White House faces probe of leak of CIA agent identity

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, September 30, 2003

White House faces probe of leak of CIA agent identity

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The US Justice Department is investigating a CIA complaint that White House officials leaked the name of a CIA officer in an apparent effort to punish her husband and stifle criticism of the US case for war in Iraq, the USA Today newspaper reported Monday.

Joseph Wilson, the husband of the officer, is a former ambassador to Iraq who angered the Bush administration in July by asserting that the White House knew when Bush made statements about Iraqi efforts to buy uranium in Africa that the evidence was dubious.

Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, confirmed that the Justice Department was looking into a complaintfrom CIA Director George Tenet that White House officials had leaked the name and occupation of Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame.

"I know nothing of any such White House effort to reveal any of this," Rice said on Fox News on Sunday. "My understanding is that ... a question like this is referred to the Justice Department for appropriate action." She said the White House would cooperate.

The report quoted a high-level US official as saying that CIA lawyers contacted the Justice Department in July after columnist Robert Novak identified Plame in print.

"It's not clear what they (the alleged leakers) hoped to gain by it," the official said.

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