House, DOD, and State. That is, instead of a circle of suspects of perhaps twenty people—remember, the original story said quite explicitly that the criminal was an administration official, not some underling at DOD or State—the circle of suspects is in the 100s. Still, the circle of 20 is where the DOJ intends to start. According to several reports, the the DOJ will "move quickly" "within days" to interview those who have been named in the press as possible perpretrators. However, as a letter from Ashcroft to Hastert, cc Cheney, makes clear if you read between the lines, the whole purpose of "investigating" leaks is not to catch anyone. That is the true "expertise" of the "career prosecutors" in this field at DOJ. (Letter via Atrios alert reader Sovok.)
In the days of Nixon, the press would have called that stonewalling. Stories headlined "Leak investigation could go beyond White House" signalled the success of this tactic, as did the analysts who agreed that the investigation is going to take a very long time. (It would, as Josh Marshall has suggested, be simpler to release Karl Rove's phone logs, which the White House has done when it served their purposes.) Of course, "where there's a will, there's a way" as John Dean points out in Salon (get the one-day). Judge Norma Holloway Johnson tried Starr leaker Bakaly during Whitewater, with success.
The bottom line for today: Bush thinks he's off the hook, and he might be right.
As before, the answer is for someone with a conscience to step forward. Will it happen? Who will write the J'Accuse for The Plame Affair?
Other aspects of The Plame Affair include:
The original story is as compelling as ever: A White House official shops a story all around DC designed to undermine the reputation of Niger yellowcake whistleblower Joseph Wilson, for revenge, and in the process reveals the identity of Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA operative in WMD, which is a felony. Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame agrees, saying "It seems to me appropriate to find out if somebody in the White House put ideology above the law."
To repeat: A potential felony, committed by a high White House official. Motives: intimidation and revenge. That should be the story.
Three factors are converging to reframe and bury the story—not all, it must be said, driven by the White House.
First, the press is framing the story under the heading "Iraq"; that is what NPR did this morning, and that is what the Kremlinology yesterday did as well.
This takes the focus off the commission of a crime, and puts the focus on Inside Baseball-style political commentary and "analysis." (The keyword is "partisan squabbling" or putting the word scandal in quotes.) Here the press is much more comfortable, since no legwork or reportage is required, and little in the way of actual work. Moreover, no offense need be given to powerful sources. (Today, the Post put "Steno Sue" Schmidt on the case, presumably hoping that the great work she did with Ken Starr's "career prosecutors" will be repeated with the DOJ investigators in The Plame Affair.)
Second, the press will not focus on its sourcing, nor on its behavior. Obviously, it's necessary for the press to protect sources, or there'd be no whistleblowers at all—and indeed, the intricate dance of "anonymous sources", "administration officials," "White House aides," "confirmation" and so forth would come to a halt. This predictable story is how the news is done. So the idea of simply subpoena-ing Novak, in whose column Plame's name first appeared, for the name of the criminal who revealed Plame's identity is not on. (Incidentally, the statute under which the criminal would be prosecuted protects Novak.)
However. The criminal shopped the story to six different journalists/news organizations. As Atrios wrote yesterday, every Beltway insider already knows the name of the criminal. Only the American citizen doesn't know. As Richard Cohen wrote yesterday of the original story, "Somehow, someone got in with a conscience." But the person with a conscience was the administration official who broke the original story of the crime.
We have yet to see a person with a conscience come forward from journalism. For example, the Post wrote a "balanced" editorial this morning on whether an independent counsel might shield the investigation from political pressure. Well and good—but suppose that one of the six different journalists to whom the criminal shopped the story was a Post reporter?
Will the Post break the logjam by asking its reporters to see of their source will release them from their pledge of confidentiality in this matter? From its side, will the White House break the logjam by asking its officials to release journalists from their pledge of confidentiality in this matter? If not, the press and the White House are colluding to maintain business as usual regarding sourcing and the creation of the news, and that is a new story.
Third, DOJ and the White House together have reframed the story. The story is a felony committed by a White House official. The FBI, however, is treating The Plame Affair as a leak of classified information. This shifts the focus from the White House to the White House, DOD, and State. That is, instead of a circle of suspects of perhaps twenty people—remember, the original story said quite explicitly that the criminal was an administration official, not some underling at DOD or State—the circle of suspects is in the 100s. Still, the circle of 20 is where the DOJ intends to start. According to several reports, the the DOJ will "move quickly" "within days" to interview those who have been named in the press as possible perpretrators. However, as a letter from Ashcroft to Hastert, cc Cheney, makes clear if you read between the lines, the whole purpose of "investigating" leaks is not to catch anyone. That is the true "expertise" of the "career prosecutors" in this field at DOJ. (Letter via Atrios alert reader Sovok.)
In the days of Nixon, the press would have called that stonewalling. Stories headlined "Leak investigation could go beyond White House" signalled the success of this tactic, as did the analysts who agreed that the investigation is going to take a very long time. (It would, as Josh Marshall has suggested, be simpler to release Karl Rove's phone logs, which the White House has done when it served their purposes.) Of course, "where there's a will, there's a way" as John Dean points out in Salon (get the one-day). Judge Norma Holloway Johnson tried Starr leaker Bakaly during Whitewater, with success.
The bottom line for today: Bush thinks he's off the hook, and he might be right.
"I'm against leaks," Bush said, to laughter. "I would suggest all governments get to the bottom of every leak of classified information." Turning to the reporter who asked the question, Martin Mbugua of the Daily Nation, Kenya's largest daily newspaper, Bush said, "By the way, if you know anything, Martin, would you please bring it forward and help solve the problem?"
"Everybody needs to have a good abogado," Bush said, drawing laughter as he used the Spanish word for "lawyer." "I've got a really good one," he added, to more laughter. "Al Gonzales is my lawyer and close friend."
As before, the answer is for someone with a conscience to step forward. Will it happen? Who will write the J'Accuse for The Plame Affair?
Other aspects of The Plame Affair include:
- the administration's "slime and defend" tactics (Krugman) and
intimidation of critics - whether Ashcroft should recuse himself, since Rove billed Ashcroft for over $300,000 in consulting fees. (It's no good saying the matter is up to the "career prosecutors," since Ashcroft has to sign off on every subpoena.)
- the intricate nature of the law under which the potential felony would be prosecuted
- Spector's recantation
- Payback from the CIA to the White House as a spark for the initial story
- Loose use of intelligence for political purposes by the White House; Bush, for example, often speaking candidly about classified information to Bob Woodward (via Atrios.)
- Plame's classic good looks, via Kos
- The Oedipal ironies that the law the White House criminal broke was passed under Bush's father.
- The fact that the Plame and Wilson can bring a civil suit (Salon; get the one-day) (thanks to alert reader gabe)
- The still conveniently antiquated White House phone system
