US officials brace for decisions in CIA leak case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The federal prosecutor investigatingwho leaked the identity of a CIA operative is expected tosignal within days whether he intends to bring indictments inthe case, legal sources close to the investigation said onWednesday.

As a first step, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was expectedto notify officials by letter if they have become targets, saidthe lawyers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of thesensitivity of the matter.

Fitzgerald could announce plea agreements, bringindictments, or conclude that no crime was committed. By theend of this month he is expected to wrap up his nearlytwo-year-old investigation into who leaked CIA operativeValerie Plame's identity.

The inquiry has ensnared President George W. Bush's toppolitical adviser, Karl Rove, and Vice President Dick Cheney'schief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby. The White House had longmaintained that Rove and Libby had nothing to do with the leakbut reporters have since named them as sources.

Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, declined to say whether hisclient had been contacted by Fitzgerald. In the past, Luskinhas said that Rove was assured that he was not a target.

Libby's lawyer was not immediately available to comment.

"It's an ongoing investigation and we're fullycooperating," said Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride.

The outcome of the investigation could shake up anadministration already reeling from criticism over its responseto Hurricane Katrina and the indictment of House Republicanleader Tom DeLay on a conspiracy charge related to campaignfinancing.

New York Times reporter Judith Miller testified to thegrand jury on Friday about the conversations she had withLibby.

Plame's diplomat husband, Joseph Wilson, has accused theadministration of leaking her name, damaging her ability towork undercover, to get back at him for criticizing Bush's Iraqpolicy.

Fitzgerald's agreement to limit the scope of Miller'stestimony to her conversations with Libby -- a proposal herejected a year earlier -- suggested that Libby had become "thefocus of interest," said one of the lawyers involved in thecase.

After initially promising to fire anyone found to haveleaked information in the case, Bush in July offered a morequalified pledge: "If someone committed a crime they will nolonger work in my administration."


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