LAST WEEK, Washington erupted in scandal as the Justice Department began investigating accusations that senior White House officials illegally revealed the identity of an undercover CIA officer. The officer, Valerie Plame, is the wife of former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, an outspoken critic of the administration's war in Iraq. Wilson has accused the White House of intentionally leaking his wife's name in an attempt to punish his wartime dissent.
Republicans have cast the controversy as Washington's scandal de jour, but this is no mere partisan squabble -- the offense is real, and the implications are serious. The revelation of Plame's name has ruined her ability to work undercover, jeopardized her foreign contacts and led to the exposure of a CIA front firm that she had supposedly worked for. At a time when America's intelligence services are increasingly taxed by the war on terrorism, the CIA can ill afford the needless revelation of its agents' identities.
Still more alarming is the possibility that Plame's cover was blown in a calculated attempt to punish her husband for his criticism of the administration. Plame's name was first published on July 14 by the syndicated columnist Robert Novak, but a senior White House official recently told The Washington Post that her identity was disclosed to at least five other journalists. Plame's identity, then, was not mentioned accidentally -- it was intentionally revealed to the press on numerous occasions, presumably in hopes of its publication.
The timing of the leak is also suspicious. On July 6, Wilson published an op-ed piece in the New York Times, in which he questioned the accuracy of intelligence data used to justify the war in Iraq. Scarcely a week later, his wife's identity was revealed to Novak and possibly several others.
Of course, none of this means that Wilson's accusations are definitely true. But it is by no means beyond the White House to seek political revenge against wayward officials. The Bush administration demands conformity on all issues, and its response to breeches of solidarity can range from the mean to the downright petty.
The most notorious (and perhaps most absurd) presidential punishment was that aimed at James Jeffords, the Vermont senator who left the Republican Party in May 2001. Prior to his defection, Jeffords helped arrange a compromise by which a proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut was trimmed to $1.35 trillion, earning him the ire of administration officials. In response, the White House pointedly declined to invite Jeffords to a ceremony honoring a Vermont woman who was named "Teacher of the Year," and Senate Republicans discussed the elimination of the Northeast Dairy Compact, which allows Vermont farmers to charge more for their milk.
The revelation of Plame's identity may or may not be another case of presidential payback, but given the administration's extreme intolerance of dissent, it is worth asking why her name was revealed to reporters just days after the publication of her husband's column.
The storm of controversy may soon center on the man responsible for finding out, Attorney General John Ashcroft. Since the investigation began on Sept. 26, Ashcroft has promised Americans that it will be conducted in a thorough, non-partisan fashion. But simple assurances may not be enough to overcome Ashcroft's obvious conflicts of interest in the case.
One focus of the investigation will be Karl Rove, the White House official Wilson first accused of leaking his wife's name. Rove, a longtime Republican strategist, served as a paid consultant to three of Ashcroft's campaigns in Missouri, twice for governor and once for U.S. Senate.
But perhaps more important than this personal connection is the simple fact that Ashcroft cannot be expected to fairly investigate the administration that has resurrected his political career. After his loss to Mel Carnahan in the 2000 Senate election (Carnahan was killed in a plane crash shortly before the election), Ashcroft was saved from political oblivion when Bush nominated him attorney general. Ashcroft owes his job to the administration, and his career will rise and fall with Bush's political fortunes. It is, thus, in Ashcroft's interest to limit the scope and duration of the investigation so as to minimize the administration's embarrassment.
According to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, 69 percent of Americans believe that an independent counsel should supervise the investigation, and Ashcroft would do well to heed their opinion. Whatever the administration's claims to the contrary, it is neither proper nor possible for Justice Department officials to investigate the administration in which they serve.
If White House officials have intentionally revealed Plame's identity in order to take political revenge on her husband, then they have lost all sense of executive responsibility. If Ashcroft fails to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the matter, then he will be guilty of a gross injustice, whatever the controversy's final outcome.
(Alec Solotorovsky is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. He can be reached at asolotorovsky@cavalierdaily.com.)
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