Bob Novak

[bambo53]

Can someone explain to me why Novak was never charged with treason after he outed Valery Plame? Seriously, I know there's a reason but it's never been explained to me before.

[IdaBriggs]

1. He squealed like a pig (is my understanding) and cut a deal. nt

[H2O Man]

4. He testified willingly,

but he had not commited a crime. The reporters involved, no matter if they reported on Plame (like Novak) or if they did not (Woodward, Miller, etc) were not the criminals. The White House officials were the ones who were the suspects.

[Montauk6]

2. Neocon immunity?

Wouldn't surprise me if there was STILL an underground effort to figure out how to charge Big Dog with treason for the BJ.

[EST]

3. He did nothing illegal.

Stupid, immoral, self-serving, maybe, but not illegal. Repeated what he'd been told.

[originalpckelly]

5. Bingo. You have to have authorized access to the classified information...

to be prosecuted. Novak wasn't authorized, he'd never signed a confidentiality agreement with the CIA or in general the federal government. Whoever leaked the info to Novak inside the federal government did break the law. But quite frankly, the use of the law in this case seems to be more political. Just as Bush used the law breaking of the NSA leakers to start tracking reporters phones, this is about the same.

I don't like Judy Miller at all, but she should never have been sent to prison. No reporter should be forced to divulge their contacts, it has a chilling effect on the whole profession.

It has indeed had a chilling effect, which is measurable, on the reporting of Brian Ross, because his phone was one of the phones being tracked by the government.