Reading over Larry Johnson’s thoughts on the Times article about Libby and Cheney, I agree that it’s quite unlikely that George Tenet would just have happened to mention Joe Wilson’s wife’s role at the CIA or her possible connection to the decision to send him on the trip to Niger.
Indeed, the Times article itself says (emphasis added) “Mr. Libbyâs notes indicate that Mr. Cheney had gotten his information about Ms. Wilson from George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, in response to questions from the vice president about Mr. Wilson.”
The Times article reports that the Libby notes, which record these details, are from June 12th, 2003. Thus, presumably, though we can’t say definitively, the Cheney-Tenet conversation occurred only a short time earlier.
I say this because this was big time information for Cheney; and he and Libby are in pretty constant contact. Libby would likely have been the first person Cheney told. So let’s say that it’s quite likely, though not certain, that the Cheney-Tenet conversation occurred on the 11th or 12th of June, 2003.
The veep gets a regular CIA briefing. He can ask questions and he gets answers back. After all, that’s supposedly how we got into this mess in the first place. But the DCI doesn’t come back in person and talk to the vice president unless it’s a very, very big deal. Or, unless the vice president went to him directly.
I’d be curious to hear from folks with some experience of protocols in such cases, to refine these points above. But this Times article leaves me very curious to learn what action Cheney took that led to that conversation with Tenet.
That’s a key part of this story.
