WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- The Justice Department has begun a preliminary inquiry into whether White House aides should be investigated for allegedly leaking the name of a CIA clandestine officer.
The agency officer is the wife of a high-profile critic of the administration's Iraq policy, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, and the investigation was requested by the CIA.
The names of CIA clandestine service officers are classified and revealing their names could be considered a crime under federal statutes.
Meanwhile, the White House denied Monday that presidential adviser Karl Rove was the source of the leak, and said they would support the inquiry into the incident.
"The president believes that if someone leaked classified information, particularly on this nature, that it is a serious matter and should be looked into and pursued to the fullest extent possible," spokesman Scott McClellan said.
"No one was authorized to do this. That is simply not the way this White House operates."
Justice Department officials had no comment on the report Monday. But a senior administration official confirmed that the preliminary inquiry is taking place.
A preliminary inquiry is necessary before the department commits the resources for a full investigation and possible prosecution.
Such an initial inquiry is also necessary before Attorney General John Ashcroft can appoint a "special counsel" to conduct an independent investigation as an alternative to a Justice Department investigation.
Congress allowed the Independent Counsel Act to lapse in 1999 after the political tremors caused by the independent counsel investigations of President Bill Clinton and several of his Cabinet officers.
Clinton was impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate of charges stemming from the Monica Lewinsky investigation.
However, after the law became extinct, then-Attorney General Janet Reno adopted its language as Justice Department regulations. Under those regulations, Ashcroft can appoint a "special counsel" to conduct an independent investigation.
However, despite calls from congressional Democrats that he do so in the leaks inquiry, Ashcroft is considered unlikely to launch an independent investigation.
The department regulations, like the lapsed law, say the attorney general is compelled to seek a special investigation if the target is a Cabinet member, the president or the vice president -- and others who make top salaries in the federal government -- and if there is "specific and credible information" that the target committed a felony.
Other than those targets, the regulations, like the act, only allow the attorney general to seek an independent investigation if it is "in the public interest," and to prevent the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Though a preliminary inquiry could uncover "specific and credible information" of a crime, the White House aides apparently targeted might not be covered personnel under the special counsel regulations -- leaving it pretty much up to Ashcroft to determine whether an independent probe would be in the public interest.
Monday, the administration official confirmed, "The CIA sent a memo to the Justice Department raising the question" of an investigation.
The memo identified "what they believe may be a leak of classified information to the media," the official said. The CIA "is looking for a legal opinion from the Justice Department to determine whether a full investigation is warranted, and then it is up to the Justice Department to determine whether an investigation is warranted."
The official cautioned that such requests for preliminary inquiries are "pretty routine," with the department getting 50 or more each year.
Wilson has been a critic of the administration's policy in Iraq, particularly the administration claim that the Saddam Hussein regime was trying to purchase uranium ore from Niger to develop nuclear weapons.
President George W. Bush, in his State of the Union address last January, made the allegation against the regime as part of the justification for invading Iraq.
Wilson was sent on a fact-finding mission to Niger last year, and, along with other sources, publicly said there was no evidence for the allegation.
After that dispute, syndicated columnist Robert Novak reported during the summer that two senior administration officials had told him Wilson's wife worked undercover for the CIA.
Other Washington journalists also were apparently contacted.
The Washington Post reported this weekend that CIA Director George Tenet had sent the Justice Department a letter requesting an inquiry into the alleged leaks.
