If Karl Rove discussed the status of a secret CIA case officer with persons not eligible to receive the information, then how in the world does he continue to have a security clearance? This is the question on the front page of the
Los Angeles Times this morning.
The first few paragraphs below the fold.
Rove's Security Clearance Widely Questioned
Federal workers under suspicion of smaller lapses have had access to classified data yanked.
By Peter Wallsten and Tom Hamburger, Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON -- An intelligence analyst temporarily lost his top-secret security clearance because he faxed his resume using a commercial machine.
An employee of the Defense Department had her clearance suspended for months because a jilted boyfriend called to say she might not be reliable.
An Army officer who spoke publicly about intelligence failures before the Sept. 11 attacks had his clearance revoked over questions about $67 in personal charges to a military cellphone.
But in the White House, where Karl Rove is under federal investigation for his role in the exposure of a covert CIA officer, the longtime advisor to President Bush continues to enjoy full access to government secrets.
That is drawing the attention of intelligence experts and prominent conservatives as a debate brews over whether Rove should retain his top-secret clearance and remain in his post as White House deputy chief of staff -- even as Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald mulls over whether to charge him with a crime in connection with the operative's exposure.