Fork You Rove!

Here is the text... Read it all... There is no exception for disclosing classified info even if you only confirm a previous source. It is illegal. And they are "trained" to know this before they to get any security clearance.



They are so detailed in this training that even confirming classified info to a news source is a part of that training, and it is definately a no-no.

REP. HENRY A. WAXMAN

RANKING MINORITY MEMBER

COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 15, 2005



Fact Sheet

Karl Rove’s Nondisclosure Agreement



Today, news reports revealed that Karl Rove, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff and the President’s top political advisor, confirmed the identity of covert CIA official Valerie Plame Wilson with Robert Novak on July 8, 2003, six days before Mr. Novak published the information in a nationally syndicated column. These new disclosures have obvious relevance to the criminal investigation of Patrick Fitzgerald, the Special Counsel who is investigating whether Mr. Rove violated a criminal statute by revealing Ms. Wilson’s identity as a covert CIA official.



Independent of the relevance these new disclosures have to Mr. Fitzgerald’s investigation, they also have significant implications for: (1) whether Mr. Rove violated his obligations under his "Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement" and (2) whether the White House violated its obligations under Executive Order 12958. Under the nondisclosure agreement and the executive order, Mr. Rove would be subject to the loss of his security clearance or dismissal even for "negligently" disclosing Ms. Wilson’s identity.





KARL ROVE’S NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT



Executive Order 12958 governs how federal employees are awarded security clearances in order to obtain access to classified information. It was last updated by President George W. Bush on March 25, 2003, although it has existed in some form since the Truman era. The executive order applies to any entity within the executive branch that comes into possession of classified information, including the White House. It requires employees to undergo a criminal background check, obtain training on how to protect classified information, and sign a "Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement," also known as a SF-312, promising not to reveal classified information.1



The nondisclosure agreement signed by White House officials such as Mr. Rove states: "I will never divulge classified information to anyone" who is not authorized to receive it.2



THE PROHIBITION AGAINST "CONFIRMING" CLASSIFIED INFORMATION



Mr. Rove, through his attorney, has raised the implication that there is a distinction between classified information to someone not authorized to receive it and confirming classified information from someone not authorized to have it. In fact, there is no such distinction under the nondisclosure agreement Mr. Rove signed.

One of the most basic rules of safeguarding classified information is that an official who has signed a nondisclosure agreement cannot confirm classified information obtained by a reporter.



In fact, this obligation is highlighted in the "briefing booklet" that new security clearance recipients receive when they sign their nondisclosure agreements: Before … confirming the accuracy of what appears in the public source, the signer of the SF 312 must confirm through an authorized official that the information has, in fact, been declassified. If it has not, … confirmation of its accuracy is also an unauthorized disclosure.3



THE INDEPENDENT DUTY TO VERIFY THE CLASSIFIED STATUS OF INFORMATION



Mr. Rove’s attorney has implied that if Mr. Rove learned Ms. Wilson’s identity and occupation from a reporter, this somehow makes a difference in what he can say about the information. This is inaccurate.



The executive order states: "Classified information shall not be declassified automatically as a result of any unauthorized disclosure of identical or similar information."4



Mr. Rove was not at liberty to repeat classified information he may have learned from a reporter Instead, he had an affirmative obligation to determine whether the information had been declassified before repeating it. The briefing booklet is explicit on this point: "before disseminating the information elsewhere … the signer of the SF 312 must confirm through an authorized official that the information has, in fact, been declassified."5



"NEGLIGENT" DISCLOSURE OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION



Mr. Rove’s attorney has also implied that Mr. Rove’s conduct should be at issue only if he intentionally or knowingly disclosed Ms. Wilson’s covert status. In fact, the nondisclosure agreement and the executive order require sanctions against security clearance holders who "knowingly, willfully, or negligently" disclose classified information.6 The sanctions for such a breach include "reprimand, suspension without pay, removal, termination of classification authority, loss or denial of access to classified information, or other sanctions."7



THE WHITE HOUSE OBLIGATIONS UNDER EXECUTIVE ORDER 12958



Under the executive order, the White House has an affirmative obligation to investigate and take remedial action separate and apart from any ongoing criminal investigation. The executive order specifically provides that when a breach occurs, each agency must "take appropriate and prompt corrective action."8



This includes a determination of whether individual employees improperly disseminated or obtained access to classified information The executive order further provides that sanctions for violations are not optional.



The executive order expressly provides: "Officers and employees of the United States Government … shall be subject to appropriate sanctions if they knowingly, willfully, or negligently … disclose to unauthorized persons information properly classified."9



There is no evidence that the White House complied with these requirements.

ENDNOTES



1 Executive Order No. 12958, Classified National Security Information (as amended), sec. 4.1(a) (Mar. 28, 2003) (online at Web Reference ).



2 Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement, Standard Form 312 (Prescribed by NARA/ISOO) (32 C.F.R. 2003, E.O. 12958) (online at Web Reference).



3 Information Security Oversight Office, National Archives and Records Administration, Briefing Booklet: Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement (Standard Form 312), at 73 (emphasis added) (online at Web Reference ).



4 Executive Order No. 12958, sec. 1.1(b).



5 Briefing Booklet, supra note 3, at 73.



6 Executive Order No. 12958, sec. 5.5(b) (emphasis added).



7 Id. at 5.5(c).



8 Id. at 5.5(e)(1).



9 Id. at 5.5(b).

Stick a fork in rove...
YEP,...
He is done.

Now what we need to know from cheney and bush?

What did you know? AND when did you know it?
And while I am at it...
How friendly were you with Jeff Gannon? Wink Wink
(Hey, Gannon had to be screwing some guy in the White House?)

ROVE'S TREASON?

This recent report shows a complete lack of uderstanding (or a lack of guts to report it honestly) for what is LIKELY really going on in Pfitz investigation of the Plame leaks...

MSNBC Analyst Says Cooper Documents Reveal Karl Rove as Source in Plame Case By E&P Staff

NEW YORK Now that Time Inc. has turned over documents to federal court, presumably revealing who its reporter, Matt Cooper, identified as his source in the Valerie Plame/CIA case, speculation runs rampant on the name of that source, and what might happen to him or her. Tonight,

...Snip...

"And I know I'm going to get pulled into the grand jury for saying this but the source of...for Matt Cooper was Karl Rove, and that will be revealed in this document dump that Time magazine's going to do with the grand jury."

Other panelists then joined in discussing whether, if true, this would suggest a perjury rap for Rove, if he told the grand jury he did not leak to Cooper.

A fucking perjury rap for a god-damned traitor to our country? I think not... A man who plays politics with the lives of people in our intelligence community, endangers potentially important covert contacts at a time of war, and they talk about perjury? This ain't no fucking BJ!!! This is treason! With all of the stuff coming from the Judge showing a likelyhood of a very real investigation of an espionage conspiracy AND a conspiracy of those that tried to cover it up.

I was reading a good write on the summary of everything circulating the various Blogs on this by kant and it seems pretty obvious what is going on and why bush, cheney, rove, and numerous members of the bush "all-star-fake-news-and-lies" team are lining up to speak to their lawyers. Of course they are just doing that as a precaution... They certainly wouldn't need these lawyers to cover their asses, would they?

It also explains why the media may be worried. Anyone of the media that received any information about the leaks and did not report it to the authorities as a potential crime could be found just as guilty in this conspiracy. Anyone that knew about the leak prior to it's publishing (Novak outing Plame in his editorial) face a very real prospect of becoming "collateral damage" as Joe Wilson put it when Miller was justly sentenced by the judge to sit in the thinking box to ponder whether or not she wants to considered part of these conspiracies.

If I were the judge I would have sentenced miller based on pretending to be a journalist... But I don't like liars like Judy Miller.

Judy Miller (You know, Chalabi's "mouthpiece" for "anonomous tips" he gave her about all of those fictitious WMDs she wrote about in her "Fear, fear, fear!" campaign leading up to the illegal invasion of Iraq?) is part of the cover-up of the alleged espionage if she refuses to give up the names and therefore may become part of this espionage conspiracy. The cover-up part is a near certainty given Judge Tatels statements, and considering her as part of the original conspiracy to out a covert operative is a definite legal possibility. This no longer about keeping sources confidential to protect whistle-blowers for the good of the public. It is about a national securtiy leak and the sources of it that have hurt our country.

Yes... There is a lot of specualtion about "who may be charged with what?"... But it is becoming very clear that this is more than just a failed political smear by the bush regime... It is more likely about traitors getting charged under the Espionage Act.

Come on Miller, who is the other traitor you are protecting? Is it scooter? cheney? bolton? Powell? Maybe even bush? Perhaps all of them?

My gut instinct says it is cheney and bolton, since they already have shown a willingness to bypass the normal/legal means of getting Intel. It would also explain why the Whithouse refused to confirm or deny what Intel bolton had intercepted that upset the Senators so much in bolton's failed confirmation...

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