CIA Leakers:"The most insidious of traitors."

Regarding the revelation that someone in the White House outed a CIA agent (a federal crime), the good fellows at The Note want to know the answers to some questions:

1. Has President Bush made clear to the White House staff that only total cooperation with the investigation will be tolerated? If not, why not?

2. Has he insisted that every senior staff member sign a statement with legal authority that they are not the leaker and that they will identify to the White House legal counsel who is?

3. Has Bush required that all sign a letter relinquishing journalists from protecting those two sources?

4. Has Bush said that those involved in this crime will be immediately fired? If not, why not?

5. Has Albert Gonzalez distributed a letter to White House employees telling them to preserve documents, logs, records? If not, why not?

6. Has Andy Card named someone on his staff to organize compliance? If not, why not?

White House officials who might have legal or political exposure on this are going to have to decide whether to hire lawyers or not, and the White House counsel's office is going to have to decide what legal help they can and should provide to officials if and when the DOJ wants to talk to them.

That means that the '90s practice of every Washington bureau of calling members of the bar to see who has hired whom is about to heat back up.

The first one to report someone hiring a criminal lawyer wins a prize, as does the first person who develops that lawyer as a source on all this.

A reminder that students of recusal politics will have to consider the Rove-Ashcroft history.

Condi Rice knows nothing. Colin Powell knows nothing. NBC's Andrea Mitchell knows ... well, whatever she knows, she ain't talkin'.

Mike Allen of the Post adds this at the end of his story:

Democrats e-mailed a quotation from former president George H.W. Bush, a former CIA director, who said in 1999 at the dedication of the agency's new headquarters that those who expose the names of intelligence sources are "the most insidious of traitors."