WASHINGTON - Presidential confidant Karl Rove testified to a grand jury that he learned the identity of a CIA operative originally from journalists, then informally discussed the information with a Time magazine reporter days before the story broke, according to a person briefed on the testimony.

The person, who works in the legal profession and spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of grand jury proceedings, told The Associated Press that Rove testified last year that he remembers specifically being told by columnist Robert Novak that Valerie Plame, the wife of a harsh Iraq war critic, worked for the CIA.

Source: MSNBC

Originally posted by FlyersFan
Rove learned the identity from journalists.
Seems the hubby of the CIA agent had loose lips
and told everyone as well. (LOTS of previous
discussion and stories about that!!)
So, a journalist told Rove about this 'non kept secret'
and the left is calling for Rove to be flogged, then what
should we do with John Kerry for doing WORSE????

www.newsmax.com...

Q: Scott, has anyone -- has the president tried to find out who outed the CIA agent? And has he fired anyone in the White House yet?

McCLELLAN: Well, Helen, that's assuming a lot of things. First of all, that is not the way this White House operates. The president expects everyone in his administration to adhere to the highest standards of conduct. No one would be authorized to do such a thing.

[...]

McCLELLAN: The president has set high standards, the highest of standards for people in his administration. He's made it very clear to people in his administration that he expects them to adhere to the highest standards of conduct. If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration.

A knowledgeable CIA source has confirmed that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert non-official cover (NOC) up until the day she was outed by Robert Novak -- July 14, 2003. Actually, Novak's syndicated column was on the Creators Syndicate wire and Plame's identity was known to news editors across the country at least a day before it appeared in print. Contrary to what the RNC, the White House, and Republicans in Congress are spinning, Vice President Cheney asked a CIA briefer during the July 6 President's Daily Brief about Wilson's OP-ED in the New York Times that appeared that morning about the envoy's trip to Niger on behalf of the CIA. When pressed, the briefer mentioned to Cheney that Wilson's wife worked for the agency's Counter-Proliferation Division (CPD). CIA insiders are reporting that upon hearing that, Cheney told Rove about Plame. Rove then laid his plans to smear Wilson and his wife through friendly and cooperative journalists like Novak and others. The CIA's Damage Assessment Report is in the hands of the Senate Select and House Permanent Select Committees on Intelligence. In another indication of its devastating nature, it is believed by insiders that if the damage report, in any way, exonerated the Bush administration, it would have been released by Intelligence Committee Republicans long ago. And in an indication that congressional Republicans are concerned about potential leaks of the Damage Assessment Report, they responded to Democratic initiatives to remove Rove's clearance with a threat to strip Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence Committee of their own clearances.

Morale at the CIA over the White House disclosure is reported to be at an all-time low. To emphasize Plame's covert status, a number of Plame's CIA colleagues did not even know that when her name was revealed by Novak as Joseph Wilson's wife, that it was the same "Valerie," "Val," "Valerie P," or "Val P." they worked with professionally at Langley and abroad. But Rove, Cheney, and Scooter Libby knew of Plame's status and leaked all of what they knew to the media. Many CIA agents now fear that when they leave Langley and go overseas in case officer or non-official cover status, their lives may be in jeopardy since the White House cannot be trusted to protect their intelligence identities.

The Republicans, who claim the mantle of national security, are in denial over the severe damage done to the CIA, particularly from the disclosure of Plame and her NOC brass plate proprietary firm, Brewster Jennings & Associates. Even in cases where a case officer or NOC is accidentally revealed during a covert operation, they have been later targeted for assassinations by hostile intelligence services. Not only did Rove, Cheney, Libby, and others endanger Plame's and her colleagues' and assets' careers, but their lives as well.

One of the e-mails was a note from Cooper to his boss in which he said he had spoken to Rove, who described the wife of former U.S. Ambassador Joe Wilson, a Bush administration critic, as someone who "apparently works" at the CIA, Newsweek magazine reported.