The investigation into the leak of CIA Agent Valerie Plame's identity has apparently been over for some time now. There will be no indictments related directly to the leak. The two reporters with indirect knowledge of the case may still pay for their refusal to submit to investigators' demands that they reveal their sources. Direct knowledge=OK, Secondhand knowledge=Bad.
The special prosecutor investigating whether Bush administration officials illegally revealed the identity of a covert CIA operative says he finished his investigation months ago, except for questioning two reporters who have refused to testify.
I get the sense that this investigation was more about the process of getting to the facts, than actually getting to those facts. A process that satiates the egos of investigators while sending a message to journalists: Dissent will not be tolerated.
In the court documents, Fitzgerald said that by October 2004, "the factual investigation -- other than the testimony of Miller and Cooper . . . was for all practical purposes complete."
The story will run in Thursday's Washington Post.
Papers Say Leak Probe Is Over
I guess Novak buckled to pressure, saved himself AND sold out his journalistic colleagues:
...syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak, who first published the name of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame, has already spoken to investigators about his sources for that report...
...sources close to the case also speculated yesterday that Fitzgerald is not likely to seek an indictment for the crime he originally set out to investigate: whether a government official knowingly exposed a covert officer.
On the brightside, Novak who was born Jewish, has been quite outspoken recently about his Catholic Conversion. So, even if he never meets justice in this life, he's set himself up for a quite toasty afterlife.