Plame Game

Did George Tenet leak Plame name?

The ultimate source of information identifying Leakgate accuser Valerie Plame as a CIA employee my turn out to be the CIA itself, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

Notes obtained by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald identify then-CIA Director George Tenet as the person who gave up Plame's secret to the White House, with the Times reporting that Tenet tipped Vice President Dick Cheney to her identity.

However the notes - taken by Cheney's chief of staff Lewis Libby - "contain no suggestion that either Mr. Cheney or Mr. Libby knew at the time of Ms. Wilson's undercover status or that her identity was classified."

So far, Tenet has neither confirmed nor denied that he was the original source of the Plamegate leak, with the Times reporting that he was "unavailable for comment."

Cheney first disclosed name?

The New York Times reported late Monday that Vice President Cheney has been directly linked to the so-called "Plamegate" scandal involving the disclosure of the name of Valerie Plame, a CIA officer.

The paper reported that Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby "first learned about the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003."

The paper sourced their story to "lawyers involved in the case."

The Times said that notes taken by Libby differ from his own testimony before the grand jury as to when he first learned of Plame's identity.

"The notes, taken by Mr. Libby during the conversation, for the first time place Mr. Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House to learn about Ms. Wilson’s husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was questioning the administration’s handling of intelligence about Iraq’s nuclear program to justify the war."
Cheney apparently discovered details of Plame's CIA work after he questioned then CIA Director George J. Tenet about her husband, Ambassador Wilson.

But even if Libby or Cheney had disclosed Plame's identity as a CIA officer they may not have committed a crime.

"Disclosing a covert agent’s identity can be a crime, but only if the person who discloses it knows the agent’s undercover status," the Times said.