Profile: Pat Fitzgerald, special counsel

CHICAGO, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald is being hailed as the perfect choice to investigate who leaked the name of a CIA operative to syndicated columnist Robert Novak.

Courthouse reporters liken the 43-year-old Harvard Law School graduate to crime-busting prosecutor Eliot Ness, who battled the Chicago mob and put gangster Al Capone away during the Great Depression.

Fitzgerald's investigation led to the indictment of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan on 18 counts corruption, mail fraud and tax fraud charges two weeks ago.

Fitzgerald, a Bush appointee, was named Tuesday by Deputy Attorney General James Comey to lead the investigation into the CIA name leak after U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft removed himself from the 3-month-old investigation.

Comey called the tough and tight-lipped Fitzgerald the "perfect man for the job," saying he would "follow the facts wherever they lead, and do the right thing at all times" -- even if the investigation leads to the White House.

He described him as "Eliot Ness with a Harvard law degree and a sense of humor."

Comey, the former Manhattan prosecutor, said Fitzgerald will have a free hand conducting the investigation and would decide on his own whether to keep or replace a team of 12 career prosecutors assigned to the investigation.

Fitzgerald and Comey are friends from their days as assistant federal prosecutors in New York City.

Over 13 years as a New York prosecutor, Fitzgerald won convictions of top members of the Gambino crime family and prosecuted sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind Muslim cleric who planned the terror bombing at the World Trade Center in 1993.

Fitzgerald also prosecuted terrorists who bombed the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya that killed 224 people before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He is considered an expert on al-Qaida and co-led the office's organized crime and terrorism unit investigating suspected 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.

"Pat Fitzgerald will take the investigation wherever it goes -- no matter whether it's good for White House or bad for the White House," said former U.S. Attorney Scott Lasser. "He also has experience with the intelligence community from his terrorism prosecutions so I can't think of a better choice."

Democrats who had called for appointment of an independent special prosecutor outside the Justice Department seemed happy with the choice after Ashcroft disqualified himself from the case to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

"It is not everything we asked for, but it comes darn close," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told The New York Times. "I would have preferred someone from outside government altogether, but given Fitzgerald's reputation for integrity and ability -- similar to Comey's -- the glass is three-quarter's full."

Praised for his integrity and impartiality, Fitzgerald has said he is a career prosecutor with no political ambitions. He described himself as a political independent.

The child of Irish immigrants, his father was doorman at a Manhattan apartment building. Fitzgerald worked as a doorman and janitor while attending Amherst College, where was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

He will continue his job as U.S. attorney in Chicago, so don't expect any news leaks on the investigation.

A typical no-nonsense Justice Department statement said: "The United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, has been assigned responsibility to lead the investigation of allegations that the identity of a purported CIA employee was illegally compromised. Mr. Fitzgerald will become engaged on the matter immediately. Consistent with the usual practice concerning investigations, Mr. Fitzgerald does not intend to comment any further."

Democrats began pushing for an investigation after Novak wrote in a July 14 column: "Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction."

A week earlier, retired U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson had written in The New York Times that he had concluded President George W. Bush's claim in his State of the Union address that Saddam Hussein sought to obtain "yellow cake" uranium ore in the African country of Niger was "highly unlikely." Wilson, who made a fact-finding trip to Africa, said the White House had the twisted the facts to justify invading Iraq.

"The fact that the attorney general recused himself indicates that the administration wants to avoid the potential perception of a conflict of interest. And that's a good thing," said Wilson.

The Bush administration retracted the claim and blamed the uranium report on "flawed intelligence." CIA Director George Tenet took responsibility.

Wilson said his wife's name was leaked in retaliation for his opinion column. Deliberately disclosing the name of an undercover federal security officer is illegal.

Knowingly blowing the cover of a covert operative (secret agent) is a violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, and carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison and $50,000 in fines.

Novak said he based his column on "two senior administration officials" but has not disclosed who gave him Plame's name.