Merry Fitzmas!
As we all wait for Mr. Fitzgerald's announcement, I thought I'd give my fellow Kossacks an early Fitzmas present.
Below is a timeline combining parts of my old original Franklin/AIPAC Timeline, and information from the dKosopedia Plame timeline, the second Franklin indictment, a TPM Cafe Plame timeline, a SF Chronicle Plame timeline, the franklingate.com timeline, articles from antiwar.com, MSM press articles, and many other sources too numerous to list concerning Plame, Franklin and the Niger uranium claims and documents. I didn't have time to make links in my timeline, and for that, I apologize, but I have not had the time (but you can google any entry in the timeline to find sources referring to that information).
I was thinking it might be useful as a sort of checklist, instead of a definitive source. You can print it up, copy and paste it, and see later which allegations concerning Franklin's leaks, the Plame leak, and the Niger claims and documents actually are brought up by Fitz. Enjoy and please let me know if there is anything should be fixed or added!
Note: I love timelines! They can help make the big and confusing more simple, and they can show connections and convergences of events that can easily be missued. I have combined the Franklin and Plame affairs into one timeline because there are such convergences. Plus, both cases involve the leaks fo classified information and many of the same cast of characters. Remember: this is not definitive or held forth as scholarly research - it's Fitzmas stocking stuffer!!!!
And, take heart: this information will likely be useful in the coming months. If Fitz only indicts Libby today, and later forms a new grand jury, then we can expect more indictments in the future (remember: only Franklin was indicted at first...the idea is to put pressure of people so they'll flip!).
[Warning: this is long!!!]
Our story begins on a cold night in Rome, Italy...
January 1-2, 2001: A break-in occurs at the Niger embassy in Rome, and some documents and a seal allegedly turn up missing. Rocco Martino, former SISMI (Italian intelligence agency) agent later comes into possession of Niger documents concerning attempts by Iraq to acquire uranium from Niger.
2001: As Deputy Defense Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz helps Douglas Feith obtain his appointment as Undersecretary for Policy. Harold Rhode is officially assigned to the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment (ONA), and is later involved in the Office of Special Plans (OSP). Martino turns over the Niger documents to the French secret service (whom he has worked for) and an Italian newspaper, Panorama, who in turn give the documents to the US Embassy in Rome.
April 2001: Iran-Contra figure Michael Ledeen is, with the support of Feith, employed as a consultant to the Department of Defense (DoD).
June 2001: Rhode meets with Manucher Ghorbanifar (an arms dealer also involved in Iran-Contra) in Paris and discusses regime change in Iran. He had been introduced to Ghorbanifar by Ledeen, who had maintained his ties with him from his Iran-Contra days.
Fall 2001: SISMI comes into possession of the Niger uranium documents.
September 2001: Feith and Rhode recruit David Wurmser, the director of Middle East studies for the American Enterprise Institute, to serve as a DoD consultant. He helps with the creation of the ONA.
October 15, 2001: SISMI sends the CIA its first report concerning the Niger uranium allegations, including the information contained within the forged documents.
November 20, 2001: The U.S. Embassy in Niger reports that there "was no possibility" that they had diverted any yellowcake.
December 2001: Rhode, DoD Iran analyst Lawrence Franklin and Ledeen meet in Rome with Ghorbanifar and other Iranians and discuss regime change in Iran. Nicolo Pollari, the head of SISMI, attends the meetings, as does Italian Minister of Defense Antonio Martino, who is well-known in neoconservative circles in Washington.
Late 2001: As part of his work analyzing Iran for the Pentagon, Franklin identifies Iranian hunter-killer teams in Afghanistan that were threatening American Special Forces.
Early 2002: Wolfowitz and Feith create an Iraq war-planning unit in the Pentagon's Near East and South Asia Affairs section, run by Deputy Undersecretary of Defense William Luti. It is called the "Office of Special Plans," and the ONA is folded into it. Luti had come to DoD by way of Vice President Dick Cheney's office. Wurmser becomes senior adviser to Undersecretary of State John Bolton, who is in charge of the State Department's disarmament, proliferation, and WMD office and is actively promoting the Iraq war at State. OSP begins a relationship with Ahmed Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress (INC), from whom they receive intelligence. Rhode also serves as a liaison between DoD and Chalabi. Wolfowitz at some point has a hand in convincing Cheney that the Niger uranium evidence is worthy of closer inspection.
January 18, 2002: Steve Rosen of AIPAC meets with a US government official (identified as USGO-2 in the Franklin indictment). After the meeting, Rosen sends a memo containing classified info he got from USGO-2 to other AIPAC employees.
January 23, 2002: Rosen has a conversation with a foreign national and discloses the classified information he had learned on Sept. 18 from USGO-2.
February, 5 2002: SISMI provides more details about the Niger uranium allegations, but the new information does not resolve doubts held by the intelligence community.
February, 12 2002: DoD's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) write in the National Military Joint Intelligence Center Executive Highlight (Vo. 028-02) a note based on the Feb. 5 SISMI report and concludes that, "Iraq is probably searching abroad for natural uranium to assist in its nuclear weapons program". No judgment is offered about the credibility of the reporting.
February 13, 2002: Cheney asks CIA to find out the truth about the DIA intel report
February, 19 2002: CIA managers in the Counter Proliferation Division convene a meeting of intelligence community analysts to meet with Ambassador Joseph Wilson in response to Cheney's request for more information. Ambassador Wilson's wife introduced her husband and left the meeting (she had neither the authority nor the means to hire her husband - this was a decision made by her supervisors).
February, 26 2002: Wilson arrives in Niger and determines that there is no substance to the allegation that Iraq was trying to procure uranium in Niger.
March 1, 2002: State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) publishes an intelligence assessment, "Niger: Sale of Uranium to Iraq is Unlikely."
Early March: Cheney asks his CIA briefer for an update on the Niger issue.
March 5, 2002: Two CIA officers debrief Wilson and draft an intelligence report.
March 8, 2002: An intelligence report is disseminated based on Wilson's trip to Niger. The CIA rates the report as "good", because the information responded to at least some of the outstanding questions in the intelligence community.
March 12, 2002: Rosen and USGO-2 meet and discuss classified information regarding Al-Qaeda. He passes this information on to AIPAC employees and an Israeli official over the next two days.
March 25, 2002: SISMI provides "new" information claiming that Niger had agreed to supply 500 tons of uranium a year to Iraq.
June 2002: After Ghorbanifar and Rhode arrange it by fax, an Egyptian, an Iraqi, and an unnamed high-level U.S. government official meet in Rome. The first two briefed the American official about the general situation in Iraq and the Middle East, and what would happen in Iraq ("And it's happened word for word since," according to Ghorbanifar).
July 22, 2002: The Dept. of Energy publishes a note in the Daily Intelligence Highlight identifying three indicators that Iraq might be trying but states that there was no evidence that any uranium had arrived in Iraq.
August 1, 2002: CIA publishes a paper on Iraq's WMD capabilities but does not include the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium information.
August 5, 2002: Rosen calls a DoD employee and asks for the name of someone there with an expertise in Iran. He is given Larry Franklin's name. The two begin communications, exchanging phone numbers and attempting to arrange a meeting.
August 15, 2002: Franklin meets with "Foreign Official 2" (from Israel) who tells Franklin that he is the "policy" person at the embassy that he should speak with.
September 7, 2002: Judy Miller and Michael Gordon report the interception of metal tubes bound for Iraq. The front page story quotes unnamed "American officials" and "American intelligence experts" who said the tubes were intended to be used to enrich nuclear material, and cited unnamed "Bush administration officials" who claimed that in recent months, Iraq had "stepped up its quest for nuclear weapons and has embarked on a worldwide hunt for materials to make an atomic bomb."
September 9, 2002: Pollari meets with Hadley and Condoleeza Rice. Panorama writes a story including the SISMI allegation that Iraq planned to obtain 500 kg of uranium, that later appears in the Sept. 12-19 issue.
September 2002: DIA publishes an intelligence assessment arguing that Iraq was trying to procure uranium ore and yellowcake. This report was not coordinated with any other members of the intelligence community.
September 24, 2002: The British White Paper is published alleging that Iraq has sought significant quantities of uranium from Iraq. Sometime later, a CIA analyst has a conversation with an NSC staffer while coordinating a speech. The analyst recommends removing any reference to Iraqi attempts to acquire uranium, but the NSC staffer protests and says that would leave the British "flapping in the wind".
September 25, 2002: An interagency meeting is held to discuss a draft of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq's WMD programs which includes the judgment, "We cannot confirm whether Iraq succeeded in acquiring uranium ore and/or yellowcake from these [African] sources". During the drafting of the NIE, there was a difference within the CIA between the WINPAC analyst and the NESA analyst over the allegation that Iraq was trying to buy uranium from Niger.
September 26, 2002: Colin Powell warns the Senate that the evidence concerning Iraqi attempts to acquire uranium is proof of Iraq's nuclear ambitions.
October 6, 2002: CIA Director George Tenet intercedes with Hadley to get a reference removed from a planned speech by Bush in Cincinnati regarding Iraq trying to acquire uranium.
Early Winter 2002: According to Lt. Col. (ret.) Karen Kwiatkowski, a former Pentagon employee, she was directed to escort 6-7 Israeli "generals" to a meeting at Feith's office. She is told by Feith's secretary that they do not need to sign in, which is standard procedure. She also notices that the visitors seemed to know where they were going once inside the Pentagon, which is rare.
December 18, 2002: The DoD Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs asks Bolton to help develop a fact sheet rebutting Iraq's claims it was complying with UN requirements.
December 19, 2002: The Niger uranium allegations are included in the President's Daily Brief.
January 28, 2003: In his State of the Union address, Bush states that "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa" but does not mention that U.S. agencies had questioned the validity of the British intelligence (aka, the "16 words").
January 30, 2003: Franklin and FO-3 meet to discuss "a foreign nation's nuclear program." [Ed.: Iraq?].
February 5, 2003: Powell makes the case before the UN regarding Saddam Hussein and WMDs.
February 12, 2003: Larry Franklin, "DoD employee B," Rosen, and Keith Weissman of AIPAC finally meet and Franklin provides them with classified information and documents concerning a Middle Eastern country. Rosen and Weissman later discuss the classified information with a journalist.
March through June 2003: Franklin, Rosen, and Weissman continue to communicate classified information amongst each other, with foreign officials (likely Israeli), and members of the press regarding topics such as Iran.
March 4, 2003: France warns Washington that the Niger uranium information provided by SISMI is false.
March 7, 2003: The IAEA provides proof that the Niger uranium claims are based on forgeries.
March 8, 2003: The State Dept. admits they "fell for it" regarding the false Niger uranium claims. Wilson states on CNN that the U.S. government has more information than the State Dept. acknowledged with respect to the Niger uranium claims, but he does not mention his trip and his report directly. It is decided in Cheney's office to do a "work up" on Wilson in order to discredit him.
March 19, 2003: The invasion of Iraq begins.
May 2, 2003: Bush lands on an aircraft carrier and speaks in front of the "Mission Accomplished" sign. Franklin and FO-3 meet and "discuss foreign policy issues and senior U.S. government officials." Wilson speaks off the record with Nicholas Kristof of the NY Times regarding his trip to Niger.
May 6, 2003: Kristof writes in the NY Times, "I'm told by a person involved in the Niger caper that more than a year ago the vice president's office asked for an investigation of the uranium deal, so a former U.S. ambassador to Africa was dispatched to Niger. In February 2002, according to someone present at the meetings, that envoy reported to the C.I.A. and State Department that the information was unequivocally wrong and that the documents had been forged."
May 7, 2003: Judy Miller's Indian Jones-like tale concerning secret documents discovered underground during "a hunt for an ancient Jewish text at [a] secret police headquarters" that concern "offers of sales of uranium and other nuclear material to Iraq" is published in the WaPo.
May 20, 2003: White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer announces his resignation, to take effect in July.
May 23, 2003: Franklin meets with FO-3 and they discuss "issues concerning a Middle Eastern country and its nuclear program and the views held by Europe and certain" U.S. government agencies regarding it. [Ed.: Iraq, uranium, and the Brits view of the evidence?]
June 1-7, 2003: Walter Pincus of the WaPo contacts the CIA in an attempt to confirm Wilson's trip to Niger.
June 3, 2003: Franklin meets with FO-3 "and the discussion centered on a specific person, not in the United States government, and her thoughts concerning the nuclear program of the Middle Eastern country and, separately, certain charity efforts in Foreign Nation A" [Ed.: is this a reference to Judy Miller?]. Franklin continues to meet with FO-3 through June 23, 2004.
June 8, 2003: Rice attempts to refute Kristof's article during an appearance on Meet the Press.
June 10, 2003: A classified State Dept. memo is drafted for Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman containing information about CIA officer Valerie Plame. She is named in the memo in a paragraph marked "(SNF)" for secret, non-foreign. Plame (referred to by her married name, Wilson) is mentioned in the second paragraph of the three-page document, which was written by an analyst in the INR.
June 12, 2003: Pincus writes a story concerning Wilson's trip to Niger without naming Wilson. He also reports that, according to an administration official, neither Cheney nor his staff learned of CIA's role in creating the mission until it was disclosed by Kristof on May 6. A general discussion is held between the National Security Council, the White House and the State Dept. and others regarding Wilson and his trip. "Scooter" Libby takes down notes during a meeting with Cheney that refer to Plame, but it is unclear whether Libby heard this info from Cheney, or perhaps heard it from Wurmser.
June 25, 2003: Miller speaks with Libby regarding Plame during which she takes notes that reveal that he told her about Plame.
June 26, 2003: FBI observes Franklin divulging secret information re: Iraq to Rosen and Weissman while having lunch at the Tivoli restaurant in Arlinton, VA.
July 5, 2003: A male senior administration official tells Pincus that Wilson's mission to Africa originated within the CIA's clandestine service after Cheney aides raised questions during a briefing.
July 6, 2003: In a NY Times op-ed piece, Wilson writes that he could not verify that Niger sold uranium yellowcake to Iraq. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage calls INR director Carl Ford at home, seeking explanation and background on the Wilson-Niger claims. He asks Ford to forward this information to Powell.
July 7, 2003: The White House retracts the Niger uranium allegation. Columnist Robert Novak places a call to White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer according to White House phone logs (it is not clear whether Fleischer returned the call, and Fleischer has refused to comment).
July 8, 2003: Libby meets with Miller at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, D.C., and they discuss Plame. Novak speaks with Karl Rove and Rove turns the conversation towards "Valerie Wilson" and Novak claims he has heard that Wilson had been sent to Niger at her urging. Rove responds: "I heard that, too." Wilson learns from a friend who spoke with Novak later that day that he is claiming that his wife sent him to Niger.
July 10, 2003: Novak speaks with Wilson regarding his allegations concerning his wife, which Wilson denies.
July 11, 2003: Rove speaks with Time reporter Matt Cooper about Wilson and tells him that it was his wife, "who apparently works at the agency on WMD issues who authorized the trip."
July 12, 2003: An as-yet unnamed administration official talks to Pincus confidentially about a matter involving alleged Iraqi nuclear activities, and veers off the matter being discussing and tells him that the White House had not paid attention to Wilson's CIA-sponsored trip to Niger because it was set up as a boondoggle by his wife, an analyst with the agency working on WMD issues. Pincus later calls Wilson and warns him "they're coming after you." Libby also tells Cooper that Cheney had not been responsible for Wilson's mission. Speaking on the record, Libby denies that Cheney knew about or played any role in the Wilson trip to Niger. Speaking on background, Cooper asks Libby if he had heard anything about Wilson's wife sending her husband to Niger. Libby replies, "Yeah, I've heard that too." Libby later has a phone conversation with Miller regarding Wilson and Plame.
July 14, 2003: Novak identifies Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as "a (CIA) operative on weapons of mass destruction." Novak cites "two senior administration officials" as his sources. Rove emails Hadley regarding his conversation with Cooper. Fleischer holds his final press briefing.
July 17, 2003: Cooper writes on Time.com that government officials have told him Wilson's wife is a CIA official monitoring WMD. Another article appears in the magazine's July 21 print issue.
July 20, 2003: NBC News' Andrea Mitchell informs Wilson that a senior White House source told her to press the story of the Wilson Family, not the infamous 16 words.
July 21, 2003: MSNBC's Chris Matthews informs Wilson that Rove told him his wife is "fair game."
July 22, 2003: Hadley admits the 16 words should have been omitted from Bush's State of the Union address. Newsday reports that their intelligence sources confirmed that Plame was undercover until Novak outed her, quoting Novak as saying, "I didn't dig it out. It was given to me. They thought it was significant. They gave me the name, and I used it."
July 24, 2003: A CIA attorney leaves a phone message for the Chief of the Counterespionage Section with concerns about the articles, noting that a crimes report would be forthcoming. The CIA then reports "possible violations of criminal law" to Attorney General John Ashcroft.
July 30, 2003: A letter is sent by CIA to the DoJ Criminal Division reporting a possible crime. It also explains that the CIA's Office of Security would be looking into the matter. The CIA files a "crime report" with the DoJ, suggesting that the leak of Plame's name and covert status might entail criminal acts. Rice grudgingly admits that the 16 words were her responsibility.
September 16, 2003: The CIA notifies the DoJ that its investigation is complete and recommends that the FBI undertake a full criminal investigation of the Plame leak.
Mid-September 2003: Wurmser is moved from State to Cheney's office, under Scooter Libby, as Middle East adviser.
September 23, 2003: CIA submits a standard 11 part questionnaire used by the DoJ to determine whether an investigation is warranted in the Plame leak.
September 26, 2003: John Dion, Director of the DOJ's Counterespionage section, decides to pursue a criminal investigation of the Plame leak.
Sept 29, 2003: The DoJ notifies the CIA that the Counterespionage division has also requested an investigation of the Plame leak. DoJ also requests that FBI investigate. Congressman John Conyers writes a letter to Ashcroft requesting that the DoJ appoint an outside special counsel to investigate the matter. That evening, White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales is informed by the DoJ that an investigation has been opened in the matter. He informs White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card about the investigation.
September 30, 2003: Twelve hours after giving Card a "heads up," Gonzales informs all White House staff via email that it must "preserve all materials" relevant to the Plame investigation.
October 1, 2003: Ex-CIA analyst Larry Johnson confirms on PBS's Newshour that Plame was an undercover operative.
October 2, 2003: John Dion assembles a half-dozen FBI agents from the counterintelligence and inspections division to conduct the investigation into the Plame matter. The investigation is extended to the DoD and State. The DoJ sends letters to ask that any relevant information be preserved. Questions of bias arise when it is revealed that Dion will report to Robert McCallum, Assistant Attorney General, who is an old friend of Bush's from Yale (both were members of Skull and Bones).
October 3, 2003: The White House gives staff until 5pm on Tues., Oct. 7 to turn over documents, phone logs, etc. relating to the Plame leak. White House Counsel estimates that it will take two weeks to review the collection and turn it over to the DoJ.
October 4, 2003: The WaPo reports that the Plame leak may have exposed numerous other undercover CIA agents and their sources. The disclosure of her name and undercover status blew the cover of her CIA front company. Novak reveals the name of the company on CNN, Brewster Jennings.
October 7, 2003: White House officials turn in investigation documents to meet their 5pm deadline and state the White House Counsel's office would review investigation materials before submitting them to DoJ to determine relevancy. They also leave open the possibility that the counsel's office might assert executive privilege on some or withhold all or parts of others for national security reasons. Before the internal investigation is conducted, the White House rules out Rove, Libby, and National Security Council Senior Director Elliott Abrams as possible sources for the Plame leak.
October 9, 2003: Senators Daschle, Levin, Biden and Schumer call for appointment of a special counsel to investigate the Plame leak.
October 15, 2003: The NY Times reports that senior criminal prosecutors and FBI officials criticized Ashcroft's failure to recuse himself or appoint a special counsel.
December 24, 2003: The Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board finds that the White House made a "questionable claim" with respect to the Iraqi nuclear ambitions.
Dec. 30, 2003: Ashcroft recuses himself from the leak investigation. Deputy Attorney General James Comey appoints Patrick Fitzgerald, a U.S. Attorney, as special counsel.
January 1, 2004: The WaPo reveals that Fitzgerald is the godfather of one of Comey's children, giving rise to questions concerning White House control of the Plame
investigation.
January 2, 2004: The WaPo reports that Bush aides whose names have come up in FBI interviews will be asked to sign a one page form waiving their right to journalistic privilege.
January 21, 2004: The federal Plame grand jury begins hearing testimony. Senior advisor to Cheney's office Mary Matalin testifies before them.
February 6, 2004: White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, former White House press official Adam Levine, and Deputy Press Secretary Claire Buchan all testify before the Plame grand jury.
February 10, 2004: It is confirmed that Fleischer, Rove, and Cheney aide Cathie Martin have been interviewed by the FBI. In addition to the grand jury proceedings, "prosecutors have conducted meetings with presidential aides that lawyers in the case described as tense and sometimes combative." Fitzgerald is conducting these interviews in secret, asking the subjects to sign confidentiality agreements, and often staff are refusing to do so.
March 5, 2004: The Plame grand jury subpoenas a week's worth of phone logs from Air Force One.
May 21, 2004: The Plame grand jury subpoenas Cooper and Time, Inc., seeking testimony and documents. Time says it will fight the subpoena. Franklin verbally provides reporters from a national news organization Top Secret/SCI national defense information concerning meetings involving two Middle Eastern officials. This is likely this story regarding Chalabi providing U.S secrets to Iran.
June 2, 2004: The NY Times reports that Chalabi had leaked classified information to Iran. It is revealed that Chalabi told the Iranians he learned about code intercepts from an American who was "drunk" when he told him. Only a few people in the WH knew about the code break intercept. Tenet meets with Bush at the White House to tell him that he is going to resign. Bush also meets that day with his outside private attorney, James Sharp, regarding the Plame investigation. Scott McClellan tells the press that night that Bush has hired an attorney in the Plame matter. In a closed-door damage assessment on Capitol Hill, NSA officials said the Chalabi disclosure cut off a significant stream of information about Iran at a time when the U.S. is worried about the country's nuclear ambitions, its support for terrorist groups and its efforts to exert greater influence over Iraq. Rice pledges to Congress to probe the Chalabi leak.
June 3, 2004: Bush announces Tenent's resignation, effective July 11.
June 4, 2004: Deputy Director for Operations CIA James Pavitt resigns, and says to have made the decision some weeks before.
June 5, 2004: The NY Times reports that Cheney was interviewed by Fitzgerald.
June 16, 2004: Powell testifies before the Plame grand jury.
June 18, 2004: Gonzalez testifies before the Plame grand jury.
Summer 2004: Rocco Martino admits to the UK press that he had a hand in disseminating the Niger uranium documents.
June 23, 2004: Franklin meets for the last time with FO-3, and they discuss "the military situation in Iraq." WaPo reporter Glen Kessler is interviewed by the Plame leak investigators. Libby had signed a waiver and encouraged Kessler to discuss their conversations. Kessler states that Libby did not refer at any time to uranium in Niger, Wilson, or his wife.
June 24, 2004: Bush is questioned by Fitzgerald in the Oval Office for 70 minutes, not under oath.
June 30, 2004: FBI find the document Franklin disclosed in his office, pursuant to warrant. They then search Franklin's home and find 83 documents of various levels of classification being held illegally. The documents consist of three decades' worth of classified material stored on his computer.
Early July 2004: Franklin is questioned by the FBI and is shown the secret documents that had been found in his residence during the earlier search. He admits that he took 34 of them home between October 2003 and June 2004 and that he may have disclosed classified information to a foreign official who was not authorized to receive it. Franklin is stripped of his security clearance.
July 16, 2004: Powell testifies before the Plame grand jury.
July 21, 2004: The FBI sets up a sting involving Franklin. He meets with Weissman outside a Nordstrom's outlet in the Pentagon City mall in Arlington, Va., and warns him that Iranian agents in predominantly Kurdish northern Iraq planned to kidnap, torture and kill American and Israeli agents in the region. Weissman, not realizing that Franklin has been cooperating with the FBI for several months, immediately informs Rosen and the information is relayed to the White House. Rosen and Weissman then call Naor Gilon, who heads the political desk at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, and Kessler. Franklin later stops helping the FBI, fires his public defender, and hires a top a D.C. defense lawyer.
August 3, 2004: Rosen is interviewed by the FBI. He warns Weissman.
August 9, 2004: Weissman is interviewed by the FBI. U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan rejects claims that the First Amendment protects Cooper from testifying and finds Cooper and Time in contempt of court. Time appeals the ruling.
August 12 and 14, 2004: The Plame grand jury subpoenas Miller. The NY Times says it will fight the subpoena.
August 20, 2004: Weissman contacts a member of the media and discloses Franklin as the leaker.
August 24, 2004: UPI reports that Rhode and Luti are being investigated by the FBI for passing classified material to Israel. Cooper agrees to give a deposition after Scooter Libby personally releases him from a promise of confidentiality.
August 27, 2004: Rosen is again interviewed by the FBI. CBS reports on the Franklin case, and it becomes public.
September 2, 2004: Knight Ridder reports that the scope of the FBI probe of Pentagon intelligence activities appears "to go well beyond the Franklin matter." FBI agents briefed top White House, Pentagon and State Dept. officials on the probe "in recent days." Based on those briefings, officials said, the bureau appears to be looking into other controversies that have roiled the Bush administration, some of which also touch Feith's office, including how the Iraqi National Congress allegedly received highly classified U.S. intelligence on Iran; the leaking of the name of CIA officer Valerie Plame to reporters; and the production of the bogus Niger "yellowcake" documents. "`The whole ball of wax' was how one U.S. official privy to the briefings described the inquiry."
September 13, 2004: The Plame grand jury issues a subpoena to Cooper seeking additional information relating to the case. Cooper and Time move to quash the subpoena.
October 7, 2004: Hogan holds Miller in contempt.
October 13, 2004: Cooper and Time are held in contempt.
October 14, 2004: Rove testifies before the Plame grand jury for two hours.
December 2004: FBI raids AIPAC once more. Franklin grand jury subpoenas are issued to four top staffers: Howard Kohr, executive director; Richard Fishman, managing director; Renee Rothstein, communications director; and Raphael Danziger, research director.
January-February 2005: Several of the above four top AIPAC staffers testify before the Franklin federal grand jury, which had been convened by U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty. AIPAC places Rosen and Weissman on paid leave. Meanwhile, Franklin is quietly rehired at the Pentagon, against the FBI's wishes, in a non-sensitive position.
Late January 2005: Feith announces he is leaving his post later this year, but he will still be involved in setting defense policy (specifically, the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR)). He is to be replaced by Eric Edelman who worked as a senior aide to Cheney.
February 8, 2005: A "team" that includes CIA search the documents of Sen. "Scoop" Jackson stored at the University of Washington, reportedly to remove any classified materials (Note: Feith is a former Jackson staff member).
February 15, 2005: Appeals court rules against Miller and Cooper. Both Time and the NY Times appeal to the Supreme Court.
March 7, 2005: Bolton is nominated to be the next UN Ambassador.
March 2005: Former Mossad senior official and head of the Institute for Policy and Strategy at Israel's Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Uzi Arad, is questioned by FBI in connection with the Franklin probe. He is told that his name came up three times in connection with Franklin.
April 16, 2005: Wolfowitz is announced by Bush as a candidate to be the new head of the World Bank, although he, like Feith, will still be involved in the QDR.
Late April 2005: AIPAC dismisses Rosen and Weissman.
May 3, 2005: Luti is moved over from DoD to the NSC.
May 4, 2005: Franklin is arrested and indicted.
May 16, 2005: The NY Times and Ha'aretz report that the FBI has requested that four reporters (one print journalist and others who have been published on Internet sites) that have had contact with Franklin testify before the Franklin grand jury. They are reportedly attempting to determine if they received any classified information from him. No subpeonas have been issued yet, and more reporters could be asked to testify.
June 27, 2005: The Supreme Court refuses to intervene in the Plame matter.
July 1, 2005: Time agrees to comply with a court order to turn over Cooper's notes, e-mails and other documents. Cooper and Miller continue to refuse to divulge sources.
July 6, 2005: Hogan sends Miller to jail for refusing to divulge her source. Cooper, though, agrees to testify after an eleventh hour release from Rove.
July 13, 2005: Cooper testifies before the Plame grand jury for 2.5 hours and confirms that his source was Rove.
July 15, 2005: Presidential aide Karl Rove testifies to the Plame grand jury that he learned the identity of the CIA operative originally from journalists, then informally discussed the information, without using Plame's name, with Cooper.
July 17, 2005: Cooper publicly refutes Rove's claim and states clearly that he learned of Plame from Rove.
July 29, 2005: Susan Ralston and Israel Hernandez, aides to Rove, testify before the Plame grand jury. They are asked why Cooper's July 11, 20003, call to Rove was not entered in Rove's office telephone logs.
August 5, 2005: Franklin, Rosen and Weissman are indicted in a superseding indictment.
September 12, 2005: Fitzgerald sends a letter to Libby's lawyer regarding a possible misunderstanding concerning Libby's waiver of the confidentiality privilege and Miller.
September 15, 2005: Libby sends a letter to Miller confirming his waiver and mentioning "Aspen".
September 16, 2005: Libby's lawyer sends a letter to Fitzgerald regarding Libby's waiver.
September 29, 2005: It is revealed in press reports that Franklin has agreed to plead guilty. A letter is sent from Miller's lawyer to Libby's lawyer regarding his September 16 letter. Miller is released from jail after agreeing to testify before the Plame grand jury. She says her source has "voluntarily and personally released me from my promise of confidentiality."
September 30, 2005: Miller testifies before the Plame grand jury.
October 6, 2005: Rove agrees to testify again before the grand jury. Prosecutors say they cannot guarantee he will not be indicted.
October 11-13, 2005: Miller testifies again before the Plame grand jury and turns over notes of a previously undisclosed phone conversation with Libby and Hogan lifts the contempt order against her.
October 14, 2005: Rove testifies again before the Plame grand jury.
October 16, 2005: Miller writes about her testimony in a NY Times article, saying she can't recall who told her Plame's name. She says Libby told her that Wilson's wife worked for WINPAC.
October 19, 2005: The AP reports that Rove told Plame grand jurors it was possible he first learned from Libby that Plame worked for the CIA.
October 21, 2005: Reports surface that Miller belatedly gave Fitzgerald her notes of a meeting with Libby only after being shown White House records showing that the two had met as early as June 23, 2003.
Oct. 26, 2005: Fitzgerald meets with the Plame grand jury as panel winds up two-year investigation.