White House Must Come Clean About National Security Breach

White House Must Come Clean About National Security Breach

July 5, 2005

Karl Rove, the president’s most trusted and powerful adviser, confirmed over the weekend (through his lawyer) that he was a source for a Time magazine report about the illegal outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame. We have known for a while that Rove played a key role in the organized effort to smear Plame’s husband, Joe Wilson, for his criticism of White House plans to invade Iraq. But Rove failed to put to rest doubts about his involvement in any illegal and improper actions, stating merely that he “never knowingly disclosed classified information.” This circumspect language may appease the lawyers for a while, but this much is clear: a senior White House official participated in some capacity in a major violation of U.S. national security. And after 8 months of investigation, two reporters are the only ones facing jail time for these illegal actions. It’s time for the White House to come clean.

• Someone in the White House is lying about a major breach of U.S. national security. Rove's acknowledgement of his role in spreading information about Wilson and Plame seems to clearly contradict a claim in October 2003 by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, who said that "those individuals [Karl Rove, Elliot Abrams, and Lewis Libby] assured me they were not involved with this." So, did Karl Rove and his White House colleagues knowingly deceive Scott McClellan, or did Scott McClellan knowingly deceive the American people?
  
  
• If Karl Rove did nothing wrong, why is he hiding behind dubious legal language? In interviews with Newsweek and the Los Angeles Times, Rove’s lawyer Robert Luskin repeated two points: that 1) Rove "never knowingly disclosed classified information" and 2) that "he did not tell any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA." Sound like a clear denial of any illegal and improper behavior to you? This is particularly vexing language from a White House that prides itself on its supposed “straight talk” with the American people.
  
  
• The White House needs to come clean about its role in this illegal action. Rather than issue vague legalistic denials, Karl Rove could come clean with Americans by unequivocally saying that he did not leak any information about Plame nor did he order any one in the administration to leak information about her.