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of The Washington Times
http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaManager/libby2.htm
Issue Date: April 3-9, 2006
Libby lawyers finger top State Dept. leaders for CIA leak
Attorneys for former Vice President Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter"
Libby say one of three senior State Department officials was the
source of a leak that exposed CIA agent Valerie Plame.
They say the officials are: former Secretary of State Colin Powell,
former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and
then-Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman.
The attorneys for Mr. Libby plan to argue that a senior official in
the State Department leaked Mrs. Plame's identity amid the
administration's defense of the U.S. failure to find weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq.
The attorneys have sought to highlight heavy infighting between White
House staff and the CIA and State Department amid criticism by Mrs.
Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.
"The media conflagration ignited by the failure to find WMD in Iraq
and in part by Mr. Wilson's criticism of the administration, led
officials within the White House, the State Department and the CIA to
blame each other, publicly and in private, for faulty pre-war
intelligence about Iraq's WMD capabilities," papers filed by Mr.
Libby's defense team said.
Attorneys for Mr. Libby, who has been indicted on five counts of
perjury, have been subpoenaing documents that expose the disputes
within the top echelon of the administration.
The infighting focused on failed intelligence assessments before the
U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Mr. Libby has asserted that he did not remember details of Mrs. Plame
and how her identity was leaked to columnist Robert Novak.
Mr. Libby’s trial has been scheduled for January 2007.
Court papers filed by Mr. Libby suggest that one of three senior State
Department officials discussed or leaked Mrs. Plame's identity.
In September 2003, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell was reported
to have identified Mrs. Plame as a CIA agent who convinced the agency
to send her husband on a mission to Niger in 2002.
The second official fingered by the defense has been former Deputy
Secretary of State Richard Armitage.
Court papers filed by the defense suggest that Mr. Armitage leaked
Mrs. Plame's identity to Mr. Novak and perhaps to The Washington
Post's Bob Woodward.
"If the facts ultimately show that Mr. Armitage or someone else from
the State Department was also Mr. Novak's primary source, then the
State Department and certainly not Mr. Libby bears responsibility for
the 'leak' that led to the public disclosure," the defense said in the
March 17 filing.
The defense has also identified another former State Department
official as the possible leaker.
Then-Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman was alleged to have told
Mr. Libby of Mrs. Plame's employment at the CIA a month before her
identity was leaked.
"If Mr. Armitage or another State Department official was in fact the
primary source for Mr. Novak's article, Mr. Grossman's testimony may
be colored by either his personal relationship with Mr. Armitage or
his concern for the institutional concerns of the State Department,"
the defense said.
The defense team plans to subpoena Mr. Powell, Mr. Armitage, Mr.
Grossman and Karl Rove.
Mr. Rove, deputy White House chief of staff, has been under
investigation in connection with the leak.
National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley has also been targeted by the
defense.
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Insight Magazine is published by News World Communications, publisher
of The Washington Times
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