State Dept. Memo

The State Dept. drafted a memo explaining how the heck Joe Wilson got the Niger trip job. (We now know the trip was authorized by the CIA on the recommendation of Wilson's wife, a CIA employee.)

Colin Powell supposedly received this memo the day he left on a trip to Africa with Bush on Air Force One.

Investigators want to know if administration officials learned Wilson's wife' identity from this memo, then leaked it to Bob Novak and possibly other journalists.

The memo refers explicitly to Wilson's wife as "Mr. Wilson's wife" or "Valerie Wilson".

Bob Novak, in his column, referred to Wilson's wife as "Valerie Plame".

This discrepancy raises questions about whether the memo was Bob Novak's original source. It has previously been noted that Valerie Plame's CIA employment was generally known among news media.

2003 Timeline:
June 10 -- Memo written at State Dept.
July 6 -- Joe Wilson's mendacious op-ed published.
July 7 -- Colin Powell supposedly receives memo.
July 8 -- Bob Novak calls Karl Rove
July 11 -- Matt Cooper calls Karl Rove
July 11 -- Karl Rove e-mails Stephen Hadley, Deputy National Security Advisor
July 14 -- Bob Novak names "Valerie Plame" in his column.

In an interview with Wolf Blitzer, Joe Wilson said, "My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity".

News media generally knew Plame's identity -- it could not have been "blown". No crime committed -- unless someone has lied to the grand jury.

There's an awful lot of leaking about these grand jury proceedings. I want to know when the heck someone is going to leak Bob Novak's testimony.

Captain's Quarters highlights many errors in the New York Times' reporting.

Related:
Rove E-Mails Security Official
Not The Other Way Around
Karl Rove, Whistleblower
Rove Was A Source
Miller / Cooper
Who Outed Plame?