Focus of CIA Leak Probe Appears to Widen
    By John D. McKinnon, Joe Hagan and Anne Marie Squeo
    The Wall Street Journal

    Wednesday 12 October 2005

    The New York Times reporter who went to jail to avoid testifying
in the CIA leak case was quizzed by the special prosecutor again
yesterday and has agreed to return to the grand jury today.

    Judith Miller's additional testimony comes as the endgame is
intensifying in the legal chess match that threatens to damage the
Bush administration.

    There are signs that prosecutors now are looking into contacts
between administration officials and journalists that took place much
earlier than previously thought. Earlier conversations are
potentially significant, because that suggests the special prosecutor
leading the investigation is exploring whether there was an effort
within the administration at an early stage to develop and
disseminate confidential information to the press that could undercut
former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife, Central Intelligence
Agency official Valerie Plame.

    Mr. Wilson had become a thorn in the Bush administration's side,
as he sought to undermine the administration's claims that Iraq had
sought to buy materials for building nuclear weapons from other
countries, such as uranium "yellowcake" from Niger . Ultimately, his
wife's name and identity were disclosed in a newspaper column,
prompting the investigation into whether someone in the
administration broke the law by revealing the identity of an
undercover agent.

    Ms. Miller, the Times reporter, was interviewed again yesterday
to discuss conversations she had with I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the
vice president's chief of staff. She testified on Sept. 30 before a
grand jury about conversations she had with Mr. Libby in July 2003.

    Since then, her lawyers have told Patrick Fitzgerald, the special
prosecutor investigating the leak of the CIA agent's identity, that
Ms. Miller's notes show that she also spoke with Mr. Libby in late
June, information that was not previously given to the grand jury.

    Mr. Fitzgerald's pursuit now suggests he might be investigating
not a narrow case on the leaking of the agent's name, but perhaps a
broader conspiracy.

    Mr. Wilson's initial complaints were made privately to reporters.
He went public in a July 6 op-ed in the New York Times and in an
appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." After that, White House
officials, who were attempting to discredit Mr. Wilson's claims,
confirmed to some reporters that Mr. Wilson was married to a CIA
official. Columnist Robert Novak published Mr. Wilson's wife's name
and association with the agency in a column that suggested she had
played a role in having him sent on a mission to Niger to investigate
the administration's claims.

    Until now, Mr. Fitzgerald appeared to be focusing on
conversations between White House officials such as Mr. Libby and
Karl Rove, President Bush's senior political adviser, after Mr.
Wilson wrote his op-ed. The defense by Republican operatives has been
that White House officials didn't name Ms. Plame, and that any
discussion of her was in response to reporters' questions about Mr.
Wilson, the kind of casual banter that occurs between sources and
reporters.

    Mr. Rove, who has already testified three times before the grand
jury and was identified by a Time magazine reporter as a source for
his story on Mr. Wilson, is expected to go back to the grand jury,
potentially as early as today, to clarify earlier answers.

    Lawyers familiar with the investigation believe that at least
part of the outcome likely hangs on the inner workings of what has
been dubbed the White House Iraq Group. Formed in August 2002, the
group, which included Messrs. Rove and Libby, worked on setting
strategy for selling the war in Iraq to the public in the months
leading up to the March 2003 invasion. The group likely would have
played a significant role in responding to Mr. Wilson's claims.

    Given that the grand jury is set to expire on Oct. 28, it is
possible charges in this case could come as early as next week.
Former federal prosecutors say it is traditional not to wait for the
last minute and run the risk of not having enough jurors to reach a
quorum. There are 23 members of a grand jury, and 16 are needed for a
quorum before any indictments could be voted on. This grand jury has
traditionally met on Wednesdays and Fridays.

    Since Ms. Miller first testified to the grand jury on Sept. 30,
she has not published an article about her conversations with Mr.
Libby in the New York Times, though she has given interviews to the
paper and other media outlets. She hasn't publicly disclosed what she
told the prosecutor.

    In a memo to staffers yesterday, New York Times Executive Editor
Bill Keller confirmed that Ms. Miller would return to the grand
jury "to supplement her earlier testimony," and noted that this means
Ms. Miller is "not yet clear of legal jeopardy."

    Mr. Keller had earlier said the paper would publish a full
account of everything Ms. Miller knew, but her continuing legal
exposure has prevented the Times from doing so. Mr. Keller said
yesterday in his memo that once Ms. Miller's "obligations to the
grand jury are fulfilled, we intend to write the most thorough story
we can of her entanglement with the White House leak investigation."