Ship of State Leaking Like a Sieve

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is being accused of leaking national defense info to pro-Israel lobbyist Steven Rosen. The lobbyist’s defense team is calling the leak by another name though. It’s a “backchannel exchange”, they say. On the day a CIA intelligence analyst got fired for having unauthorized contacts with the media and disclosing classified information to reporters, Condi Rice is accused of doing the same thing. But when Rice does it, it’s a backchannel exchange and it’s just part of political life in DC. At least that’s how the sleaze-meisters are defending it. WaPo reported the nut of the case this morning: “The indictment against (pro-Israel lobbyists) Rosen and Weissman alleges that three government officials leaked sensitive and sometimes classified national defense information to the two, who subsequently revealed what they learned to the press and to an Israeli government official.” A federal judge has granted a defense request to issue subpoenas for Rice and the other government officials who blabbed to Rosen and Weissman. Of course Rice and the White House consiglieries will fight the Rice subpoena. And U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III said yesterday he’s thinking of dismissing the charges on the grounds that the law used to prosecute the lobbyists is vague. However, if it does come down to a fight, no doubt a key argument against Rice being deposed will be that it would jeopardize national security for her to give testimony about how she jeopardized national security.