Armitage acknowledges ‘foolish’ conduct in CIA leak case

Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage admitted he was foolish to have revealed the identity of a CIA employee.

Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage admitted he was foolish to have revealed the identity of a CIA employee. Armitage’s acknowledgment came in response to comments by Valerie Plame, who said the former Bush administration official had no right to talk about where she worked.

A year ago, Armitage had publicly apologised to Plame and her husband. He remains the only principal in the leak to have done so.

In addition to Armitage, former White House political adviser Karl Rove, Dick Cheney’s ex-chief of staff, I Lewis “Scooter” Libby and former presidential press secretary Ari Fleischer had also discussed Plame’s status with reporters.

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Armitage and Rove were the sources for a 2003 newspaper column that disclosed Plame’s CIA employment. The column came out eight days after Plame’s husband, Joseph Wilson, said the administration had twisted prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.

Libby was convicted this year of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI about his conversations with reporters regarding Plame.