This is non-news.

If a covert CIA agent can be outed and nobody takes responsibility of it or pays for it due to presidental pardons. So why concern ourselves about this minor topic.

Republicans can commit treason and if they wrap themselves in the flag while they do it, it's all right.

This is allowed by the republican party and this administration. Why would they stop if we don't hold them accountable. (Valerie Plame case).

CIA, and other like affiliates use to be respected due to information that was put out for those who were not knowing...The Republican party and the Democrat party did not make up the CIA...Men created this organization in order to keep the country protected...what ever leaks surpass the counter intelligance "eyes does not surprize any Americans today or any other who may listen or find means to uncover the actions of spies...we are now to brillant of mines to curse one party or the other...everyone points the finger but the bottom line is why would one be more counter productive than the other...men and women who commit offenses that hinder, or impede the saftey of our nation should be punished...but the court of law is now becoming a travesty, so where does one seek order and punishment...when it is deemed substantially inherient to protect the safety of our forces, our country, its people their should be no bars....nothing should be for political gain for demo, or repub's..it should be for the good of this country...this war of politics neds to get off its hine quarters and let the CIA, FBI and other intelligance groups to do their job...why we have corruption and gains in corporate America is because of our laws helping those who are able to scam the law inwhich was to protect and defend...Apachecheynne

This is the kind of a thing that makes republicans look untrustworthy, more dangerous than a rattlesnake and poison ivy.
You do not publicly accuse other people of doing things you are doing in secret.

These guys are amazing! Even when they are blatantly caught, they still try to blame the dems. They are all so crooked I'm surprised all the government buildings in DC aren't leaning - to the right of course.

Why is it ok to reveal classified administration policies trying to defeat our enemies (i.e. "domestic" surveillance), but abhorent to reveal Democtrat Congressional budget plans to damage our intelligence capacity?

Just more hypocrisy from the Republicans. They will use any means necessary to achieve their ends, legal or illegal. They have no morals, ethics, or conscience. Who needs terrorists, when Bush, Cheney, Rove, Armitage, Libby, Hoekstra, Boehner, and their ilk, are doing just fine destroying this country all by themselves. Leaking classified material to get what they want is just one more illegal tool in their devious arsenal. They feel that anyone who has a legitimate disagreement with them or their policies needs to be destroyed. Just imagine the stuff they're doing that we don't know about!

Republicans are always saying "Do as I SAY, not as I DO." You can fool some of the people some of the time and all they need is enough of the "FOOLED" to vote so they get elected, then they do as they please. This has been their trend throughout US history.

These people should be prosecuted and put in jail. Period.

When loyalty to party is of greater import than loyalty to country, it looks like this. Pathetic.

So, just to get this straight . . . repubs out a CIA agent, and classified info on the war on terror . . . no problem . . . dem allegedly leaks info re illegal wiretappping by repubs . . . search warrant and FBI raid.

Treason vs. Wistleblowing. Treason wins. Hands down.

Yeah GOP! Another victory for democracy!

Precisely! It is a double standard for the adminisitration to hunt down those who disclosed the "Terrorist Surveillance" program, on the one hand and let officials like Hoekstra and Boehner go scot free. Bush puts Nixon to shame!

This Administration led us into an unnecessary war on the basis of lies to profit the war and oil cartels. The President, Vice President, and those who assisted them are guilty of High Crimes and Misdemeanors, and probably High Treason. They should be impeached, tried, and if convicted, imprisoned for their crimes.

Where is the special prosecutor to investigate the falsified intelligence? The Plame case is only the tip of the iceberg; yet instead of digging deeper, you're inspecting ice cubes under a magnifying glass. The centrist and conservative Democrats are colluding with the Republican obstructionists to protect a treasonous President.

That ABC should dribble a headline about this little story after assisting the rest of the MSM to ignore or suppress the truth for so long--forgive me if I'm not impressed.

The mottos of boy george;

1.The ends justify the means.

2.You can't handle the truth.

3.The buck stops there.

4.Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?

Hypocrisy, thy name is Grand Old Party.

The Administration and Republican lawmakers are the family values, God and country types. They are above answering to anyone. Right now, our country is in a crisis and the Congress and President (and, of course, the old sleaze, Cheney) go on vacation. They all need to come back and work.

Just let me know if and when our government is guided by the Rule of Law. When that happens, I'll pay attention to cheap tricks like this one. Until then, a loyal Bushie Republican is immune from prosecution.

Funny it's always the Democrats fault when a Repub leaks, or says something they shouldn't hell let's just blame global warming, Iraq, the stock market fall, the collapse of our bridges and dams and the mining accidents on them too! The Republicans accept no responsiblity, they hold no one accountable, all they do is tell everyone how patriotic and moral they are and then go about screwing the public and of course blame everybody but themselves. Boy I for one am so happy they brought HONOR back to the WH! What a bunch of liars, cheaters and truly pathetic people they are!

This is the Hate Party, this is the Lieing party. This is a Party that puts its own self interest ahead of the American people and you ask can they do it, the answer is yes.

The proof is the FAILING to hold tghe Administration accountable and when it does it circimvents the LAW and the WILL OF the PEOPLE, to serve its own purpose.

This party like its leadership (or the Lack of) is Gutless,Spineless,Cowards and Traitors. Theyt want nothing exept for what they can get for themselves.

Keep it up, Pete. That ol' chairmanship is going to look further and further away with each successive election.

I think that Al Gore's first act as President should be to "Classify" God.

Tell the Intelligence community that, since we now have proof of God, and God is a Long-Hair, bearded, Liberal (like he raised his son to be), we must keep it from the Right Wingers, who would obviously riot and declare a war on God, possibly using their weapons of mass destruction (which we know they had in the year the year 2007, and never SAW them destroy ANY, so they must still have) thus endangering our national security and our way of life.

Of course, since that proof is under investigation, it's our policy not to discuss it. Other wise, something, something smoking guns and nuclear clouds...

Sooner or later we liberals are going to have to realize that trying to hold the Republican party to any kind of moral standard is a futile, misguided effort. You can point out the hypocrisies and discrepancies and gaps in logic until you're blue in the face, but it will never phase them. Fact is, they're playing by different rules--and their rules allow for winning by any and all means necessary. I'm pretty sure they're so dyed in the wool, calling them out for hypocrisy really doesn't make any sense of them. It's like trying to eject a baseball player for tackling an opponent. Doesn't matter to him; he was playing football all along.

It demonstrates Republicans can not be trusted with national security issues.

it would be good for those "brilliant" people who scream "PLAME" all day to remember that Richard Armitage was the guy who leaked her name, and the prosecutor never brought him up on any charges because no crime was actually committed. You can't pardon someone when they haven't committed a crime. Also, Libby wasn't pardoned, and he was never charged with divulging Plame's identity, again, because that was not a crime.

Shocking. Republicans leaking classified information for political gain. Never thought I would see the day...

I think the real scandal here is that the Democrats in Congress are the ones responsible for cutting our vital intelligence programs & capabilities in a time of war.

Wow. I can't believe this actually made the mainstream media.

I was expecting something on Hillary Clinton's cleavage or John Edward's haircut.

Then again, Brian Ross has been chastised by Republicans for reporting leaked information, too. So, good on ya, Justin, for pointing out the log in their eyes.

The ‘Valerie Plame case’ is/was just a distraction from the real story. Who was responsible for creating and distributing the forgery in the first place? It seems as if this administration has taken obvious steps to keep that information under wraps; one has to wonder why? This is only one of the many distinct points that this administration could/should be held accountable for. Creating intentional misinformation to start a war, does that raise to the level of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’? Impeachment is only the first step. For the crimes this administration has committed in the name of being ‘Commander and Chief’ should be a military trial and gallows when found guilty. Let the families of the dead Iraqis have a voice in what we collectively call Justice.

Look at what we have done in the name of 3 thousand innocent civilians. Why should we expect peace when there are 600 THOUDAND Iraqis who are just as dead and were just as innocent? As a percentage of Iraq’s population that would be like the USA loosing 6 MILLION people. How would the average American react to that? Those who support the war in Iraq just don’t get it. We cannot defeat terrorists by becoming terrorists; that is the only commodity Iraq is in no short supply of.

The disturbing irony, of course, is that the vendetta against leakers by President Bush and his allies is highly selective. In 2003, Vice President Cheney famously authorized the cherry-picked declassification of elements of the 2002 Iraq NIE as part of a campaign to smear Ambassador Joseph Wilson over his public decimation of the White House's uranium in Niger canard. As the National Journal reported in April 2006, leak plugging stalwart and Kansas Senator Pat Roberts (then the Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman) leaked details regarding Saddam Hussein's whereabouts on March 20, 2003 even as the Iraq war was just underway. And just last week, House Minority Leader John Boehner described classified details of the supposed "intelligence gap" created by a FISA judge's ruling, all in an effort to pressure his Democratic opponents to cave to President Bush's demands for expanded domestic surveillance authority.

No surprise here. The Republican party's MO seems to be all hypocrisy, all the time these days. From the treason of Plamegate to the sexual peccadilloes of Mark Foley and the Iraq "cakewalk" the unending lies of the "family values" party know no bounds.

Anyone dumb enough to continue to back these unethical and immoral morons that seem to be intent on destroying this country should see a doctor.

Who cares if their hypocrisy has reached gargantuan proportions as the collapse of the republican party is worth all the gold in Ft.Knox and then some...better check on the gold first though before we gloat as it is likely stolen and in their hands by now...se la vie

It seems that ABC is completely oblivious to the ongoing war between members of the intelligence community and conservatives in D.C..

Is this honestly the first you guys have seen of this? If so it's shameful. How many stories about Republicans with anonymous intelligence people are leaked on a daily basis.

Go cry a river somewhere else Mr. Ross this is the disgusting way the Beltway has become and why most decent people want nothing to do with these freaks.

Congress now has the opportunity to show us that they have raised ethical standards for themselves and have this man deprived of access to government secrets.

Wow! An article about Republican hypocrisy. Nobody could have foreseen that...

Where's the Republican outrage? Oh, that's right, Republican outrage is almost always baseless and blind to the facts.

Sane Republicans I know are leaving the party in droves. The rest deserve to dwell in the land of the 22%'ers who think the country is headed in the right direction. A near majority of Republicans are over 50 years old. In a matter of 20-30 years, the Republican party will be a thing of the past. The question is, can the country survive in the meantime?

Once the inforation is disclosed, it becomes fiar game: Were the budget cuts baed on informed debate; despite the Preident not cooperating, how did the Committee review the OBS/EXP data?

Time for the Committee to discuss publicly whether it has reviewed allegations of 5 USC 3331 vilations; and how their Committee counsel has responed to Grand Jury subpoenas over oath of office and war crimes information.

Once the budgets are cut, the court can review whether the NSA contractors were or were not illegally lobbying Members of Congress. It's serious business when requirements are falsified to secure funding. Major defense contractors have had their officers fired before. It can happen again.

If a Democrat did something like this, the talking points would be distributed to the Republican machine (Rush, Novak, Fox, etc.) and the attack would be overwhelming. The disclosure would pass to the MSM, starting with the Washington Post and the NYT, and progressing to Hardball and the Sunday talk shows. A second occurrance would make the cover of Newsweek and/or Time. Personally, I don't believe that either item shoulc be classified, and the more leaking the better.

This is just another case of Republicans not knowing how to govern

Treason is OK as long as you are a republican't.

More of the same....Republicans are the party of Fascist traitors, criminality, and incompetence all rolled up into a extremely toxic package. It's surprising ABC would report this, since they miss so much, so often.

It's ok if you're a Republican. Nothing to see here.... Meanwhile, investigations by the Justice Department continue for who originally leaked the details of the NSA's illegal wiretapping program to the New York Times.

Republican hypocrisy 101.

Everybody knows that ONLY Republicans are allowed to use top secret intelligence for political reasons or as a weapon against their political "enemies". This used to be called "treason" in the United States of America...but today it's just Republican SOP (Standard Operating Procedure).

Don't you people get it? The law isn't for Republicans. The law is for the common prole who will sit still in the pan while the water is slowly brought to a boil. Newsflash for the meek: The will's been changed. Watch your back.

They are free to do what they want, aren't they? They are above the Constitution, aren't they? The good of the country is irrelevant to them, isn't it?

"reported the top-secret budget for human spying had decreased -- the type of detail normally kept under wraps for national security reasons."

This is suppose to be a "SECRET" this looks more like the authors "OPINION" than a fact....

So what inteligence the enemy gain by knowing a budget was lowered.....

This is the just left wing news media trying to make a story out of nothing....

I agree with everyone above. Republicans have lost their ill-gotten majority, and may lose even further next year. To compensate they are pretty much swatting at anything that moves trying to keep their name out there. In other words, the perks of power are so great and the fear of losing it all makes people do really stupid things.
My wish is for them all to lose in '08 and have to job hunt at the same time just as lobbying firms have lost interest. They might then learn what havoc they've wreaked.
Or maybe not, stupid is as stupid does.

Seems pretty much business as usual at the GOP. I wouldn't recommend going hunting with Hoekstra, either.

They say they support the troops, but they veto a 0.5% pay increase for soldiers in Iraq, they cut the G.I. Bill for college education help for servicemen, they don't provide body armor, they bill soldiers for lost equipment... the GOP are lying hypocrites who think "support the troops" is a campaign slogan, not an actual policy.

Oh, and they lie to Congress, subvert the Constitution, commit war crimes, steal money from taxpayers, leak CIA operatives for personal revenge... um, is there a limit to how long these comments can be?

After te new PResident takes office, a series of special prosecutors should be charged with going over every single secret document, every executive order of the Bush 43 terms, and see just what they were actually up to.
If anyone violated any law, drag them into court.

Then pass a open records law that provides an unchangable double blind oversight of every secret op and dollar spent.

And give Medals of Patriotism to every whistleblower. They are the real heros.

Count me as one of those Republicans who is jumping ship. The Independents just picked up another vote.
I've never been so ashamed of my government.
It would be a joy to see a U.S. Marshall in the oval office waiting to slap the cuffs on W when he gets back to the White House.

Okay folks, scream all you damn well will, but I ask you to ask yourself if you are currently registered to vote AND are you willing to actually take the effort? Or are you like the majority of Americans these days and would rather throw temper tantrums on the internet rather than write a letter to your congressman, speak your mind in PUBLIC, like your favorite coffe shop or the grocery line?

Take a looooong look at your own participation in this democratic republic.

Hum-Int funding cut? Sounds like a fight being continued (in public) by other means that they already lost in committee. Sore losers would like to shame those damnable Dems into restoring said lost funding. Pathetic. And very Plame-like.

My GOD!

Who will deliver us from this traitor? How many Americans have to die because of these types of "leaks"???

Why aren't they arrested? Who's in charge of the law these days??

Kind of interesting that in this case, the story is the leak. In the leaks involving democrats, the story was what was leaked.

Not that there's a bias or anything...

Republicans can do anything without accountability or consequences.

Democrats are impeached or go to jail.

The real name has been Gang Of Pirates for years. That stuff about GOP meaning grand ole party is just hoekstra for the rubes.

Ah, more of the same. GOP lawbreakers, traitors, and tyrants. Democrats who are too stupid or spineless to do anything about it.

The common folks, well our kids are dying in wars started by chickenhawks, based on lies, and funded by congressional morons. Welcome to the USS-A, or R.

When the religious right bound their religous institutions to the Republican party it was necessary to blur moral and ethical standards. This has paved the way for Republican leaders to ignore morals, ethics and principle. There is no redeeming social value left in the Republican party or its members. It is the party with only 22% popular support. Twenty-two percent is about the percentage of the population that fall in the tail end of the bell curve for intelligence. All the Republican loyalists are the dummbest of the population. Ethics requires a degree of intellectual acuity which explains why they are so frustrating - you can't reason with them.

This Adm has become so cloak and dagger about so many issues. So secretive from our own oversight committees. Completely threatening. At the same time grabbing unitary powers in extremes and attacking our constitution and Bill of Rights. It has become imposible to even know where to start.

But, this little peon can tell from down here deep in the forest that the latest spying without FISA, paper trail is one poor display of government. "Unless this is a dictatorship and I'm the dictator, of course".

To put this power in the hands of a partisan with huge memory problems as Alberto Gonzales is egregious. There is no one person that should have this power. Their all encompassing resoning is the low bar of talking to a international telemarketer or PC tech help in anothr country. They can then spy all they wish. Matter of fact they can spy on who they wish because there will be no oversight and accountability.

When it comes down to it,
After neglecting the Presidential daily brief, " Al Qaida to strike". And they could not connect the dots excuse for 9/11. What good does all this spying truely do for the Bush Adm.?

That's the only way we can know what the GOP is up to. Whatever they make the most noise about, they do themselves. Mark Foley sponsoring a bill to protect kids from online predators; the Florida legislator who introduced a bill outlawing public sex acts (I think that's already illegal) who was arrested (see, it is!)for soliciting sex in a public restroom; the many, many GOPers that tout Family Values while they are frequent customers of the DC Madam(Vitters) and the list really does go on and on.

This is their modus operandi:
They don't actually ever admit to anything they learn through intelligence gathering, or what they commit to, or how they plan to respond to it.
That way, even if they receive a warning about terrorism, they can pretend they are ignorant so that the response - when it is illegally carried out as in the bombing of Iraq, for example - will seem as if they just thought of it under duress and should be excused for breaking international law.

Since you are innocent until a jury says you are guilty, I wonder how Bush I pardoned Casper Wineberger. Remember that untouchable? And, those who say no one is above the law is just in denial. I think we should poll people and put heat on the "leaders" to put an end to the power of the president to undermine the law to cover up there own crimes. Do you really think that any administration official like Carl Rove would got to prison? Get real! If you thought that The Scooter would go to prison you need to go ahead and turn it in.

"Sooner or later we liberals are going to have to realize that trying to hold the Republican party to any kind of moral standard is a futile, misguided effort. ... Fact is, they're playing by different rules--and their rules allow for winning by any and all means necessary. I'm pretty sure they're so dyed in the wool, calling them out for hypocrisy really doesn't make any sense of them. It's like trying to eject a baseball player for tackling an opponent. Doesn't matter to him; he was playing football all along.

Posted by: Mike P | Aug 10, 2007 3:59:42 PM"

That's exactly right. They can not be persuaded, they cannot be shamed. They can only be defeated. Mike P is exactly right.

Like all good bloggers Brian Ross reminds me of the "Rat Pack" with one difference the rat pack were good guys that enterained instead of spitting liberal smut from the blog-a-sphere like the daily kos.

what a joke.

Democrats link secrets that the enemy can use and they are vaunted "whistle blowers" protecting the humanity of the United States.

Republicans leak the fact that the Democrats are gutting our intelligence capabilities and Democrats scream Plame!, Plame! and Bush/Republicans have no morals. Typical.

What are the morals of a press that knowingly hurts the security of the United States?

I hope for a Democratic president and both house democrat with filibuster majories.

First thing would be to open independent investigations into this administration. And I'd also would like to see an investigation into the 2004 presidential election to see really how honest that one was. I still feel today that it was fixed.

Leaking top secret information seems to be an ongoing problem for the GOP.

ABC so-called "News" is alleging that Hoekstra "has divulged state secrets"? Will ABC so-called "News" be providing any evidence to support its allegation? This is Exhibit No. 1,000,000,000,000,001 of ABC so-called "News" receiving a press release from some Democrat party kook and dutifully printing said press release as "news". What's next? Will ABC so-called "News" declare that the "White House" "illegally" "revealed" the "identity" of the worthless, irrelevant one-time federal bureaucrat and non-covert, non-spy Valerie Plame, wife of the thoroughly discredited and equally worthless one-time "Ambassador" to Gabon Joe Wilson?

When will this cowardly congress hold these traitors accountable? Bush lets his minions leak classified info to fear monger which is unacceptable. He has it both ways and congress has been complicit in this. When things are getting bad, something comes out in the media (usually Fox noise) or some neo-con nutjob gets the ok to tell the public what the administration wants them to hear. If a dem were to do this the repubs would be all over it calling them traitors. As has been done not so long ago, although I must use Gonzo's "I can't recall" because I really can't recall what it was. A person is smart, but people are dumb and that is what this administration continues to rely upon. That there are gullible people out there who think nothing of what is being said. They should take a good look at who is saying it. It is always a republican andd nothing ever happens to them. Just like Rove still has his job, Libby had his sentence commuted. Nothing ever happens to the loyal "Bushies" because they are doing the devil's bidding.

There is absolutely NOTHING redeeming about the Republican party anymore.

The reason the president of National YGOP recently resigned, reminds me of the reason (back in my days as a rePublican) I, long ago, got out of that organization (and its Party): I felt no comradery with them; I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but they seemed somehow different than me. The recent spait of GOP 'outings' suggests that they haven't changed.
(Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
.

to read the partisan liberal progressive Dem talking points being regurgitated by some of the posters on this board truly does make me fearful for the future of this country. The lack of seriousness in its breadth and scope are astounding.

To equate Dems leaking of specific, step by step methods being taken by our intelligence forces against our enemies is just fine and dandy to them, speaking 'truth to power'. But when a Republican complains about Dems cutting intelligence budgets, further reducing our ability to keep my and their children safe, that abominable!!

The article clearly tells us that there were absolutely no specifics mentioned, just a decrease in funding. If I'm a terrorist I will have to wait for the Dems to leak where and what the funding decrease specifically targets so I can make my plans accordingly.

Leaks have been sold for years now.
Since our government has been taken over by multinational firms guised as neocons, "loyalty to country" is now mere selective / manipulative PR slogans, not a government credo representating the citizens. Whatever flows to accumulate the most money is the new paradigm. This takes the form of the overseas sellout of our domestic manufacturing & technology at the highest levels, arms deals, contrived oil wars, etc. Eisenhower's warnings are now reality. Unless all citizens wise up, the insatiable greed of these few will consume us far beyond the *minor* discomforts we feel now. Can you say "Third World"? Do you understand: "There's great Profit in maintaining the state of Deception, Confusion, and Irrationality"? Do you know where the Great Deceiver resides?

These incidents sound pretty unimportant and unintentional, not like the leaks from dems to people in the media. Those leaks represented a much greater security risk if you ask me. If the human intel budget is being cut, I think the voters have a right to know about it.

Kingronjo above has it right alls the way. The lefties who come over from the blogosphere are simply going thru the usual empty rhetoric and not considering the fact that all this guy did was say dems are cutting the intel budget! Like the public shouldn't be aware of that???

Those of you claiming this shows repubs aren't to be trusted with security are laughable, it's the dems cutting the intel budget for pete's sake! And there are no specifics that could benefit terrorists in any way! All al queda can do with this info is say "oh... good."

It's the cut in funding that's the real threat here, and you have to be blind not to see that!

When the NY Times, ABC NEWS, Wash. Post, and other media outlets disclose our nations secrets I don't see Brian Ross crying foul!

A little truth in news please.

The story that the Ms Pelosi and her democrats were proposing to cut humint in order to fund "global warming intelligence" was in the news months ago. Before you go after the Republican representative for commenting on it, please note that fact.

Years ago, the NRO was found to have build a $1M+ state of the art gym with racketball courts using black funds. As a result, little today is kept secret except for the 'target' and the 'tactics.' Simply stating that HUMINT funding is down does not cause 'grave and serious harm' to our nation. The cold and hard fact that the funding is down and less that less HUMINT will be available to provide key intelligence is what will really cause the harm. The democrats are simply turning things 180 out -- they are limiting the funds and leaving us open to 'grave national risk,' not Hoekstra -- he's a whistle blower and a hero in my mind!

Sounds like tit for tat to me. I know both of these stupid parties do this. Someone in the military did this they would be in the brig for years.

Kutos Ron, you are so bright its a shame your wasting your genius on us when so many mysteries remain unsolved. You are right, thank you for pointing out to us the undeniable equivalence of revealing information that is classified and legal (intelligence spending alotments) to something that is hidden and illegal (unconstitutional wiretapping). Quickly Ron, to the laboratory! AIDS and cancer await your mental wrath!

Intelligence budgets may indeed be classified information, but the idea that telling the American people that Democrats have cut the intelligence budget is illegal is patently ridiculous, which is precisely why ABC provides no source for their claim that it is. Or are we supposed to believe that the law is secret too?

The fact is that whether intelligence budgets have been increased or decreased is vital information for voters.

And if the court case Representative Boehner was discussing was indeed classified, why did ABC have to cite anonymous "goverment officials"? If something is truly illegal, its very easy to find an authoritative non partisan source who is willing to go on the record and say so. ABC could have quoted the spokesman from the court or district in which the ruling was made simply saying, "that case is classified" or "rulings from this court are classif