Novak to the defense

Like a good partisan, Novak defends the White House:

'Nobody in the Bush administration called me to leak this. In July I was interviewing a senior administration official on Ambassador Wilson's report when he told me the trip was inspired by his wife, a CIA employee working on weapons of mass destruction. Another senior official told me the same thing. As a professional journalist with 46 years experience in Washington I do not reveal confidential sources. When I called the CIA in July to confirm Mrs. Wilson's involvement in the mission for her husband -- he is a former Clinton administration official -- they asked me not to use her name, but never indicated it would endanger her or anybody else. According to a confidential source at the CIA, Mrs. Wilson was an analyst, not a spy, not a covert operator, and not in charge of undercover operatives'...

A couple of things:

This changes nothing re: the law -- two senior administration officials still revealed the identity of an undercover CIA officer.

Also, if Novak is correct, then what about the other reporters contacted with the information?
Novak has had a rocky relationship with this administration, but at the end of the day, he would rather have a Republican in the White House than a Democrat. He is a partisan, and his statement (which remember, doesn't exculpate the administration from wrongdoing) is simply the first salvo of the administration's counterattack.

Posted September 29, 2003 03:39 PM | Comments (538)