Columnist Defends CIA Story 

Novak: Wasn't told it might be dangerous 

AP 2aug2005

WASHINGTON — Columnist Robert Novak broke his silence Monday about his disclosure of an undercover CIA operative's identity, defending himself against a former agency official's account that he twice warned Novak not to publish the name.

In his syndicated column, Novak did not dispute that former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow told him he should not print covert officer Valerie Plame's name during conversations they had prior to Novak's July 14, 2003 column.

But Novak reasserted that no CIA official ever told him in advance "that Valerie Plame Wilson's disclosure would endanger her or anybody else."

Plame is the wife of former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was sent to Africa by the CIA in 2002 to evaluate intelligence that Iraq was trying to acquire nuclear materials.

More than a year later, with the U.S. government unable to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Wilson wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times, "What I Didn't Find in Africa," and asked the question: "Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs to justify an invasion?"

Eight days later, Novak wrote an article in which he disclosed Plame's name and cited as sources two unidentified senior Bush administration officials. Novak wrote that the officials had told him Plame had suggested sending her husband to Niger. Novak has not publicly disclosed the identities of his two sources.

Wilson claims the leak was retribution for his article and criticism of the administration. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is investigating whether government officials broke the law by disclosing Plame's name to Novak and other journalists.

Harlow was interviewed recently by The Washington Post and acknowledged telling the grand jury investigating the case that he spoke to Novak at least three days before the column appeared. [See: Prosecutor In CIA Leak Case Casting A Wide Net - Washington Post 27jul2005]

Harlow said he could not tell Novak that Plame was a covert officer because that information was classified. But in at least two telephone calls, Harlow told Novak that Plame had not authorized her husband's mission and that her name should not be used even if Novak went ahead with a story, according to the Post.

Harlow declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press.

Novak said he wrote about the issue Monday, ignoring his lawyers' advice, because Harlow's account is "so patently incorrect and so abuses my integrity as a journalist."

source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0508020056aug02,1,3231899.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed 2aug2005