Leaking With A Vengeance

(6 of 7)

Following procedure, White House counsel Alberto Gonzales told all officials to preserve their documents relating to the leak. But the mood in the West Wing was anything but normal. In that small part of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that is open to the press, staff members were told to leave their doors open to show that everyone was at ease. Instead of planning policy, aides were cycling through their email in and out boxes back to February 2002 to meet Gonzales' order. Aides who may have known about the Wilson leak as it was happening were mulling whether to hire a lawyer, weighing where personal interests might diverge from professional ones. "This is big and scary," said a staff member who is intimately involved.

Bush, who has lacked a sense of command in public for some weeks now, looked a little steadier than his aides, but the steely hang-the-guilty determination he reserves for terrorists and other evildoers was missing when it came to discussing the possible leakers in his midst. Asked about the accusations concerning Rove, his political alter ego, Bush said, "Listen, I know of nobody--I don't know of anybody in my Administration who leaked classified information." Bush seemed to emphasize those last two words as if hanging on to a legal life preserver in choppy seas. "If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action." Then he added, "This investigation is a good thing."

But the White House was already shaping the outline of a defense in the event any leakers are found by the FBI or come forward on their own. White House officials argued privately that it was possible that whoever leaked Plame's identity may not have known she was undercover, as the law requires for prosecution. While the Administration suggested that perhaps hundreds of people knew of Plame's spywork, some in the White House admitted that the West Wing was on the hunt for Clinton-like technicalities to skate through. "I did not have conversations with that man," one wry aide quipped.

Bush has seldom been in this position before--that is, on the political defensive. Republicans watching the White House wondered last week how long it would take for Bush to get his mojo back, and several even reminisced fondly about the way Bill Clinton would fight hardest when all seemed lost. "Bush is the opposite of Clinton," said one, trying not to sound worried. "He's all offense and no defense. Clinton was awesome when his back was against the wall. Bush doesn't know where to turn."

The Justice Department is trying to make a swift start, perhaps to forestall calls for a special counsel. The clamor faded a bit last week, but it will be back. So half a dozen agents are on the case, government sources told TIME, led by Inspector John Eckenrode, a seasoned veteran of leak probes and other sensitive investigations. Plame was interviewed by the FBI for the first time last Friday. But if the probers narrow their scope to a shortlist of possible leakers, the handling of the case could become very controversial very quickly. FBI agents have already been asking reporters for their voluntary cooperation--it never hurts to try--but what happens if everyone in the White House denies being the leaker and all the reporters involved refuse to name their sources?