Watch it on CSPAN:ON CAPITOL HILL
Valerie Wilson Testifies
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) chairs a House Oversight and Government Reform Ctme. hearing on the disclosure of CIA Agent Valerie Plame Wilson's identity. The hearing will look into whether White House officials followed appropriate procedures for safeguarding the identity of Ms. Wilson.
FRIDAY, C-SPAN AT 10AM ET
Related: Valerie Plame, the Spy Who's Ready to Speak for Herself
Valerie Plame's testimony will have all the trappings of a "Garbo speaks" moment on Capitol Hill, with cameras and microphones arrayed to capture the voice of Plame, the glamorous but mute star of a compelling political intrigue. But while she hopes to clear up her status as an agency operative when her name first hit newspapers in July 2003, America's most publicized spy is unlikely to betray any details in open session about her mysterious career.
The reason: Plame remains gagged by the same secrecy rules that governed her 20 years as a CIA employee working overseas and at Langley in classified positions.
People close to Plame say her primary goal in testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is to knock down persistent claims that she did not serve undercover. "She is so tired of hearing that," her mother, Diane Plame, said in an interview earlier this week.
It's possible, depending on the numbers, that Republicans could move to block an open session - forcing the committee into a closed one that would not be made available to the public. I expect we'll see any such attempts right at the beginning of the hearing. Needless to say, that wouldn't be a very wise move for a party that's already mired in scandals right now.
Update: Attorney Victoria Toensing is also scheduled to testify on Friday. On February 18, 2007, Toensing wrote:
Plame was not covert. She worked at CIA headquarters and had not been stationed abroad within five years of the date of Novak's column.
On February 25, 2007, the WaPo ombudsman Deborah Howell backed her up following complaints about Toensing's piece with this excuse:
While the legal argument about whether Plame was technically covert is complicated, CIA officials say privately that the revelation of her identity and corporate cover may have put contacts abroad at risk, Ignatius said.
Wrong. It's not complicated at all. At Friday's hearing, chairman Henry Waxman - whose opening statement was cleared by the CIA - was allowed to say on General Hayden's behalf that Ms Plame was "covert". Period. There is nothing "complicated" about that.
Plame also testified on Friday that she had, in fact, worked outside of the country as a covert agent within the last 5 years (from this date) - clearly rebutting the argument made by some who have said that if she had not left the country within that time period, she was no longer covert.
Since Toensing will be under oath as well, it will be interesting to see if she still claims that Plame wasn't covert in defiance now of what the head of the CIA has said and what Plame has testified to as well - that she was, in fact, covert.
Update: The Washington Post has an AP article about Plame's testimony along with the transcript of her opening statement.
Bombshell: Under oath James Knodell, director of the White House security office, admitted that his office has never undertaken an investigation into the outing of Valerie Plame. He claimed that since there was an ongoing criminal investigation into the matter, his office did not investigate. However, since the criminal case has ended, he still hasn't done anything. He hasn't spoken to anyone involved - Rove, Libby etc. It was also revealed that once the leak was made public, none of the suspects had their security clearances revoked. He's been in his position since August, 2004, but the person whom he replaced didn't do anything either. There isn't even a file in his office on this case.
Update: Editor & Publisher now has the Knodell story up on its site.
Update: Victoria Toensing's testimony is harsh. She's quite definite that she knows exactly what happened despite the actual facts. Waxman called her out very effectively on several points. I'll post the video or the transcript when I have it.
Update: Waxman has sent a letter (pdf file) to Bush's Chief of Staff, Josh Bolten, to follow up on James Knodell's testimony. It reads, in part:
The testimony of Mr. Knodell appears to describe White House decisions that were inconsistent with the directives of Executive Order 12958, which you signed in March 2003. Under this executive order, the White House is required to "take appropriate and prompt corrective action" whenever there is a release of classified information. Yet Mr. Knodell could describe no such actions after the disclosure of Ms. Wilson's identity.
Taken as a whole, the testimony at today's hearing described breach after breach of
national security requirements at the White House. The first breach was the disclosure of Ms. Wilson's identity. Other breaches included the failure of Mr. Rove and other offrcials to report their disclosures as required by law, the failure of the White House to initiate the prompt investigation required by the executive order, and the failure of the White House to suspend the security clearances of the implicated officials.
To assist the Committee in its investigation into these issues, I request that you provide the Committee with a complete account of the steps that the White House took following the disclosure of Ms. Wilson's identity (1) to investigate how the leak occurred; (2) to review the security clearances of the lVhite House officials implicated in the leak; (3) to impose administrative or disciplinary sanctions on the officials involved in the leak; and (4) to review and revise existing White House security procedures to prevent future breaches of national security.
Update: You can watch the video of Knodell being questioned here.
Last update: Crooks and Liars has the video of Waxman grilling Toensing.
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