Bob Woodward's Plamegate Revelation

Posted on November 16, 2005

Bob Woodward decided to reveal today that he was told about Valerie Plame over two years ago. Woodward gave testimony to special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, which the Post is sharing with its readers. So it turns out that Woodward was the first reporter to be told about Plame, about one month before Novak outed her in his column.

Citing a confidentiality agreement in which the source freed Woodward to testify but would not allow him to discuss their conversations publicly, Woodward and Post editors refused to disclose the official's name or provide crucial details about the testimony. Woodward did not share the information with Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. until last month, and the only Post reporter whom Woodward said he remembers telling in the summer of 2003 does not recall the conversation taking place.
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Woodward's testimony appears to change key elements in the chronology Fitzgerald laid out in his investigation and announced when indicting Libby three weeks ago. It would make the unnamed official -- not Libby -- the first government employee to disclose Plame's CIA employment to a reporter. It would also make Woodward, who has been publicly critical of the investigation, the first reporter known to have learned about Plame from a government source.
The testimony, however, does not appear to shed new light on whether Libby is guilty of lying and obstructing justice in the nearly two-year-old probe or provide new insight into the role of senior Bush adviser Karl Rove, who remains under investigation. Woodward, who is preparing a third book on the Bush administration, has called Fitzgerald "a junkyard-dog prosecutor" who turns over every rock looking for evidence. The night before Fitzgerald announced Libby's indictment, Woodward said he did not see evidence of criminal intent or of a major crime behind the leak.

It's starting to sound like Rove, Libby or some other administration official told every single reporter in Washington, D.C. about Valerie Plame working at the CIA. Now Woodward is doing his best to get full access from the Bush White House while he's writing his third book on Bush and company, which appears to be coloring his judgment in the case. Could Woodward be desperate for another bestseller to make up for the fact that Vanity Fair -- not The Washington Post -- finally revealed the indentity of Deep Throat in the Watergate case?

Clearly, most of the reporters who were told about Valerie Plame's identity were smart enough not to run the story. But the idea of the White House telling anyone and everyone who would listen that Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA -- hoping someone would take it public and ruin her covert career -- is extremely disturbing.