by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright April 9, 2006
All Rights Reserved.

laying the strategic leak game, President George W. Bush apparently declassified information from his early July 2003 National Security Estimate for the “public interest,” to counteract what his Press Secretary Scott McClellan called “wild accusations” about manipulating of intelligence. Damaging allegations, refuting Bush's 2003 State of the Union message fingering Saddam of trying to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger, were made July 6, 2003 on the Op-Ed page of the The New York Times by former Iraqi Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, accusing the White House of “twisting” intelligence to make its case for war. It's no coincidence, eight days later, Chicago Sun Times columnist Robert C. Novak outed Wilson's covert CIA operative wife Valerie Plame, prompting the appointment of Special Prosecutor, U.S. Atty. Patrick J. Fitzgerald to investigate criminal behavior.

      Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby was indicted Oct. 28, 2005 by Fitzgerald of five counts of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection to the Plame leak. Recently released court documents indicate that Libby leaked “declassified” information to former New York Times' reporter Judith Miller, whose prewar reporting hyped the Iraqi nuclear threat, making the White House case for war. “Because of the public debate that was going on and some of the wild accusations that were flying around . . . we felt it was very much in the public interest that what information could be declassified, be declassified. An that's exactly what we did,” said McClellan, admitting that the White House decided to confront growing doubts about the Iraq war by declassifying parts of the National Security Estimate. Wilson's Op-Ed unnerved the White House.

      While no one has accused Bush of ordering Cheney to tell Libby to leak Plame's name, it's reasonable to assume the same chain of command existed in yellowcake leak. The New York Times' reporter Judith Miller got the scoop from Libby for months, leading up to the Iraq war. Cheney's office played her like a fiddle to sell the weapons of mass destruction excuse, including the National Security Estimate that talked about yellowcake, despite the lack of verification. Even CIA Director George Tenet told the White House he couldn't verify claims about Saddam buying yellocake from Niger. Calling Libby's disclosure “the leak of extremely sensitive intelligence for purely political purposes,” Rep. Rush D. Holt (D-N.J.) was furious at the White House for declassifying intelligence to manage a political crisis. It's pathetic that the National Security Estimate was based on phony data.

      Knowledge of the Libby leaking declassified intelligence on the president's orders for political purposes hurt Bush's credibility. Bush has ranted against high-ranking government officials leaking sensitive information. He was furious about the leaks that (a) the CIA maintained European interrogation centers and (b) the National Security Agency engaged in warrantless wiretapping of suspected Al Qaeda terrorists. “Declassifying information and providing it to the public, when it is in the public interest, is one thing,” said McClellan. “But leaking classified information that could compromise our national security is something that is very serious,” sidestepping the issue of leaking classified information when it fits the White House political agenda. In the Plame case, the administration felt it had to pull out all the stops to counter damaging information about its tenuous case for war.

      Arbitrarily declassifying information when is serves the president's political agenda raise concerns about (a) the nature of classified information and (b) whether it harms national security. National security agencies shouldn't classify information because it happens to fit the White House theory of justifying the war. Placing the bogus claim about Saddam trying to buy yellowcake from Niger into a National Security Estimate raises serious doubts about the credibility of classified documents. If the claim were phony, or, at the very least, based on unverified intelligence, it shouldn't have been classified at all. Using the classification process to lend credibility to farfetched ideas directly violates the National Security Act. Justifying declassifying intelligence as the president's constitutional right crosses a dangerous line, giving Bush the unbridled license to abuse power.

      Bush abused his constitutional powers declassifying information for political purposes. Arbitrarily deciding (a) what constitutes classified information and (b) when it can be declassified for political purposes represents an egregious abuse of presidential powers. When the CIA said it couldn't corroborate claims about Saddam's alleged attempt to buy yellocake from Niger, it shouldn't have been included in Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech. Nor should the White House, especially former Secretary of State Colin A. Powell and Vice President Dick Cheney have hyped “mobile germ laboratories,” once evidence of Saddam's nuclear weapons programs evaporated. Only two months after 2003 State of the Union message Bush took the nation to war, costing nearly 2,400 lives, countless injuries and over $400 billion. When the president decides to declassify intelligence, it shouldn't be to salvage his credibility.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

©1999-2005 Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.
(310) 204-8300
All Rights Reserved.