Murray Waas has some new information on the Plame investigation:
[snip]
The meeting took place in Washington, D.C., six days before columnist Robert Novak wrote his now-infamous column unmasking Plame as a “CIA operative.”
July 8th, 2003 was a crucial day for this investigation. Karl Rove talked to Novak about Valerie Plame on July 8th.
More juicy gossip on the flip:
A couple of days ago I got a tip about a CIA officer who has been working at the National Security Council. Apparently, this officer had worked with Valerie Wilson at the CIA, and he knew her by her maiden name. I was holding off on publishing the man’s name until I could learn more about the case.
But David Corn, who has apparently been aware of this guy for over a year, has put his name out there:
This NSC staffer might–I emphasize, might–play a role in the Wilson leak scandal. I know of no reason to suspect he or she is one of the leakers. (A recent Newsweek story referred to this NSCer, but it did not name the staffer.) But perhaps this individual–whom I was told is a CIA officer assigned to the NSC–mentioned Valerie Wilson’s CIA connection to one or more White House colleagues during the period in which Joseph Wilson was causing the White House discomfort….Consequently, investigators probing the Wilson leak ought to ask this NSC officer–if they have not already done so–whether he or she talked about Valerie Wilson with anyone in the White House? If the Justice Department investigators can figure out how individuals in the White House came to know about Wilson’s wife (if they did), then the gumshoes might be able to find a trail leading to the leakers.
I tried reaching this individual and could not get past the NSC receptionist, who referred me to NSC press spokesman Sean McCormack. He returned my call once, missed me, and then did not return subsequent calls.
I did not name the individual because I did not want to engage in Rove-like conduct. (Hence, the headline of my article.) But now it can be told: the name of this NSC staffer is David Shedd. And he no longer is undercover.
His cover was blown when he was described as a ‘CIA veteran’ in a June 23rd, 2005, Facts on File World News Digest blurb that announced his appointment by John Negroponte to serve in his office.
I don’t know if David Shedd had anything to do with the outing of Valerie Plame. However, I think it is a safe bet that the Wilsons are suspicious.
Steven Hadley was Condi Rice’s deputy at the NSC when Joe Wilson’s column appeared. Steven Hadley and Karl Rove worked with George Tenet to craft an explanation for how the notorious ’16 words’ wound up in the State of the Union address. And Steven Hadley eventually fell on his sword and took the blame for those 16 words.
If Mr. Shedd was serving as the CIA liaison to the NSC, and he knew about Valerie Plame’s role at the CIA, then it is a safe bet that he shared that information with Hadley. And, BTW, there would have been nothing improper or illegal about his having done so.
In fact, Shedd might be a likely candidate for the ‘senior administration official’ cited in this September 28th, 2002 Washington Post article:
“Clearly, it was meant purely and simply for revenge,” the senior official said of the alleged leak.
On the other hand, while very little of what Novak has said publicly can be relied upon, he did say that we would be surprised when we found out who the leaker was and that the leaker was no partisan bomb-thrower.
Even more compelling is the fact that Novak initially told Wilson that his source was from the CIA, but then changed his story and cited ‘two senior administration officials’ in the article.
This apparent discrepancy disappears if Shedd was one of his sources because Shedd was apparently working at both the CIA and the NSC.