We will have to wait to see how this all develops, and I’ll be interested in particular in Byron’s take, but on first impressions it seems to me that the story the press is going gleefully ga-ga about today is pretty disingenuous.

According to reports, the government in the Scooter Libby case has filed papers which include a revelation about Libby’s grand jury testimony. Specifically, Libby is said to have told the panel that he was authorized by President Bush, via Vice President Cheney, to leak “certain information” that was contained in the National Intelligence Estimate.

If you read far enough into the AP report I cite here, you will learn that the “certain information” is not otherwise specified. That is, we don’t know what it was and whether it was classified.

Unfortunately, the AP reports that only after treating readers to Howard Dean’s rant about how “The fact that the president was willing to reveal classified information for political gain and put interests of his political party ahead of America’s security shows that he can no longer be trusted to keep America safe.” (Italics mine.)

It is crucial to note here, however, that there has been no accusation — none — that the President or anyone else was willing to reveal, much less actually revealed, classified information. It is irresponsible to say such a thing based on the current record.

The National Intelligence Estimate has some classified sections, but it is not all classified. Indeed, it is mostly not classified and made available for public consumption. Libby was evidently allowed to talk about some parts of it before it was formally released to the public. But it is important to bear in mind that it was going to be released to the public. Classified information is not released to the public.

Almost certainly, what Libby was permitted to do was preview for certain reporters some of the highlights of what was shortly going to be made public in the NIE. That is, NOT disclose the classified information, but talk about what was going to be in the public domain. This is something that is done everyday in Washington — probably even by Howard Dean.

It would have been an act of political insanity not to do such a thing. There were (and are) people in the government (particularly at the CIA and the State Department) who vigorously opposed the Bush foreign policy. They have leaked things left and right since the president took office, and it would be ridiculous to think they would not have put their spin on the NIE — just the way Joseph Wilson put his misleading spin on something that, in all likelihood, was actually classified and should not have been spoken of publicly (much less made grist for a NYTimes op-ed), namely, the substance of his trip to Niger.

If administration officials like Libby did not speak to the press about what was going to be in the NIE, the American people would only have heard from people like Wilson and others opposed to the President’s policies. One can only imagine how Dean would have played off that one-sided version of events … and I have a slight suspicion — call me crazy — that he would not have been complaining about leaks of classified information from those sources.

In any event, when you look at these stories, it is very important to parse carefully how the press is describing Libby’s testimony. The impression being (consciously) created is of recklessly irresponsible leaking of classified information. The reality is very likely far from that. Remember, leaking classified information can often be a crime, yet no one has been charged with such an offense.