The investigation of who leaked the name of Valerie Plame may have been absorbed by the investigation of Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin, AIPAC, and the divulging of classified material.
I came to this conclusion after a little research, and on the article written by John Dean (http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20050520.html) and diaried by maineiac (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/20/103629/611).
A timeline of the Franklin Case, which I posted here on Kos before, can be found at litbmueller.bogspot.com.
More below...
In Dean's article, he notes that "U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan's opinion in the case gives one clue. In discussing the sealed affidavit filed by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, Judge Hogan noted that `the government's focus has shifted as it has acquired additional information during the course of the investigation' and `now needs to pursue different avenues in order to complete its investigation.' Though vague, these references are also significant."
These are significant, but perhaps not for the reasons Dean discusses. I believe the shift in focus of the investigation is due to the Franklin Case. The reason? One person who has been questioned in both investigations: Glenn Kessler, the State Department correspondent for the Washington Post.
I first came across Kessler's name in an article that appeared in the Jerusalem Post on May 19. (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1116383134178). The Post claimed that Kessler had been called by Keith Weissman and Steve Rosen, two AIPAC officials, after they met with Franklin on July 21, 2004, which was an FBI sting. "Rosen and Weissman got in touch with the White House and Kessler because they wanted to get the information out as soon as possible, sources said."
The New York Times reported on May 14 "Federal agents have begun asking reporters about any conversations they had with a former Pentagon analyst [Franklin] who has been charged with illegally disclosing military secrets, senior government officials said on Friday.
"The interviews by the Federal Bureau of Investigation are starting with four reporters, among them at least one newspaper journalist and others whose work has been published on the Internet, the officials said." (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/14/politics/14inquire.html)
I believe that Kessler is one of these reporters. But, this is not the first time that Kessler has been questioned in a leak investigation.
One June 23, 2004, the Washington Post reported that Kessler had been "questioned yesterday by the special prosecutor investigating the possibly illegal leak of a CIA employee's identity by Bush administration officials" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62265-2004Jun22.html). The paper also noted that, "In October, The Post reported that `on July 12, two days before Novak's column, a Post reporter was told by an administration official that the White House had not paid attention to the former ambassador's CIA-sponsored trip to Niger because it was set up as a boondoggle by his wife, an analyst with the agency working on weapons of mass destruction.'"
Kessler has also clarified in Editor & Publisher on April 1, 2005, that, "At Scooter Libby's request, I only discussed whether Valerie Plame or her husband were mentioned in two conversations I had with Libby in July 2003. The answer was no. I did not discuss the actual content of the conversations with Mr. Libby. Because those conversations were made under ground rules protecting their confidentiality, they will always remain confidential" (http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/search/article_display.jsp?schema=&vnu_content_id=100086
5039).
So, at this moment, we only have one reporter that has been tied to both the Franklin and Plame Cases. It is not proof that the shift in focus in the Plame investigation is due to the Plame Case being made part of the Franklin Case. However, on September 2, 2004, Knight Ridder did report that the Franklin investigation is much bigger than first reporter.
According to the article, "Several U.S. officials and law enforcement sources said Thursday that the scope of the FBI probe of Pentagon intelligence activities appeared to go well beyond the Franklin matter.
"FBI agents have briefed top White House, Pentagon and State Department officials on the probe in recent days. Based on those briefings, officials said, the bureau appears to be looking into other controversies that have roiled the Bush administration, some of which also touch Feith's office.
"They include how the Iraqi National Congress, a former exile group backed by the Pentagon, allegedly received highly classified U.S. intelligence on Iran; the leaking of the name of CIA officer Valerie Plame to reporters; and the production of bogus documents suggesting that Iraq tried to buy uranium for nuclear weapons from the African country of Niger. Bush repeated the Niger claim in making the case for war against Iraq.
"`The whole ball of wax' was how one U.S. official privy to the briefings described the inquiry" (http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/columnists/warren_p_strobel/9566773.htm).
So, here is one possibility in this case: Kessler was not lying when he said Libby did not mention Plame or Wilson. Instead, he was first told about them by Franklin, or Franklin via AIPAC. Kessler's conversation with Libby was an attempt to confirm the information he had been given.
Either way, I think it is likely that the two cases have become related. That is why we have not seen any movement on the Plame Case. The questioning of Miller and Cooper may be only a small part of something bigger.