The Hindu : International : Cheney aide revealed as source of CIA leak

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 02, 2005

International

International

Cheney aide revealed as source of CIA leak

Julian Borger

Scandal involving Lewis Libby threatens White House directly

WASHINGTON: An investigation into a White House intelligence leak was nearing its conclusion after a New York Times reporter, jailed in July for refusing to testify, identified U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney's leading aide as her principal source.

Judith Miller was released from a prison in Virginia, where she had spent 12 weeks, and appeared in a federal court in Washington on Friday to give her account of a scandal that has been hanging over the administration for two years.

According to lawyers involved in the case, Ms. Miller identified Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby, the Vice-President's chief of staff, as the government official she had spoken to in July 2003 about a CIA undercover agent, Valerie Plame.

Ms. Plame is the wife of an administration critic, Joseph Wilson, who accused the White House of blowing her cover in retribution for his claims that the U.S. had fabricated allegations of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Mr. Wilson, a former Ambassador, had said he had been sent to Africa by the CIA to look for evidence of Iraqi uranium purchases and had found none, contrary to claims by the President.

Confidentiality

The scandal threatens the White House directly. Another journalist, Time magazine's Matt Cooper, has named Karl Rove, President's chief political adviser, as his source for revealing Ms. Plame's identity. Mr. Rove and Mr. Libby, two of the most powerful behind-the-scenes figures in the administration, have said they had revealed that Mr. Wilson's wife worked in the CIA and had been instrumental in sending him on the fact-finding mission.

But lawyers for both officials insist they did not break the law as they did not provide her name, and did not know she was undercover. Critics argue that identifying her as Mr. Wilson's wife was tantamount to naming her.

U.S. media reports quoted lawyers involved in the case on Friday as saying a decision on whether to press charges could come as early as next week, in the wake of Ms. Miller's testimony. The case has cast light on the relationship between journalists and their government sources, and the confidentiality of that relationship.

It has also provoked scrutiny of Ms. Miller. On her release, she said she had gone to jail ``to preserve the time-honoured principle'' of protecting journalistic sources, and had agreed to testify only after receiving a telephone call from Mr. Libby, waiving his right to confidentiality.

But Mr. Libby's lawyer, Joseph Tate, said his client had signed such a waiver in late 2003 and he had assured Ms. Miller's lawyer earlier last month that the waiver had not been coerced. Sending her to prison in July, the judge in the case, Thomas Hogan, argued she was not defending press freedom, because the government source she ``alleges she is protecting'' had released her from her promise of confidentiality.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

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