Four of the Six Reporters in the Yellowcake Leak

The reporters should not be compelled to reveal their sources in the administration -- but it is informative in tracing the leaks to know exactly who they are. Of course, the reporters could provide the names of those in the administration who leaked to them in July that Ambassador Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a covert CIA operative, and they would be breaking no law in doing so, but no one would ever provide them with confidential information again, ending their careers.

So who are the journalists contacted by the administration officials? The numbers are beginning to add up:

1. Robert Novak, syndicated columnist about whom the leaking story has centered, published that Valerie Plame was a CIA operative, according to "two senior administration officials", on July 14.
   
   
2. Andrea Mitchell, NBC News was identified by Ambassador Wilson as one of several TV Network news journalists who contacted him in July to say that administration officials are saying "The story isn't yellowcake, it's Wilson's wife".
   
   
3. Timothy Phelps, Washington Bureau Chief of Newsday , along with Knut Royce also of Newsday, reported on July 22 that Plame worked at the CIA "in an undercover capacity,", citing as source "intelligence officials". This, in an article about Novak's column, written to confirm the story with apparently independent sources. It is therefore possible that Phelps and/or Royce were not originally contacted by the TWO (Two Whitehouse Officials), but managed to confirm the story with other sources.
   
   
4. Matthew Cooper, Massimo Calabresi and John F. Dickerson of Time Magazine who published the outing, independent on Novak, on July 17, citing "government officials" as the source.
   
   

Wilson's statement of "several journalists" contacted him to say that the White House was pushing a story that "Plame is a CIA operative" might imply that there are more than those named here who were contacted. That is consistent with the -- surprisingly precise -- number of "six journalists" who were contacted by "top White House Officials", according to the "Senior administration official" who was the source for the WAPost article which broke the story on Sept 28.