ALSO VISIT

In Washington, DC, today, House and Senate Democrats held a hearing examining the national security and legal implications of the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson's identity to the press. A group of prominent and respected former intelligence officers, both Democrats and Republicans, answered questions and testified about the far-reaching implications of what they described as an "unprecedented" breach of national security.

The agents say President Bush himself has jeopardized national security by not disciplining his adviser Karl Rove for breaching national security by leaking information about a covert agent. They took great pains to explain that the issue of the leak is not a partisan issue and that in their experience, the insistence of the RNC on drawing a political divide down the middle of the issue will create doubts in the minds of potential or current covert operatives which will make obtaining vital information far more difficult.

The former intelligence agents who testified in today's hearing were in agreement that the Wilson leak "is totally unprecedented", because instead of cover being blown by careless namedroppers or by enemy agents, Valerie Plame Wilson's cover was blown deliberately by a top official "from the center of government".

A former CIA analyst and "currently registered Republican", Larry Johnson told the panel that someone needs to be punished, and that he is stunned by prominent Republican senators "making excuses" on national television for Mr. Rove's involvement in the leak.

Rep. Henry Waxman said "the most disturbing motive about this" was the willingness of top officials to put at risk the security of the American people in order to damage a public servant whose work had exposed a crucial intelligence "hoax", in the form of the forged Niger documents. [For more: AP]

BACKGROUND:
WHO KNEW ABOUT THE LEAK?
12 July 2005

Evidence arising out of the notes and testimony of reporters subpoenaed by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in his investigation of the outing of an undercover CIA agent by administration officials points to the involvement of Karl Rove, Bush's top political advisor. As the evidence mounts, the White House has now begun to refuse to answer questions about the matter.

After Time magazine and Rove's lawyers confirmed that Rove did send e-mails obtained from reporter Matthew Cooper, Democrats began openly calling for Bush to fire Rove, in keeping with promises to rid his administration of anyone linked to the leak. Press Secretary Scott McClellan told the press today "Now is not the time to talk about it", but he promised as well that "We will talk about it once the investigation is complete". [Full Story]

IS PRESS FREEDOM UNDER ATTACK BY SPECIAL PROSECUTOR?
11 July 2005

A new Economist article ends with a warning to serious journalists to "beware". Clearly something has shifted in the media climate, and in the political climate, where the rule of law, in a nation where the Constitution provides an absolute right to publish, has come to mean the government may dictate what news sources are and are not permissible, where press freedom runs afoul of particular prosecutions. [Full Story]

JUDGE IMPRISONS REPORTER FOR REFUSING TO REVEAL SOURCE
6 July 2005

New York Times reporter Judith Miller has been jailed by a Special Prosecutor investigating the leak by White House officials of the identity of an undercover CIA agent to the press. She could face up to four months in prison, for violating a court order which she believes runs contrary to the constitutionally protected press freedoms. Investigating who in the White House leaked the name of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame to the press in the summer of 2003, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald had demanded full testimony by reporters Judith Miller (of The New York Times) and Matthew Cooper (of TIME) regarding the identity of the sources they used to write stories about the controversy. [Full Story]