Could Karl Rove actually lose his security clearance? In an online column, Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter said the White House really doesn’t have much of a choice.
According to last week’s indictment of Scooter Libby, a person identified as “Official A” held conversations with reporters about Plame’s identity as an undercover CIA operative, information that was classified. News accounts subsequently confirmed that that official was Rove. Under Executive Order 12958, signed by President Clinton in 1995, such a disclosure is grounds for, at a minimum, losing access to classified information.
Section 5.1 of Clinton’s executive order prohibits “any knowing, willful or negligent action that could reasonably be expected to result in an unauthorized disclosure of classified information.” While the law against revealing the identity of a CIA operative requires that the perpetrator intentionally disclosed such classified information (a high standard, which may be one reason Fitzgerald did not indict on those grounds), the executive order covers “negligence,” or unintentional disclosure.
That means the only proper answer to a reporter’s questions about Joseph Wilson’s wife would have been something along the lines of, “You know I cannot discuss who may or may not be in the CIA.” The indictment makes clear that this was not the answer Official A provided when the subject was discussed with reporters Bob Novak and Matt Cooper.
To be sure, E.O. 12958 is not a law, but it is a regulation that governs how the White House operates, or at least how a White House is supposed to operate.
If this sounds familiar to you, it’s because Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) was emphasizing this same point (.pdf) to the White House in July. If anything, as we’ve learned considerably more about the role of staffers like Karl Rove in the leak, the demands on the White House have increased.
As Waxman explained:
Several key requirements apply when a leak occurs. Under E.O. 12958, executive branch officials must investigate the security breach, take administrative actions against employees who violate these rules, and adjust procedures in order to prevent similar security breaches in the future. E.O. 12958 provides that when a violation or infraction of the administrative rules occurs, each agency must “take appropriate and prompt corrective action.” This may include a determination of whether individual employees improperly obtained access to or disseminated classified information. If employees violated their nondisclosure agreements, sanctions may be warranted. The executive order requires that “at a minimum,” the agency must “promptly remove the classification authority of any individual who demonstrates reckless disregard or a pattern of error in applying the classification standards.”
Notice the use of the word “must.” In other words, under executive branch directives, the White House isn’t in a position to just blow off rules they find politically inconvenient. It’s incumbent upon the Bush gang to conduct an internal investigation of the security breach and take “prompt corrective action.”
Maybe some enterprising White House press corps member could ask Scott McClellan about this. Does Bush believe the executive order applies to his staff? Has Bush quietly repealed the order? Has the mandatory investigation begun? Inquiring minds want to know.