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By Dana Milbank
Tuesday, October 7,
2003; Page A23
Let's review: Syndicated columnist
Robert D. Novak gets a leak of classified information from
foreign-policy hardliners. The column he writes causes a huge
embarrassment for the Republican White House and moderates
throughout the administration. Capitol Hill erupts with
protests about the leak.
Sound familiar? Actually, this
occurred in December 1975. Novak, with his late partner
Rowland Evans, got the classified leak -- that President
Gerald R. Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger were
ready to make concessions to the Soviet Union to save the SALT
II treaty. Donald H. Rumsfeld, then, as now, the secretary of
defense, intervened to block Kissinger.
The main leak
suspect: Richard Perle, then an influential aide to Sen. Henry
"Scoop" Jackson (D-Wash.) and now a member of the Pentagon's
Defense Policy Board and a confidant of neoconservatives in
the Bush administration. The account was described in a 1977
article in The Washington Post, noting Perle's "special
access" to Evans and Novak.
Evans and Novak, the
National Journal wrote in 1979, were among the three "chief
recipients" of classified leaks from Perle. "Several sources
in Congress and the executive branch who regard Perle as an
opponent said that he and his allies make masterful use of the
Evans and Novak column," The Post reported 26 years ago. "One
congressional aide who tries to counter Perle's and Jackson's
influence on arms issues said the Evans and Novak 'connection'
helps Perle create a 'murky, threatening atmosphere' in his
dealings with others."
more............
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53226-2003Oct6.html |
