Murray Waas has a new report for National Journal: “Cheney Authorized Leak Of CIA Report, Libby Says.”

Sounds like a scandal — except that the CIA report in question was the debriefing of Joseph Wilson on the subject of his trip to Niger, and Cheney only authorized Libby to discuss it because Wilson had repeatedly misrepresented his findings in the press.

Once again, let’s look at the bipartisan Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report:

On February 20, 2002, CPD provided the former ambassador with talking points for his use with contacts in Niger. The talking points were general, asking officials if Niger had been approached, conducted discussions, or entered into any agreements concerning uranium transfers with any “countries of concern” [redacted]. The talking points also focused on whether any uranium might be missing from Niger or might have been transferred and asked how Niger accounts for all of its uranium each year. The talking points did not refer to the specific reporting on the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal, did not mention names or dates from the reporting, and did not mention that there was any such deal being reported in intelligence channels. DO officials told Committee staff that they promised the former ambassador that they would keep his relationship with CIA confidential, but did not ask the former ambassador to do the same and did not ask him to sign a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement. The former ambassador left for Niger on February 21, 2002.

In other words, the classified nature of Wilson’s trip was a one-way street. The CIA left Wilson free to talk about his trip, which he did most famously in an op-ed in the New York Times in which he wrote, “Based on my experience… I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq’s nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.”

So if Wilson’s “experience” as documented in his CIA debriefing was so damaging to Bush’s case for war, why would Cheney authorize Scooter Libby to discuss its contents with reporters? Again, the Senate committee’s report has the answers:

The intelligence report based on the former ambassador’s trip was disseminated on March 8, 2002.… The intelligence report indicated that former Nigerien Prime Minister Ibrahim Mayaki was unaware of any contracts that had been signed between Niger and any rogue states for the sale of yellowcake while he was Prime Minister (1997-1999) or Foreign Minister (1996-1997). Mayaki said that if there had been any such contract during his tenure, he would have been aware of it. Mayaki said, however, that in June 1999, [redacted] businessman, approached him and insisted that Mayaki meet with an Iraqi delegation to discuss “expanding commercial relations” between Niger and Iraq. The intelligence report said that Mayaki interpreted “expanding commercial relations” to mean that the delegation wanted to discuss uranium yellowcake sales. The intelligence report also said that “although the meeting took place, Mayaki let the matter drop due to the UN sanctions on Iraq.”

In other words, the CIA report on Wilson’s trip supported the president’s claims that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Niger, and contradicted Wilson’s allegation that Bush twisted the intelligence.

In the summer of 2003, Wilson talked about the details of his Niger trip to anyone who would listen. Yet Waas and his sycophants would have you believe that Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby crossed the line when they told reporters that actual CIA records contradicted Wilson’s claims.

I hope the major news organizations pick this story up. What a great opportunity to point out — again — that the administration’s efforts to rebut Wilson remain eminently defensible.

UPDATE: Ed Morrissey and George Gooding have much more. Here’s Morrissey:

Once again, we need to remind people that Dick Cheney has presidential authority to declassify material for release. Why would Cheney have done so in this case? Because Joe Wilson had already leaked this same report to both Nick Kristof at the New York Times and Walter Pincus at the Washington Post, and then had written about the briefing under his own name earlier that month in the New York Times.

Gooding captures the essence of Waas’s story: “We Can Leak, Not You.”