Democrats Suffer Defeat in CIA Leak Investigation

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday suffered a defeat in their efforts to launch a congressional investigation into the leak of a CIA operative’s identity to the press (see GSN, Jan. 28).

The Justice Department is investigating the release of the name and CIA status of the wife of former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson. In a New York Times commentary last summer, Wilson criticized some of the evidence offered by the Bush administration to justify the invasion of Iraq. Soon afterward, his wife’s name and status as a CIA operative were made public in a column by Robert Novak. Wilson alleged that the leak of his wife’s identity was meant as an intimidation tactic by the Bush administration.

Late last month, Representative Rush Holt (D-N.J.) introduced a resolution of inquiry, which would have requested that the president, secretary of state, defense secretary and attorney general provide the House with all documents relating the leak within 14 days of the resolution’s passage (see GSN, Jan. 23). The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence quickly voted against sending the resolution for a full House vote.

The resolution suffered a killing blow yesterday when the House International Relations, Judiciary, and Armed Service committees all voted against reporting the resolution. According to Holt’s office, the resolution was defeated in each committee in straight party-line votes.

A Holt press release quoted House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) as saying it would be “redundant and irresponsible to pass the resolution and for Congress to initiate its own fact-finding, when there is an ongoing criminal investigation under way led by a very reputable U.S. Attorney.”

A number of Democrats in the three committees, however, offered spirited defenses of the need for Congress to become more involved in the investigation.

“There have been hearings on campaign finance, Waco, pardons, Enron, and even Martha Stewart. So I don’t want to hear anyone argue that we don’t have the authority or the responsibility to investigate whether or not two senior administration officials broke the law and jeopardized our intelligence efforts during the current war on terror,” Representative Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, was quoted in a Holt release as saying.

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