WASHINGTON — The White House struggled Monday to fend off pressure for an external probe into whether administration officials deliberately -- and illegally -- "outed" an undercover CIA agent in retribution for her husband's criticism of President Bush's prewar claims about Iraq.
Top administration officials, including political advisor Karl Rove, issued denials Monday that they were behind the disclosure of the woman's identity, even while the Justice Department said it had launched a preliminary investigation and senior Democrats on Capitol Hill demanded the appointment of a special counsel.
The issue has metastasized into a mini-scandal with such speed that many in Washington, including the White House, appear to have been caught off-guard.
The allegations suddenly threatened to pose a major problem for an administration that prides itself on avoiding the culture of leaks and swirling criminal probes that waylaid its predecessor on Pennsylvania Avenue.
It is a classic Washington whodunit, with speculation swirling around the Beltway on Monday over the identities of the "two senior administration officials" who passed the CIA officer's name to conservative columnist Robert Novak.
But the time-honored game of guessing reporters' sources has higher stakes in this case because it centers on the White House's prewar claims about Iraq's nuclear program, appears to have cost a CIA operative her clandestine career, and the culprits, if caught, could face up to 10 years in prison.
"My sense is this was not casually done, this was retaliation," said Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice), the ranking Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which has jurisdiction over the matter.
Though most investigations of leaks fizzle like " 'Casablanca' with a rounding-up of the usual suspects," Harman said, "I think this one is not going to die. I think there's enormous interest. If what's alleged here actually happened, it was wrong, it was a violation of law, and an example has to be set."
What actually happened is still emerging, but it was triggered by an opinion piece written in early July by former U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. The article, printed July 6 in the New York Times, questioned President Bush's assertion that Iraq had sought uranium from Africa.
