I can’t say I’m surprised, are you?
Congressman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who took over the helm of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in January, took a long look at the Valerie Plame affair today and found that the White House never conducted an internal security investigation of who leaked the formerCIA agent’s identity, despite a pledge by President Bush to do so.
Duh! No politician is going to perform an investigation, or at least a well-managed investigation, when the damning evidence will lead back too high into that politician’s close ranks of advisors, aides, or peers and close colleagues.
A snip from the (much longer) letter Waxman sent to the White House concerning the responsibilities of White House representatives and questioning the failure of those representatives to perform legally required actions.
Under the applicable executive order and regulations, your senior political advisor, Karl Rove, and other senior White House officials were required to report what they knew about the disclosure of Ms. Wilson’s identity, but they did not make any such report to the White House Office of Security; and
There has been no suspension of security clearances or any other administrative sanction for Mr. Rove and other White House officials involved in the disclosure.
According to Mr. Knodell, the explanation for the lack of action by the White House Security Office was a White House decision not to conduct a security investigation while a criminal investigation was pending. Mr. Knodell could not explain, however, why the White House did not initiate an investigation after the security breach. It took months before a criminal investigation was initiated, yet according to Mr. Knodell, there was no White House investigation initiated during this period.
[tags]White House failed to perform promised Plame leak investigation[/tags]