Today on CNN
Isikoff implied that a “classified State Department report” may be the smoking gun. This classified document is referenced in several news articles starting in October 2003 and is the probable source “for the information that Rove and others were then dishing out to reporters”.
Powell had this document with him on the trip to Africa that occured right after Wilson went public in his July 6th 2003 op-ed. The Africa trip was from July 7th through July 12th.
I believe this document had been prepared in advance to be ready to use if Wilson spoke out. Wilson was leaking, he was clearly the source for several articles in May and June of 2003 (links are provided below) . The White House was ready to push back and this classified document was the evidence. The main talking point the White House decided to use to discredit Wilson was that Plame was involved in setting up his trip to Niger.
ISIKOFF:
That classified State Department report appears to have been — or may well have been the source for the information that Rove and others were then dishing out to reporters. And if that’s the case, there still may be — we don’t know yet, but there still may be an instance where classified information was provided to reporters.
Reference to this classified document first turns up on October 17,2003 in the Wall Street Journal.
more..
An internal government memo addresses some of the mysteries at the center of the White House leak investigation and could help investigators in the search for who disclosed the identity of a Central Intelligence Agency operative, according to two people familiar with the memo.
The memo, prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel, [b]details a meeting in early 2002 where CIA officer Valerie Plame and other intelligence officials gathered to brainstorm about how to verify reports that Iraq had sought uranium yellowcake from Niger.
The Washington Post article of December 26th 2003 is referring to the original Wall Street Journal Article.
Sources said the CIA is angry about the circulation of a still-classified document to conservative news outlets suggesting Plame had a role in arranging her husband’s trip to Africa for the CIA. The document, written by a State Department official who works for its Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), describes a meeting at the CIA where the Niger trip by Wilson was discussed, said a senior administration official who has seen it.
Then in August 2004 Isikoff himself writes about this classified report. He placed the report with Powell on the Africa trip in the week following Wilson’s July 6th op-ed.
A senior State Department official confirmed that, while on the trip, Powell had a department intelligence report on whether Iraq had sought uranium from Niger–a claim Plame’s husband, Joseph Wilson, discounted after a trip to Niger on behalf of the CIA. The report stated that Wilson’s wife had attended a meeting at the CIA where the decision was made to send Wilson to Niger, but it did not mention her last name or undercover status.
On July 7th 2005 Arianna Huffington refers to the classified document referring to information the White House players had recieved from the State Department.
According to the players, the key to whether this story has real legs — and whether it will spell the end of Rove — is determining intent. And a key to that is whether there was a meeting at the White House where Rove and Scooter Libby discussed what to do with the information they had gotten from the State Department about Valerie Plame being Joe Wilson’s wife, and her involvement in his being sent on the Niger/yellowcake mission. If it can be proven that such a meeting occurred, then Rove will be in deep trouble — especially if it is established that Rove made three phone calls leaking the info about Plame and her CIA gig… one to Matt Cooper, one to Walter Pincus, and one to Robert Novak.
These articles link the classified State Department report to Plame in a meeting that would send Wilson to Niger.
I find it very interesting that this probable source is from the State Department.
Here are the Wilson leaks. Wilson is the source in these articles before his July 6th 2003 op-ed.
Missing in Action: Truth
New York Times May 6, 2003
CIA Did Not Share Doubt on Iraq Data
Washington Post Thursday, June 12, 2003
CIA Says It Cabled Key Data to White House
Washington Post Friday, June 13, 2003
White House in Denial
The New York Times Friday, June 13, 2003