For the mainstream media, the Plame affair presents a difficult dilemma. Normally, it having failed to erupt into what they consider to be a real scandal, they would drop the matter entirely, it having runs its course through a news cycle or two, like they did with Yellowcake. But they also know that an investigation is still going on, and that more might come out, and they sense somehow, despite themselves, that this is different.
Plus, of course, there is the additional element that they love a good CIA undercover agent story, as this CNN story shows. There is more than a whiff of "Mission Impossible" there, talking about NOCs and all.
Is there any new information in the CNN story? Well there is this -- inevitable, of course, but still depressing. At least the reporters get the importance of it:
Officials with two foreign governments told TIME that their spy catchers are quietly checking on whether Plame had worked on their soil and, if so, what she had done there.
Which means if one theme of the Administration leak scandal concerns political vengeance -- did the White House reveal Plame's identity in order to punish Wilson for his public criticism of the case for war with Iraq?--another theme is about damage.
What has been lost, and who has been compromised because of the leak of one spy's name? And who, if anyone, will pay for that disclosure?
And, too, there is a fairly blunt dismissal of the administration's attempt to shuffle this to the "not important," "nothing to see here" file:
Some Bush partisans have suggested that the outing of Plame is no big deal, that she was "just an analyst" or maybe, as a G.O.P. Congressman told CNN, "a glorified secretary." But the facts tell otherwise.
Plame was, for starters, a former NOC -- that is, a spy with nonofficial cover who worked overseas as a private individual with no apparent connection to the U.S. government. NOCs are among the government's most closely guarded secrets, because they often work for real or fictive private companies overseas and are set loose to spy solo.
There is also a bit more on who the FBI has interviewed, which includes Rove and McClellan, although this is apparently all informal and not under oath.
Of course, over at DKos we know perfectly well that this whole charade would be unnecessary if Bush would take five minutes to ask around and make clear he wanted answers as to who the leakers are (this, of course, is assuming that he doesn't already know). We know that every moment that goes by is therefore part of an ongoing coverup of the original crime. How long has this been going on? Well you can check out the The Plame Affair Clock that I've put up </shamelessness>, with props to Mike of Uberdude for the help. Three plus months and ticking ...