The ethics stick
This doesn't sound so much like ethics training as it does a refresher course on the sad fate that whistle blowers can expect to fall upon themselves.
Hmmm. I'll bet there will be an exception or two.
Only in the Bush White House would an individual who has violated an executive order that says he must lose his security clearance be allowed to retain it, while the rest of the staff must take an "ethics" course that seems a ham-handed reminder to zip their lips if they were planning to talk to reporters about the manipulation of evidence in the run-up to war. Pure speculation, that last bit, but even a conspiracy theorist can be right sometimes.
Anyway, ethics begins at home, you might say.
Poor Karl, the one thing you'd think he'd never want to be called: negligent.
A senior Bush aide said the "mandatory sessions on classified material is a result of a directive by the president in light of the [CIA] investigation."
Next week's meeting is for West Wing aides with security clearance, which allows them to view and discuss sensitive or classified material. Information about Plame was classified. Rove is among those aides who must attend.
"There will be no exceptions," the memo states.
Hmmm. I'll bet there will be an exception or two.
Only in the Bush White House would an individual who has violated an executive order that says he must lose his security clearance be allowed to retain it, while the rest of the staff must take an "ethics" course that seems a ham-handed reminder to zip their lips if they were planning to talk to reporters about the manipulation of evidence in the run-up to war. Pure speculation, that last bit, but even a conspiracy theorist can be right sometimes.
Anyway, ethics begins at home, you might say.
According to last week's indictment of Scooter Libby, a person identified as "Official A" held conversations with reporters about Plame's identity as an undercover CIA operative, information that was classified. News accounts subsequently confirmed that that official was Rove. Under Executive Order 12958, signed by President Clinton in 1995, such a disclosure is grounds for, at a minimum, losing access to classified information.
Section 5.1 of Clinton's executive order prohibits "any knowing, willful or negligent action that could reasonably be expected to result in an unauthorized disclosure of classified information." While the law against revealing the identity of a CIA operative requires that the perpetrator intentionally disclosed such classified information (a high standard, which may be one reason Fitzgerald did not indict on those grounds), the executive order covers "negligence," or unintentional disclosure.
Poor Karl, the one thing you'd think he'd never want to be called: negligent.
posted by John at 5:03 PM
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