Here is what I wrote Richard Armitage and the Plame Case in November 2005:
Could this insider source be Stephen Hadley? Seems odd to me. To many, Hadley still ranks fairly high as Bob Woodward’s source — and at least to my knowledge — Hadley has only “hinted” that he was not Woodward’s source. Unlike Rumsfeld, Rice, and others, he has not “denied” he was Woodward’s source.
If he was Woodward’s source, I don’t think he would have taken the moral tone that laces the commentary in the Dana Priest/Mike Allen story.
Might it have been John Bellinger, who was Senior Associate Legal Counsel to the President and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council? He is now Legal Adviser to the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Bellinger is a straight-shooter, fair, and not an ideologue. The activities of Libby and Rove would have offended his sensibilities.
Another potential person is Richard Armitage, who is as publicly loyal to the President as one can be — but who deploys brilliant knife-in-hand tactics against others inside the bureaucracy and administration whom he thinks are undermining the nation’s interests.
Of course, Rich Armitage was Colin Powell’s Deputy at State. It is unclear to me how much Armitage would have known about Libby’s and Rove’s campaign against Plame — but his sources throughout the Bush White House, in the national security and intelligence communities are legendary — and Armitage is one of the few people who would have had early warning about the Libby/Rove efforts. So, is Armitage secretly helping Fitzgerald?
Again, there are many reasons to doubt that these individuals are the sources for Dana Priest and Mike Allen — but they also might be.
I have since been able to confirm that the source was not John Bellinger, and Hadley has essentially denied that he was the source.
That left Rich Armitage, so I am not surprised by this news — but I have no more information on this subject that I did in November 2005.
Here is a follow-up piece I did on this Plame source for Dana Priest and Mike Allen.
More later.
— Steve Clemons
