US Justice Department launches probe into leaking CIA agent identity

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, October 01, 2003

US Justice Department launches probe into leaking CIA agent identity

The US Justice Department has launched an investigation into allegations that someone in the White House leaked the identity of a CIA officer to the news media.

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The US Justice Department has launched an investigation into allegations that someone in the White House leaked the identity of a CIA officer to the news media.

The Justice Department notified the White House by e-mail following a decision late Monday to conduct a full investigation into the case, and President George W. Bush on Tuesday directed his staff at the White House to offer full cooperation.

"The president has directed the White House to cooperate fully with this investigation," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.

Senior staff members at the White House were notified of the investigation at the morning staff meeting, and all the staff were notified later by e-mail by White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales.

Gonzales told the staff to preserve all materials that might way be related to the department's investigation. The materials may include telephone logs, e-mails, notes and other documents.

The flap started on July 14, when columnist Robert Novak identified Valerie Plame as the wife of former ambassador Joseph Wilson and as a CIA officer, after Wilson had written in The New York Times earlier that month that Bush relied on dubious intelligence when he said Iraq had tried to buy uranium for nuclear weapons from Niger.

The White House on Monday denied involvement in the leak of a CIA officer. "There has been nothing that has been brought to our attention beyond what we've seen in the media reports that suggests that there was White House involvement," White House Scott McClellan said.

The maximum penalty for leaking classified information and identifying an undercover CIA agent is 10 years in prison and 50,000 US dollars in fines.

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