- News>
- World
White House staff to submit leak information until Tuesday
Washington, Oct 04: From top advisers to junior staff, nearly 1,000 White House employees were ordered to come forward by Tuesday with any documents that might help the criminal investigation into the leak of an undercover CIA officer`s identity.
Washington, Oct 04: From top advisers to junior staff, nearly 1,000 White House employees were ordered to come forward by Tuesday with any documents that might help the criminal investigation into the leak of an undercover CIA officer's identity.
A memo yesterday cautioned the staff not to seek
advice from President George W. Bush's attorneys. The White
House counsel's office works solely for the President in his
official capacity and is not a private attorney for anyone,
the memo warned, meaning that staff members should hire their
own lawyers if they think they need counsel.
Investigators are trying to determine who leaked the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA operations officer who has served overseas. She is married to former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who publicly accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence to exaggerate the threat from Iraq.
Plame's identity was revealed in a July 14 column by syndicated columnist Robert Novak, who said he got the information from two senior administration officials. Plame subsequently was identified by Newsday as an undercover operative in a story by Timothy M. Phelps, the newspaper's Washington bureau chief, and Knut Royce, a staff writer.
Yesterday's document brought home the gravity of the investigation to all of Bush's staff and touched every corner of the White House, from the west wing offices of the President and Vice President Dick Cheney to the east wing offices of the first lady, as well as the Eisenhower executive office building and beyond.
Investigators are trying to determine who leaked the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA operations officer who has served overseas. She is married to former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who publicly accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence to exaggerate the threat from Iraq.
Plame's identity was revealed in a July 14 column by syndicated columnist Robert Novak, who said he got the information from two senior administration officials. Plame subsequently was identified by Newsday as an undercover operative in a story by Timothy M. Phelps, the newspaper's Washington bureau chief, and Knut Royce, a staff writer.
Yesterday's document brought home the gravity of the investigation to all of Bush's staff and touched every corner of the White House, from the west wing offices of the President and Vice President Dick Cheney to the east wing offices of the first lady, as well as the Eisenhower executive office building and beyond.
Bureau Report