Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!

[Huckleman2000]

"I look forward to your response..."

Here is the text of a letter from Henry Waxman to Josh Bolten after today's hearings, where it was learned that the White House apparently conducted no internal investigation of the Valerie Plame leak, and took no action to prevent future leaks of CIA agent identities.

Are any (previous) supporters of the Bush administration satisfied with the White House's performance in this matter?

March 16, 2007

The Honorable Joshua Bolten
Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. Bolten:

Today, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing to examine the disclosure by senior White House officials of the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. The hearing raised many new questions about the how the White House responded to an extraordinarily serious breach of national security. It also raised new concerns about whether the security practices being followed by the White House are sufficient to protect our nation's most sensitive secrets.

James Knodell, director of the Office of Security at the White House, testified at the hearing about White House procedures for safeguarding classified information. During his testimony, Mr. Knodell made some remarkable statements about how his office handled the disclosure of Ms. Wilson's covert status. Specifically, Mr. Knodell testified:

* The Office of Security for the White House never conducted any investigation of the disclosure of Ms. Wilson's identity.

* Under the applicable executive order and regulations, your senior political adviser, Karl Rove, and other senior White House officials were required to report what they knew about the disclosure of Ms. Wilson's identity, but they did not make any such report to the White House Office of Security.

* There has been no suspension of security clearances or any other administrative sanction for Mr. Rove and other White House officials involved in the disclosure.

According to Mr. Knodell, the explanation for the lack of action by the White House security office was a White House decision not to conduct a security investigation while a criminal investigation was pending. Mr. Knodell could not explain, however, why the White House did not initiate an investigation after the security breach. It took months before a criminal investigation was initiated, yet, according to Mr. Knodell, there was no White House investigation initiated during this period.

Mr. Knodell also testified that it would be inappropriate to allow an individual who was a security risk to retain his or her security clearance while a criminal investigation is pending. As members of the committee pointed out, a criminal investigation can last years, and it would jeopardize national security not to investigate the officials implicated in the leak and suspend their security clearances if there were reason to suspect their involvement. Mr. Knodell did not dispute this point.

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 officials 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 White 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.

I look forward to your response and hope you will cooperate with the committee's inquiry.

Sincerely,
Henry A. Waxman
Chairman

cc: Tom Davis
Ranking Minority Member

 

[rgraham666]

You perform an investigation when you don't know something.

Everybody in the White House knew what was going on, hence, no need for an investigation.

 

[Divulgence]

*****

 

[rgraham666]

This entire situation is very disturbing to me.

We have not had, it seems, any checks or balances for the ones who've been in charge.

And they appear to be blatantly smug and self-righteously egocentric over their actions. Untouchable, as it were. Absolute power.

How much longer will this be allowed?

As long as we allow them to get away with it.

 

[Divulgence]

*****

 

[rgraham666]

I am embarrassed this has been allowed for so long.

The current administration took good advantage of the weaknesses of the system.

Their first win was predicated on the fact that people don't tend to look too closely at policy proposals of candidates. So the policies offered sounded good if you didn't look closely. Like their proposal to allow Social Security to go to private accounts. As Paul Krugman put it, it was "2-1=4".

Their second win was accomplished through an artful use of fear and American patriotism. They played wonderfully on the understandable fear created by 9/11. And starting a war forced many people to choose between "supporting our troops" and their good sense.

The current administration are highly accomplished courtiers. Like most courtiers though, they seriously suck at actually doing things.

 

[Divulgence]

*****

 

[mckai777]

The current administration took good advantage of the weaknesses of the system.

Their first win was predicated on the fact that people don't tend to look too closely at policy proposals of candidates. So the policies offered sounded good if you didn't look closely. Like their proposal to allow Social Security to go to private accounts. As Paul Krugman put it, it was "2-1=4".

Their second win was accomplished through an artful use of fear and American patriotism. They played wonderfully on the understandable fear created by 9/11. And starting a war forced many people to choose between "supporting our troops" and their good sense.

The current administration are highly accomplished courtiers. Like most courtiers though, they seriously suck at actually doing things.

I agree heartily with everything you've said here. Not to mention, I adore Paul Krugman.

 

[rgraham666]

I agree heartily with everything you've said here. Not to mention, I adore Paul Krugman.

One of my faves as well. I have his book The Great Unraveling. A very good read.

 

[Huckleman2000]

One of my faves as well. I have his book The Great Unraveling. A very good read.

His column was a 'must-read' for me, until they put it behind the subscription.
I occasionally find it for free at www.truthout.org, along with Frank Rich's columns. Both of them are excellent analysts and writers.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Under the Republican Controlled Congress over the last six years, the Administration could do, say and get away with anything, simply because there was no oversite and they had bots in congress like Lyndsey Graham who spewed the party line no matter how stupid it made them look.

Now that we have a Democrat Controlled Congress the problem is different. Congress wants oversite, as the law requires, but the Administration does whatever it wants anyway, then lies about it. If pushed hard enough, Bush sends a Judas Goat to the slaughter, then continues down the same path.

Note that President Bush, Attorney General Gonzoles, Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, Dick Chaney and so many others were swept in from Texas with Bush. They all go way back. They all have the same adjunda, which as nothing to do with good government. They cover each others ass with lies and finger-pointing, and hope they are not the one chosen, like Libby, to take the fall for their misdeeds.