Original NYT Story Strongly Suggests Suspended Staffer Could Not Be Source of NIE Leak
Original NYT Story Strongly Suggests Suspended Staffer Could Not Be Source of NIE Leak
A Democratic staffer’s access to classified information was recently suspended by House Intelligence Chairman Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), supposedly because the staffer requested a copy of a National Intelligence Estimate two days before it was reported in the New York Times.
But, as the Washington Post notes, the New York Times was interviewing government officials about the NIE for weeks before the story was printed:
Intelligence community sources, speaking anonymously because the NIE remains classified, have told The Washington Post that Times reporters were asking questions about the contents of that NIE weeks before publication of the story. In his story, Times reporter Mark Mazzetti wrote that over the weeks he had interviewed “a dozen United States government officials and outside experts . . . for this article.” He added that all “had either seen the final version of the document or participated in the creation of earlier drafts.”
The staffer requested the NIE because Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) received a media inquiry about it. The staffer provided the NIE to Tierney in an appropriate manner. Once Tierney saw the NIE was classified “he refused to discuss it with reporters.”
Hoekstra’s only apparent reason for suspending the staffer was the timeline of his request. The timeline, however, virtually precludes the possibility that the staffer was the source of the leak.
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Of course not, but why not blame it on a Democrat? So much more tidy with two weeks to go before the election?
October 21st, 2006 at 3:55 pmRepublicans don’t bother with facts, so why not just make it up as they go?
October 21st, 2006 at 4:02 pmRepublicans are all about suspending stuff. For instance, they suspended reality six years ago and haven’t allowed it to rear its ugly head not once.
October 21st, 2006 at 4:10 pmAs has been noted on earlier threads, this was a pure act of revenge by the Party in Power.
May those who know of the crimes of those in Power continue to come forward with testimony and evidence of wrongdoing.
October 21st, 2006 at 4:12 pmSo someone releases material labeled as classified and they shouldn’t be fired? It’s ok to endanger anyone mention in the material. As long as it’s used against the administration, it’s worth a few dead informants or solders. Is that how you see it?
October 21st, 2006 at 4:30 pmApparently Kevin doesn’t know how to read. Try again, buddy. Read what Judd posted. See if you can do it.
October 21st, 2006 at 4:48 pmMaybe if you use your finger to follow along, Kevin, you’ll understand what Judd is saying. Hooked on Phonics can work for you too!
October 21st, 2006 at 4:51 pmAmerica’s Least Wanted
Come on, Kevin, let’s shake a leg there. We’re having a pop quiz soon, and you’ll want to be better prepared this time.
October 21st, 2006 at 4:57 pmDon’t confuse him with the facts, round up the usual staffers!
October 21st, 2006 at 4:58 pmKevin, I’m fine with that as long as it applies to Rove and Cheney, who orchestrated the outing of Ms Plame.
October 21st, 2006 at 4:59 pmWait, RU, before we get to higher levels of abstraction with Kevin, we need to make sure he can actually read what Judd wrote. We don’t want to put too much pressure on this early. The poor guy might crack under the strain.
October 21st, 2006 at 5:04 pm#5, Kevin, your post doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I’ll ask you, if someone commits a crime that results in the murder of several thousand people, then covers up that crime with classified information, would you want it revealed and investigated?
What if the mastermind was Saddam Hussein? Would you want people who used to work inside his government to provide classified information that could be used to convict him of mass murder?
Or if someone had incriminating but classified evidence against Fidel Castro? Would you want that to come to light?
What about if someone had proof that individuals in this Administration orchestrated the events of 9/11, killing thousands of Americans, but that proof was in the form of classified documents? Should that evidence be made public?
I am most interested in your reply.
October 21st, 2006 at 5:08 pmKevin… can you not read?
Whether people should be fired for releasing information that used to be made available to the public or whether the administration should stop classifying information simply so that they can continue lying to the public is beside the point here.
The point is… the person who was punished was not guilty… Neocons will do any for political advantage… including punishing the innocent – subverting the constitution – and lying us into an unjustified war.
They are scrupulous dickheads and you help carry their water… you should be ashamed!
October 21st, 2006 at 5:14 pmKevin,
October 21st, 2006 at 5:19 pmThat must be as embarrassing as when my sister-in-law walked into the bath when I was in mid-pee. You do know that with sister-in-laws there is the no-deposit rule – she did drop her pants and said: “See, nothing new here either.”. They have a door there that does not latch because brother-in-law has MS and on occasion has collapsed in the tub. I subsequently got one of those maid service doorknob thingies during a motel stay (With my wife.).
Kevin:
As you can see, we are all concerned about your reading ability. So here is a little lesson to help you along.
Go get the “letter blocks”, stack them as I show you and read for each letter.
A=Abramoff
B=Bought off
C=Congressmen
D=Democratic Staffer
E=Escapegoated
F=For Foley’s fondellings
G=GOP
H=Hoekstra or “Ho” and “ekstra” meaning a really special Ho
I=Indicted
J=Jailed
This will be enough for your peanut size brain for now. We will pick up where we left off next week
October 21st, 2006 at 6:07 pmI know what the story says, but I distracted you fools from the thread. See how we trolls work? But you can’t resist responding to us. Don’t you know that if you simply ignore us we’ll go away? Dumbasses.
October 21st, 2006 at 8:03 pmKevin just had to come back to see if his shit still stunk.
October 21st, 2006 at 8:11 pmRookie troll…
Kevin, with your first post, you’re the last person who should use the term “dumbass” to refer to anyone but yourself
Personally, I like that trolls such as yourself are wasting time at the liberal sites, means you’re not putting your neocon principles into action as in trying to convince undecided voters which party to vote for
I’ve noticed that the W lackeys & apologists revel in their willful ignorance, it just shows they accept their proper and rightful station in life
Please, don’t ever change in that respect
October 21st, 2006 at 8:27 pmHoekstra just used that as an excuse to suspend the staffer > the guy is probably Gay and he wants to get rid of him as part of Hastert’s plan to rid Congress of Gay staffers, to lay the blame on them for the Foley scandal, but GOP Reps and Senators who are closeted hypocrites are the real problem > OUT them all!
October 22nd, 2006 at 1:03 amThe Republicans are running like rats from a house a fire. They are not even being rational about their behaviors anymore. And it is obvious that many of these ‘leaders’ gained their positions from favoritism rather than desire to serve the nation.
October 22nd, 2006 at 8:12 amthe suspension of the staffer was retribution for the release of the cunningham report by rep harman, according to rep lahood. i mean, if they actually had any integrity they would apply the same standards to their own, ie rover. trolls live under bridges.
October 22nd, 2006 at 9:37 amOh man…the Republi-cons are playing politics at the expense of National security. Shameless.
October 22nd, 2006 at 11:20 amBut Hoekstra suspects the staffer CONFIRMED the reports. That would have been after the reporter began his investigation–so the timeline you point out isn’t relevant. That is ALSO against the rules of the Senate Intelligence Committee and would be breaking the law.
Confirming Classified information by a Senate Intelligence Committee member or their staff is the SAME as Releasing Classified information. And Sen Jane Harman knows it.
October 22nd, 2006 at 5:15 pmHoekstra and Lahood basically confirmed in a WaPo story that this was just payback for Harman releasing the report on Duke Cunningham– power politics screwing with a staffer’s livelihood because you don’t like what her boss did.
October 22nd, 2006 at 8:18 pmThis reminds me of when Rove’s access to classified documents was suspended after he leaked the identity of a CIA NOC.
What’s that? Rove’s access to classified documents was never suspended? Wow, that’s pretty surprising.
October 23rd, 2006 at 1:29 pm