WASHINGTON, 6 November 2005 — Some might say it’s a case of “locking the barn door after the horse escaped,” others say “better late than never.” Whatever the case, following the indictment of a senior official in a CIA leak probe last week, all White House staffers with security clearances have been ordered by President Bush to attend ethics briefings and learn the fine art of handling classified information.
Classes begin next week. “Your attendance at one of these sessions is mandatory,” said a memo to White House staff from White House counsel Harriet Miers. The memo was released in Mar del Plata, where President George W. Bush was attending a 34-nation Summit of the Americas.
The briefings will provide a refresher course on general ethics rules, including “the rules governing the protection of classified information,” the memo said.
The ethics course comes after Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, 55, was indicted last week on five counts of obstruction of justice, perjury and lying in the two-year investigation into the leak of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame’s identity. If convicted, Libby, who resigned from his post in the White House, faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. He has pleaded innocent. The ethics briefings come amid pressure from congressional Democrats to fire top White House aide Karl Rove or strip his security clearance. Rove remains under investigation because of his reported conversations with reporters about Plame, the wife of Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson.
Reaction was swift. “When you take any executive position in government, you are automatically given an ethics briefing, these are standard, and they tell you how to uphold the highest standards of truth and honesty,” said Amb. Richard Murphy, assistant secretary of state for Near East policy in the Reagan administration.
Asked if the whole White House staff was in need of it, he said: “No. But I think that there are individuals in this administration who felt they could skirt the edges. We saw this with the Reagan administration, which I served in, with the Iran-Contra case. And that ended with certain officials being indicted for not being truthful when testifying to Congress.”
Murphy was quick to point out “that it doesn’t mean that everyone in the Reagan administration was unethical,” and said the problem was that some people felt they “were honestly doing the highest good for the nation. That national security could put up with “white lie.” I think that we’re seeing the same phenomena again, apparently with the case with Libby.” Asked if ethics briefings will eliminate the problem, Murphy said: “No, but it’s useful for anybody in the ranks, especially in the senior government service, to be reminded that no one is above the law.”
Others were less charitable in their judgment. “This seems like an absolute contradiction in terms. This is an administration that is not hesitant to torture, invade, break international law and break treaties — and now they’re suddenly figuring out that they need ethics lessons? This is hilarious,” said James Paul, executive director of the New York-based Global Policy Forum.
“This administration is constantly trying to spin events, just as in the case of the Iraq war — they’re now saying they got bad information. These ethics classes are like saying to the American public: ‘We have people down here at the White House who aren’t doing it right, so we better tell them,’” said Paul. “Everybody knows the Bush staff is following orders. This is a case of ethics breakers giving ethics classes. The Bush administration is not ready to accept responsibility,” he added.
