Of all the angles to the Bob Woodward story from the WaPo this morning, probably the most important is figuring out who, exactly, told Woodward about Plame. The article makes it pretty clear we’re looking at a third White House source — someone who is neither Libby nor Rove.
Raw Story reported today that the man behind Door #3 is National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley.
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley was the senior administration official who told Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA officer, attorneys close to the investigation and intelligence officials tell RAW STORY.
Testifying under oath Monday to Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, Woodward recounted a casual conversation he had with Hadley, these sources say. Hadley did not return a call seeking comment.
Woodward said he was told that it was “no big deal” that former Ambassador Joseph Wilson was sent to Niger to investigate the veracity of the Bush Administration’s claims that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger. According to the attorneys, he said Hadley dismissed the trip by saying his wife, a covert CIA officer who worked on WMD issues, had recommended him.
At the time, Hadley was working under then National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
“We think that Mr. Woodward was going to write a story about it, but discussed it with some other people within the Bush Administration and was told that it wasn’t anything big,” one attorney told RAW STORY.
Keep in mind, Hadley was a key member of the now-infamous White House Iraq Group. Not incidentally, when the head of Italy’s military secret service knowingly gave forged documents about uranium in Niger to Bush administration officials, then-deputy national security advisor Hadley was the primary recipient.
Also note that as recently as a month ago, there were reports that Hadley expected to be indicted as part of the Plame investigation.
I guess reports of the Plame scandal’s death were greatly exaggerated. Stay tuned.