He signed the same NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) Rove did,
On Friday Rep Waxman published a Fact Sheet (3 pg. PDF) titled Karl Rove's Nondisclosure Agreement. This paper covers the Executive Order and agreement that everyone who works in the Administration is required to sign in order to obtain a security clearance.
which as
this "Silver Bullet" diary shows puts him into the obligation to ACT when secret info is leaked.
According to the paper Bush signed, he does not have the luxury to wait for the criminal indictement:
..currently Karl Rove's only superiors are Andrew Card and George W. Bush [the minute Rove's lawyer admitted the leak] they become responsible for taking action in response to Rove's action. The White House has an affirmative obligation to investigate and take remedial action separate and apart from any ongoing criminal investigation. The executive order specifically provides that when a breach occurs, each agency must "take appropriate and prompt corrective action."
But Bush has just declared he will not fire Rove until the criminal case is closed
Update [2005-7-18 22:30:34 by lawnorder]: Waxman: Agrees
Wait until the criminal case is closed to take action ?
Bush qualifies firing vow in CIA leak case - Yahoo! News
Asked on June 10, 2004, whether he stood by an earlier White House pledge to fire anyone found to have leaked the officer's name, Bush replied: "Yes." On Monday, he added the qualifier that it would have to be demonstrated that a crime was committed.
Update [2005-7-18 22:37:55 by lawnorder]: SORRY MR. BUSH, THAT DOESN'T STICK
t r u t h o u t - Waxman: Bush Statement on Rove Conflicts with Executive Order
By Rep. Henry A. Waxman
Monday 18 July 2005
Dear Mr. President:
.. Your new standard is not consistent with your obligations to enforce Executive Order 12958, which governs the protection of national security secrets. The executive order states: "Officers and employees of the United States Government ... shall be subject to appropriate sanctions if they knowingly, willfully, or negligently ... disclose to unauthorized persons information properly classified." [3] Under the executive order, the available sanctions include "reprimand, suspension without pay, removal, termination of classification authority, loss or denial of access to classified information, or other sanctions." [4]
Under the executive order, you may not wait until criminal intent and liability are proved by a prosecutor. Instead, you have an affirmative obligation to take "appropriate and prompt corrective action." [5] And the standards of proof are much different.
Kudos to Waxman, kossacks Tomtech, Flint, JesseLee and knowthings for grabing onto the NDA's relevance