Sunday, July 17, 2005

The noose tightens

It seems the more we dig into this cover-blowing issue, the more the noose tightens around his pudgy little neck. On Meet the Press:
"RUSSERT: When one is given classified clearance, they are asked to sign an oath, and they are given a briefing book with form. Standard Form 312, it's called.

And if you read this briefing book, it says this:

'Before...confirming the accuracy of what appears in the public source, the signer of [the] SF 312 must confirm through an authorized official that the information has, in fact, been declassified. If it has not...confirmation of its accuracy is also an unauthorized disclosure.'

So by confirming a story from Robert Novak or sharing information with Matt Cooper, no matter where it came from, if, in fact, it was classified information, without seeking to determine whether it was declassified, it is an unauthorized disclosure."
Not only was confirming that Plame was CIA a violation but mentioning anything about how the CIA selected Wilson was a violation. It doesn't matter if the info came from a reporter. If Rove did not explicitly know that these things had been declassified, he done a baaaaad thing.

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