According to a very interesting new report by Murray Waas for National Journal, Scooter Libby was sharing all kinds of classified information with reporters — but only because Dick Cheney told him to.
Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, testified to a federal grand jury that he had been “authorized” by Cheney and other White House “superiors” in the summer of 2003 to disclose classified information to journalists to defend the Bush administration’s use of prewar intelligence in making the case to go to war with Iraq, according to attorneys familiar with the matter, and to court records.
Libby specifically claimed that in one instance he had been authorized to divulge portions of a then-still highly classified National Intelligence Estimate regarding Saddam Hussein’s purported efforts to develop nuclear weapons, according to correspondence recently filed in federal court by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
Beyond what was stated in the court paper, say people with firsthand knowledge of the matter, Libby also indicated what he will offer as a broad defense during his upcoming criminal trial: that Vice President Cheney and other senior Bush administration officials had earlier encouraged and authorized him to share classified information with journalists to build public support for going to war. Later, after the war began in 2003, Cheney authorized Libby to release additional classified information, including details of the NIE, to defend the administration’s use of prewar intelligence in making the case for war.
Just to be clear, Waas’ article doesn’t say he exposed Valerie Plame’s identity because Cheney told him to. The emphasis is on Libby’s chats with reporters, including the NYT’s Judith Miller, which shared classified information about Iraq, which in turn bolstered the administration’s arguments. It was part of this strategy that ultimately led Libby to talk to reporters about Joseph Wilson’s case against the administration’s claims. And we know how that worked out.
This isn’t just from Waas’ inside sources. As the article noted, Patrick Fitzgerald wrote a January 23 letter to Libby’s attorneys explaining, “Mr. Libby testified in the grand jury that he had contact with reporters in which he disclosed the content of the National Intelligence Estimate (“NIE”) … in the course of his interaction with reporters in June and July 2003…. We also note that it is our understanding that Mr. Libby testified that he was authorized to disclose information about the NIE to the press by his superiors.”
So, why was the Vice President encouraging his top aide to leak classified information? Well, because it would help make the case for war. But maybe some enterprising White House press corps members could do some follow up, and ask how this reflects on the Bush gang’s abilities to handle national security matters responsibly.