Is this the Evidence that Libby Knew Plame Was Covert?

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I found something nifty today when I was playing around in all my Libby Trial evidence. It’s either evidence that Libby knew Plame was covert … or it’s evidence that OVP went to some lengths to protect Dick and Bush. This involves a rethinking about the exchange from the Libby trial when Fitzgerald questioned Addington about the bogus stamp OVP used on lots of Libby’s notes. Here’s the passage in question:

Q Now, I wanted to talk now focus on the stampabove it that says "treated as crossed out, declassified." Now, is there such, first of all, I want to come back to "treated as," but do you know what it says underneath treated as?

A It says treated as top secret/S.C.I. all in caps…

[snip]

Q What does S.C.I. stand for?

A Sensitive Compartment Information is information that deals with intelligence sources and methods in the President’s executive orclassification. Executive Order 12958 authorizes the Director of NationalIntelligence to put specially sensitive information in a Sensitive Compartment Information. It has entire controls for dealing with that type of information. Fewer people have access to it.

Q Now, the words "top secret" or "S.C.I." are those classifications that are assigned to classified documents?

A Top secret is a classification, and the Sensitive Compartment Information is special accessrule. It is not technically a clearance.

Q What about, have you seen documents, can they be properly classified as treated as top secret/S.C.I.?

A I had never seen a stamp treated as top secret/S.C.I. beforedocuments were produced to me with that stamp on it.

Q Is that in fact a proper classification?

A The present Executive Order on classified national security information doesn’t use that phrase. [my emphasis]

This part I’ve treated before. Fitzgerald has basically gotten Addington to admit that this "treated as" stuff is a bogus classification. Fitzgerald then points out that, on the letter he wrote accompanying this document, Addington explained that the note came to him with the stamp, "treated as Top Secret/SCI" on it.

Q When you transmitted this document to the Government, if could bring up Government’s Exhibit 507, Page 2, Page 1, sorry. If we could focus down to the last paragraph of the page and just, and does that describe the document we just looked at Page 002919?

A I think that was the document number on it, yes.

Then, Fitzgerald tries to get Addington to quantify how many of the documents turned over to investigators included the treated as Top Secret/SCI stamp. Addington refuses to do so.

Q Do you recall seeing any other document in that production that said "treated as topsecret/S.C.I.?"

A I don’t recall, but I don’t know how many documents. I wouldn’t necessarily remember sitting here.

Reverting back to his prior line of questioning, Fitzgerald gets Addington to provide details about who was stamping these documents with the bogus stamp.

Q Just a question yes or no, did you put that marking in there?

A No, sir.

Q Do you know when, how and who did from personal knowledge?

A On this particular page, no. ButI can say that, in the course of production, there were situationsin which I received in production copies of handwrittennotes of Mr. Libby’s that were marked treated as top secret/S.C.I. or treated as secret/S.C.I., various stamps saying treated as someparticular classification. That one, the government came back later and said giveus the originals and the originals were produced. They would not have that marking on it. From that I would conclude that the documents were taken from his file, provided by his staff, Xeroxed and stamped. However, this onelooks like it was stamped right on the original by someone. [my emphasis]

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The Off the Record Club Weighs In

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Say, does anyone remember the Off the Record Club? It was one of the most interesting details revealed at the Libby trial–that there’s this group of GOP-lobbyist-hacks who meet monthly and serve as an on-call damage control group for the Republicans.

But [Richard] Hohlt‘s more significant role may be his leadership of a secretivesocial group of GOP heavy hitters and, occasionally, White Houseofficials, who convene to smoke cigars and mull over politics. Thegroup’s name: the Off The Record Club. Hohlt is the club’s "keeper ofthe flame," says one participant who, like others contacted for thisstory, didn’t want to be named because it violates the group’s rules.Each month or so for more than 15 years, Hohlt has booked a room at aposh Washington hotel or restaurant and invited the guests for dinner.Among the regulars, according to three participants: fellow lobbyistsKen Duberstein, Charlie Black and Vin Weber. Rove and White House chiefof staff Josh Bolten "have both attended these meetings on occasion,"says a White House spokesperson.

[snip]

The club,participants say, helps the White House with damage control—theyprodded GOP pols to back the president’s post-Katrina cleanup—andthinks up ways to get the party’s message across to the press. [my emphasis]

I haven’t forgotten what the Off the Record Club is. I particularly remember that there is a good deal of circumstantial evidence thatthe leak of Plame’s identity got laundered right through the group. Ken Duberstein set up the meeting between Bob Novak and Richard Armitage and then, when the shit started hitting the fan in the fall, he made some kind of obstructive call to Bob Novak. And Richard Hohlt seems to have pressed Novak to write a story on Plame; once Novak wrote that story, Hohlt gave a copy to the White House, three days before the story’s publication. Right there, right at the heart of the leak case … remarkable. You might call it the "Leak in a Box Club."

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emptywheel Explains Again and Again and Again about Obstruction of Justice

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Here’s my Guardian column explaining all the involvement of Cheney and Bush in the Plame outing–which explains why Bush didn’t want Libby to lose his ability to refuse to testify.

On June 9, 2003, just one day after his national security advisor,Condoleezza Rice, got beaten up on the Sunday shows for claiming no onein the administration knew that the Niger intelligence was bunk, GeorgeBush expressed concern about the allegations. Scooter Libby passed onthat concern to vice president Cheney. Bush’s concern set off a chainof events that ended up in the outing of a CIA spy, Valerie Plame, andthe indictment and conviction of Scooter Libby.

Yesterday, George Bush attempted to preventthat chain of events from continuing any further. He commuted ScooterLibby’s 30-month sentence. Rather than serving time in jail, Libby willremain free, with a fine and probation as the only remainingpunishments for lying and obstructing a criminal investigation. But thereal effect of Bush’s actions is to prevent Libby from revealing thetruth about Bush’s – and vice president Cheney’s – own actions in theleak. By commuting Libby’s sentence, Bush protected himself and hisvice president from potential criminal exposure for their actions inthe CIA Leak. As such, Libby’s commutation is nothing short of anotherobstruction of justice.

[snip]

There are many unanswered questions about the roles of the president,the vice president, and Libby in the leak of Valerie Plame’s identity.Did Bush really ask Libby to take the lead on all this? Did thepresident declassify Plame’s identity so Libby could leak it to thepress? Did Cheney learn – and tell Libby – that Plame was covert? Thosequestions all point squarely at Bush and Cheney personally. But becauseof Bush’s personal intervention, he has made sure that Scooter Libbywon’t be answering those questions anytime soon.

And here’s a link to my appearance on Democracy Now this morning.

 

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75 out of 1131

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I will return to the Libby commutation, I promise. But like Josh, I think this IG report is very very important–perhaps as bad as Nixon on steroids.

To review what I presented yesterday just as the Libby thing was exploding, DOD’s IG has released its report on the CIFA and TALON domestic spying program. By far the most disturbing thing is that USNCO, which had a database full of incident reports on the activities of American citizens, seems to have disappeared the entries in that database on November 30, 2005, then disappeared the whole thing in June 2006. The dates are significant because the first date was just two days after Duke Cunningham signed his plea agreement. And the second date was just a month after DOD and HPSCI started investigations into the CIFA/TALON program. Since there is no explanation of how or why the database was destroyed, it sure seems like it may have been hiding data they didn’t want discovered in any investigation.

Today, I’d like to highlight how DOD’s IG justifies the database and avoid claims that the program illegally spied on American citizens. The report states:

Our detailed review of 1,131 TALON reports removed from the CIFA database showed that 263 reports pertained to protests and demonstrations. Of the 263 reports, 157 reports discussed actual actions or events that occurred. Further, 75 of the 157 reports on actual actions or events resulted in reported arrests, required court appearances, violence, destruction, and police intervention. The 75 TALON reports demonstrate that they are necessary to inform local commanders of protests and demonstrations planned for their vicinity for law enforcement and force protection purposes, and not as intelligence information.

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The Only Thing Clinton Hid was a Blow Job and a Soggy Cigar

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Digby’s all over Tim Noah’s latest idiocy.

Clinton was impeached and he faced the music.  He was tried and acquittedaccording to the rules of the constitution. Bush, on the other hand,just used his plenary power to commute a sentence to cover his own baddeeds and keep one of his own aides from having to pay the price forhis crimes. He has used his power for this one man when he has been the stingiest president in history for pardons and commutations.

There’s just two things I’d add. First, Noah, like everyone else who supports Bush’s commutation, is ignorant of basic facts in the case, and basic facts of law. First, as Team USA demonstrated, the Probation Officer ignored mandatory enhancements when it recommended 15 months to Libby. Once Walton put in the mandatory enhancements, 30 months was in fact the minimum in the range. So Libby, in fact, was sentenced to the minimum recommended sentence for his range. Second, it is not "routine" for someone to get bond pending appeal. Again, as Team Libby demonstrated, Congress has made it clear that the "routine" should be that a convicted felon go straight to prison. Ignorance, Tim, is not a sound basis for a Read more →

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Some Questions Congress Might Ask

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Well, folks, we’re down to congressional remedies and public opinion if we’re going to hold Cheney responsible for outing a CIA spy. To that end, here are some questions I suggest HJC pursue:

Did Bush ask Libby to take the lead in responding to Wilson’s allegations on June 9, 2003? How did Libby learn of Bush’s concerns about the allegations? What did Bush say to Libby? Is this conversation why Vice President Cheney, in October of the same year, effectively said that the President had asked Libby to stick his neck in a meat grinder?

What classified documents did Cheney see when he was at the CIA researching Wilson’s trip? Were any of those documents written by Valerie Plame? If so, did those documents identify Plame by pseudonym or cryptonym, making it clear that Plame was covert?

Did Bush unilaterally declassify Valerie Plame’s covert identity and the CIA report on Wilson’s trip? Did Cheney ask him to specifically?

What did Cheney and Libby mean when they told Craig Schmall, on July 14, 2003, that Bob Novak’s column outing Valerie Plame "wasn’t his problem"? Did they know, already at that point, that it was somebody’s problem?

When and where did Libby tell Cheney that he Read more →

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Fitz Speaks

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Via email from his spokesperson:

Wefully recognize that the Constitution provides that commutation decisions are a  matter of presidential prerogative and we do not comment on the exercise of that prerogative. 

We comment only on the statement in which the President termed the sentence imposed by the judge as “excessive.”   The sentence in this case was imposed pursuant to the laws governing sentencings which occur every day throughout this country.  In this case, an experienced federal judge considered extensive argument from the parties and then imposed a sentence consistent with the applicable laws.  It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals.  That principle guided the judge during both the trial and the sentencing.

Although the President’s decision eliminates Mr. Libby’s sentence of imprisonment, Mr. Libby remains convicted by a jury of serious felonies, and we will continue to seek to preserve those convictions through the appeals process.

For the record, when I said almost the same thing on Hardball, I hadn’t gotten this yet in the email. Glad to see that my feeble mind is thinking along the lines of a great mind.

Update: Oh wait, I think I said the bit Read more →

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George Bush Obstructs Justice

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Well, George did it. Made sure that Scooter wouldn’t flip rather than do jail time. He commuted Libby’s sentence, guaranteeing not only that Libby wouldn’t talk, but retaining Libby’s right to invoke the Fifth.

This amounts to nothing less than obstruction of justice.

Here’s Bush’s statement, in which a guy who is pushing to restore minimum sentencing laws says that Libby’s sentencing–which was the minimum according to the guidelines, was too tough:

Mr. Libby was sentenced to thirty months of prison, two years ofprobation, and a $250,000 fine. In making the sentencing decision, thedistrict court rejected the advice of the probation office, whichrecommended a lesser sentence and the consideration of factors thatcould have led to a sentence of home confinement or probation.

Irespect the jury’s verdict. But I have concluded that the prisonsentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting theportion of Mr. Libby’s sentence that required him to spend thirtymonths in prison.

Update: Here’s an article about how the Bush Administration is pushing to restore minimum sentencing guidelines. And don’t forget that in AL, a judge has just upped the sentence against Don Siegelman.

Update: Here’s a link to the post showing that the research into the Wilsons went into overdrive as Read more →

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More Funny Business with Record-Keeping?

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Holy Shit. Remember TALON and CIFA? Here’s a description I wrote in April:

It was designed to gather intelligence on threats to defense installments in the United States–to try to collect information (in the TALON database) on threatening people scoping out domestic bases. But it ended up focusing on peace activists and the lefty blogosphere’s ownJesus’ General.

Well, here are the three conclusions of a DOD IG report just released on the program:

  • TALON reports were generated for law enforcement and force protection purposes as permitted by DoD Directive 5200.27,1 and not as a result of an intelligence collection operation; therefore, no violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act occurred.
  • The Counterintelligence Field Activity did not comply with the 90 day retention review policy required by DoD Directive 5200.27. We could not determine whether the U.S. Northern Command complied with the policy requirement because all TALON reports were deleted from their database in June 2006 with no archives.
  • The Cornerstone database that the Counterintelligence Field Activity used to maintain TALON reports did not have the capability to identify TALON reports with U.S. person information, to identify reports requiring a 90-day retention review, or to allow analysts to edit or delete the TALON reports.

To explain why this is so fucking crazy, let me back up. 70% of CIFA’s staffers (the ones keeping the database on the quakers). One of the companies that got a chunk of that business is MZM. You remember: the company for which Mitch Wade was bribing Duke Cunningham to give big contracts?

Well, I’m still reading the report (I wanted to get this out there to see what others found). But these conclusions appear to say:

  • DOD says the domestic spying program was legal because–in spite of the fact that the organization is a spying/law enforcement hybrid–they consider it law enforcement activity and not spying (even though the Quakers on whom it collected data had not broken any laws).
  • DOD admits that CIFA–run by all those contractors who got their work through bribes–did not destroy the information they collected when they were supposed to.
  • The database they were using did not have the capabilities it needed to cross-check the data-collection.

And this is a doozy:

  • USNCO deleted the whole database in June 2006.

For an idea of why that is so fuckedinthehead, here’s a little chronology I put together a while back:

  • September 2002, then Deputy Secretary of Defense for Counter-Intelligence Burtt (the guy who resigned yesterday) establishes CIFA to oversee counterintelligence units of the armed services; consulting on the new agency was James King, recently retired director of National Imagery and Mapping Agency and MZM vice president
  • Late 2002, Cunningham got Mitchell Wade a data storage contract worth $6 million, of which $5.4 was profit
  • January 2004, Cunningham added $16.5 million to defense authorization for a “collaboration center” that appears to include business for Wade’s company
  • December 2005, Pincus reveals a CIFA database contains raw intelligence data on peace activists (and, presumably, Jesus’ General)
  • March 2006, prosecutors in the Cunningham case announce they’re reviewing CIFA contracts to MZM
  • March 2006, Stephen Cambone announces an investigation of CIFA’s contracting–the investigation is (like the investigation into Dougie Feith) “ongoing”
  • May 2006, Porter Goss resigns under allegations of ties to the Wilkes/Wade bribery ring
  • May 2006, House Intelligence Committee (Peter Hoekstra‘s Committee) first moves to exercise oversight on CIFA
  • August 2006, CIFA director and deputy director resign

Let’s look at the key time frame, with this new datapoint inserted, shall we:

  • March 2006, prosecutors in the Cunningham case announce they’re reviewing CIFA contracts to MZM
  • March 2006, Stephen Cambone announces an investigation of CIFA’s contracting–the investigation is (like the investigation into Dougie Feith) “ongoing”
  • May 2006, Porter Goss resigns under allegations of ties to the Wilkes/Wade bribery ring
  • May 2006, House Intelligence Committee (Peter Hoekstra‘s Committee) first moves to exercise oversight on CIFA
  • June 2006, USNCO destroys all the TALON reports
  • August 2006, CIFA director and deputy director resign

Get it? Carol Lam is closing in on MZM and its contracting. Two very compromised Republicans announce they’re going to review this stuff. And then one month later … POOF!!! All the records of this domestic spying program disappear, like magic!! And then two months later the guys running the program resign, suddenly.

Now, honestly, I need to review the whole report–I’ll either update this or do a new post. But I wanted to put this up here to get people reading the report.

Update:

Here’s the sole explanation they offer for the incredible disappearing USNCO database:

We could not determine whether USNORTHCOM complied with the DoD 90-day retention review policy because all TALON reports were deleted from JPEN on November 30, 2005, without being archived, and the system was turned off in June 2006.

Notice how they change the date, November 2005 for June 2006? Know what happened just two days before these reports were deleted, on November 28, 2005? Duke Cunningham made his plea deal. There. That makes you feel better, doesn’t it?

Though it appears that some of the records remained on the CIFA database.

And here’s their explanation for why CIFA wasn’t deleting info on Americans:

Only CIFA information technology personnel had the ability to delete TALON reports. As a result, CIFA maintained TALON reports without determining whether information on organizations and individuals should be retained for law enforcement and force protection purposes.

Want to bet these IT folks are contractors? Contractors who owe their jobs to earmarks and occasionally bribes?

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The Report from Wilson’s Trip, Again

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Once upon a time in a land called Plameology, I was utterly obsessed with the CIA report on Joe Wilson’s trip. As I pointed out some time ago, the trip report, in addition to Valerie’s identity, was classified at the beginning of leak week. And as I pointed out over the weekend, it is crystal clear that Libby, at least, leaked material from this, knowing it was classified, with no claim it had been declassified. Moreover, he probably leaked it to Novak, though both claim Libby said nothing of substance to Novak when they spoke on July 9.

My renewed interest in the trip report comes from a line recently unsealed from Tatel’s opinion refusing Judy’s and Cooper’s attempt to quash her subpoena. In a part of the opinion that supports the argument that Rove perjured himself (presumably about both his Novak and his Cooper conversations), Tatel included the following quote from Novak’s grand jury testimony:

According to Novak, when he “brought up” Wilson’s wife, “Mr. Rove said, oh, you know about that too” (II-154) and promised to seek declassification of portions of a CIA report regarding the Niger trip, which Rove said “wasn’t an impressive piece of work or a very definitive piece of work” (II-158).

That is, according to Novak, Rove promised to declassify the trip report, even while providing a judgment about it. And, by all appearances, Tatel thinks that grand jury testimony supports the case that Rove lied in his own grand jury testimony.

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