Libby Trial: Opening Arguments - Defense (Live Blog)
"My name is Ted Wells and I speak for Scooter Libby." He is "totally innocent." "He is an innocent man and he has been wrongly and unjustly and unfairly accused." No witness, no document, no scientific evidence will be produced saying that Scooter Libby lied, told them he was about to lie, or that he had lied. "It's ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 23, 2007 11:48
Libby Trial: Voir Dire Resumes
Judge Walton got things going at precisely 9:30. I'll live blog the morning's voir dire below, posting anything particularly newsworthy separately. The first candidate is a young white guy who admits to having worked against Bush (letter writing campaigns for MoveOn.org) but says he can be fair. His impressions based on the news accounts he read was that he was "surprised ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 22, 2007 10:01
Libby Trial: Politics Central, Facts Secondary
I'm live in the media room at the Prettyman Federal Courthouse awaiting the resumption of voir dire in the Scooter Libby trial. AP's Michael Sniffen reports that the jury selection should end today, although the problems that have plagued it remain. Libby's lawyers, Theodore Wells and William Jeffress, have labored to keep opponents of the Iraq war and the administration off the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 22, 2007 09:47
CIA Won’t Let Plame Write Book
The CIA Publications Review Board is denying Valerie Plame permission to write about her work for the Agency, or even mention that she did so, Michael Isikoff reports in the latest Newsweek. The panel refused Plame permission to even mention that she worked for the CIA because she served as a "nonofficial cover" officer (or NOC) posing as a private businesswoman, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 8, 2007 09:02
Intelligence Failure on Korean Nukes
Bill Gertz reports that the intelligence community badly botched its forecasts on the North Korean nuclear weapons program. Recent U.S. intelligence analyses of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs were flawed and the lack of clarity on the issue hampered U.S. diplomatic efforts to avert the underground blast detected Sunday, according to Bush administration officials. Some recent secret reports stated ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on October 12, 2006 11:33
China Continues Espionage Against the USA, Pt II
Last November came the reports of the arrest of a Chinese spy ring in California. Today comes a follow-up from Bill Gertz of the Washington Times entitled Fumbled China spy probe an intelligence failure and the details aren't very good on either side. This is the first of 3 articles. It sounds like a Mad Magazine Spy-vs-Spy cartoon. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on September 18, 2006 03:53
Joe Wilson Most to Blame for Ending Valerie Plame’s Career
The Washington Post editorial board has reached surprising conclusion after digesting the news that Richard Armitage was the initial source of the "leak" of Valerie Plame's identity to Bob Novak. Mr. Armitage was one of the Bush administration officials who supported the invasion of Iraq only reluctantly. He was a political rival of the White House and Pentagon officials who ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on September 1, 2006 09:48
Private Citizens Can be Prosecuted for Revealing State Secrets
Jonathan Adler passes on word that, The federal government may prosecute private citizens who illegally receive and retransmit classified information, held federal district court Judge T.S. Ellis III yesterday [Aug. 9] in United States v. Rosen. Judge Ellis denied a motion to dismiss filed by Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, two former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 11, 2006 13:32
Loose Lips Sink Ships
Milipundit, a former enlisted sailor who now works for Representative Jack Kingston, laments that the NYT and other media outlets continually divulge secret operation, snarking, "Who needs a security clearance when you’ve got the Times?" Michelle Malkin continues sounding that tune as well, with a lengthy roundup this morning of people lambasting NYT editor Bill Keller. She ran several amusing ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 26, 2006 12:39
State Secrets Privilege
Henry Lanman has a disturbing look at the "state secrets" privilege in Slate today. Never heard of the "state secrets" privilege? You're not alone. But the Bush administration sure has. Before Sept. 11, this obscure privilege was invoked only rarely. Since then, the administration has dramatically increased its use. According to the Washington Post, the Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on May 22, 2006 20:31
