The noose tightens

Plame's Identity Marked As Secret

A classified State Department memorandum central to a federal leak investigation contained information about CIA officer Valerie Plame in a paragraph marked "(S)" for secret, a clear indication that any Bush administration official who read it should have been aware the information was classified, according to current and former government officials.

Plame -- who is referred to by her married name, Valerie Wilson, in the memo -- is mentioned in the second paragraph of the three-page document, which was written on June 10, 2003, by an analyst in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), according to a source who described the memo to The Washington Post.

The paragraph identifying her as the wife of former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV was clearly marked to show that it contained classified material at the "secret" level, two sources said. The CIA classifies as "secret" the names of officers whose identities are covert, according to former senior agency officials.

If the WaPo is right on this, I think we have now seen enough evidence to support a guilty verdict. Fitzgerald will still need to tie Rove to the memo, but the evidence on all the other elements of the crime are looking solid enough that even a circumstantial case might be enough. Rove had motive, and it is sure looking like he had opportunity.

And it is on page 1 tomorrow.