Who Burned Valerie Plame?

Dwight Meredith writes in:

Who burned Valerie Plame. Let's assume that both the Novak column and the Post story are accurate.

In that case we know from the Novak column that the leaker(s) was a Senior Administration official.

Tapped tells us what that means:

“The vice-president, the cabinet secretaries, those with cabinet-rank, the chief of staff, maybe the deputy chief of staff, and a couple of other really senior advisors.”

The Post article narrows that further in two ways. First, it specifies that the leak came from White House personnel. That eliminates all of the agency employees. Secondly, it specifies "top White House officials."

I understand that to eliminate all deputies and assistants other than assistants to the President.

Here is a list of top White House personnel.

From that list, we can create a list of people who are both "senior" and "top."

That list would include:

George W. Bush -- President
Dick Cheney – Vice President
Karl Rove Senior -- Advisor to the President
Condi Rice -- Assistant to the President for National Security
Andy Card – White House Chief of Staff
Ari Fleischer -- Press Secretary
John Walters -- Drug Czar
Josh Bolten – Director of OMB
Michael Gerson – Assistant to the President for Speech Writing and Policy Advisor
Albert Gonzales – White House Counsel
Dan Bartlett – Assistant to the President for Communications
Greg Mankiw -- CEA
Stephen Friedman -- Director NEC
John Gordon -- Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor
Scooter Libby – Vice President’s Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President


Ari Fleischer is on the list as press secretary even though he has now departed the White House. The Novak column at Town Hall is dated July 14, 2003. In a strange coincidence, July 14 was also Fleischer's last day at the White House. If the Press Secretary was involved, it was Ari.

Let's see if the list can be further narrowed.

The Post source implies that President Bush did not know so he comes off the list. Walters, Bolten, Mankiw, and Friedman probably do not have the security clearances needed to know the identity of covert CIA operatives so they get eliminated from the list.

I can not believe that the White House Counsel would be stupid enough to commit six felonies so eliminate Gonzales.

I also can not see the leak coming from the Speech Writing office (maybe I am naive). It is not at all clear to me that Gerson would have security clearance needed to know the identity of covert CIA operatives. Let's eliminate Gerson.

That leaves eight candidates:


1) Dick Cheney – Vice President
2) Karl Rove Senior -- Advisor to the President
3) Condi Rice -- Assistant to the President for National Security
4) Andy Card – White House Chief of Staff
5) Ari Fleisher -- Press Secretary
6) Dan Bartlett – Assistant to the President for Communication
7) John Gordon -- Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor
8) Scooter Libby – Vice President’s Chief of Staff

I am not sure I would consider Libby and/or Gordon to be top and senior but maybe they are.

If any of the first 5 (Cheney, Rove, Rice, Card or Fleischer) is involved, it is a major scandal.

The identity of the six journalists may soon be known. We know from the efforts to smear Wes Clark that phone records are kept at least for incoming calls to the White House. It does not seem hard to match those calls up with the small circle of suspects.


Pass the popcorn and get out the handcuffs. This is going to be fun.