"What the CIA Lost in the Libby Case

Wednesday, Mar. 07, 2007

By ROBERT BAER

This week's conviction of Lewis "Scooter" Libby for perjury will surely give the CIA some measure of vindication. Libby was a key figure in the White House" s campaign to pressure the CIA to cook the books on Iraqi WMD. And, although he was not tried for it, Libby certainly was at the center of the campaign to expose and smear one of its former employees, Valerie Plame, and her husband Joe Wilson. Libby is the kind of political operative the CIA is more than happy to see go down. However, it's going to be a Pyrrhic victory.

That's because in the course of the Libby investigation and trial the CIA effectively lost the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. In deciding not to charge Libby or anyone else in the administration with exposing a covert operative, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald all but proclaimed the act virtually unenforceable. If it had any teeth, Fitzgerald would have used it not only against Libby but also Karl Rove and Undersecretary of State Richard Armitage, the two who leaked Plame" s name in the first place. Or even possibly Washington Post columnist Bob Novak, who first published it.

And let there be no doubt about it: according to press reports, all three knew exactly what they were doing. Despite what they may claim, Rove and Armitage either knew Plame was under cover, suspected she was, or should have assumed she was. As for Novak, the CIA asked him not to print the name, but he did anyway, apparently deciding he would decide who the CIA should have under cover and who it shouldn't."

from here.