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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 12, 2004

SCHUMER URGES WHITE HOUSE TO DISCLOSE NAMES OF EMPLOYEES REFUSING TO COOPERATE WITH CIA LEAK PROBE

Some White House employees are apparently refusing to sign waivers releasing reporters from confidentiality agreements

Failure to disclose names of recalcitrant employees delays Grand Jury inquiry and makes it harder to find out who disclosed the identity of a covert CIA agent

US Senator Charles Schumer today urged the White House to disclose the names of employees who are refusing to comply with a request from federal investigators that they waive the confidentiality of their conversations with journalists regarding the identity of the covert CIA agent whose name was made public in a syndicated column over the summer. Schumer said the White House's failure to do so is undermining the grand jury's ability to conclude its investigation.

"The White House talks a good game about how it's fully cooperating the Justice Department investigation but when push comes to shove, it's not doing what it needs to do get its employees to come clean about who committed this dastardly act," Schumer said. "If we're going to smoke out the person who did this, the White House needs to shine a light on who is being helpful and who is not."

Late last year, federal investigators reportedly asked White House employees to sign waivers releasing reporters from any confidentiality agreements regarding any conversations about the Valerie Plame, the agent whose identity was improperly disclosed. Although the White House regularly promises to cooperate with the investigation, some White House employees have reportedly refused to sign these waivers, making it harder for investigators to speak with reporter who might have knowledge of the case.

In a letter sent to White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card on January 6, Schumer wrote that "'full cooperation' requires freeing these journalists from their obligations to protect their sources" and urged the White House to pressure employees to sign them. In his response to Schumer, Card refused to comment on whether the White House would release reporters from confidentiality agreements, saying only that the White House is committed to "full cooperation" with the DOJ investigation.

In 1998, when Republican Congressional leaders began investigating whether White House officials were leaking information about members of Congress, then-White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles informed news organizations that the White House was waiving all confidentiality rights regarding such leaks. Schumer said that would be a good step, but urged the White House to go further and request signed waivers from each individual employee since some journalists might consider the confidentiality agreement to attach to the person and not the White House itself. The professional prosecutors handling the investigation have determined that they would be aided if White House employees waived their agreements with reporters.

"I know you and the President care passionately about the men and women who serve America and protect us from those who would do us harm. In a post-9/11 world, we have no more valuable soldiers in the war on terrorism than our intelligence operatives. The leaking of this woman’s name was not only a despicable thing to do to her, it threatens our network of operatives and informants, harms our efforts to recruit new informants, and drastically undermines national security. It simply cannot be tolerated," Schumer wrote in his January 6 letter.

Schumer has praised the Attorney General's decision to recuse himself from the investigation into who leaked the name of a CIA agent and the appointment of Patrick Fitzgerald to lead the probe. Schumer was the first to call for a thorough investigation of the leak after it appeared in Robert Novak's column. In October, he urged Ashcroft to appoint a special counsel and to formally recuse himself from the Justice Department's investigation into whether senior White House officials illegally leaked a covert CIA operative's identity to the media.

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