A story to watch

John Ashcroft's Justice Department will now have a chance to show if it can handle an assignment more substantial than covering up nekkid statues or an undercover operation to find prostitutes in New Orleans. (Not to disparage the latter; it must have taken very skilled and intensive undercover work to locate hookers in New Orleans!)

They just got a case referred by the CIA concerning the exposure of the identity of a CIA agent - by two senior Bush Administration officials. The agent in question is Valerie Plame, the wife of Joseph Wilson, the Ambassador who investigated claims of uranium sales from Niger to Iraq. (At least according to the press reports; neither she, nor Wilson, nor the CIA has publicly acknowledged that she is a CIA employee.) Wilson has been publicly critical of the Administration's use of the Niger uranium claim.

The Washington Post's Sunday story gives a good background on the case, although it oddly understates the matter in saying "intentional disclosure of a covert operative's identity can violate federal law." The Post story is also notable for this:

A senior administration official said two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists and revealed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife. ...

"Clearly, it was meant purely and simply for revenge," the senior official said of the alleged leak. ...

It is rare for one Bush administration official to turn on another. Asked about the motive for describing the leaks, the senior official said the leaks were "wrong and a huge miscalculation, because they were irrelevant and did nothing to diminish Wilson's credibility."

Several of the leading political blogs have been on this story, including Josh Marshall, Billmon, and Atrios. See especially this from Daily Kos. This is a story we'll likely be hearing a lot more of the next few months.

Tags: joseph wilson, valerie plame