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Powerline posits the motivations and sources of information that had Sen. John Rockefeller spluttering over CIA Director Porter Goss's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee today.

Goss did a couple of things today that should have some folks sitting up and paying attention.

First, he outlined in fairly strong language just how damaging the leak of the NSA international eavesdropping program was. It made his job harder, froze ongoing programs and placed American operatives and assets in danger.

Second, by detailing the severity of this leak, he placed in clear context the Valerie Plame case. Only Democrats and former intelligence community members sympathetic to Plame and her husband Joe Whatshisname and antagonistic toward the Bush Administration have claimed damage was done by the release of her name. Rockefeller in particular has made such charges with no evidence to back them up.

Where we quibble with our friends at Powerline is the source of the leak. As we have reported from the beginning, from the indications we've gotten from sources on Capitol Hill, in law enforcement and in the Administration, the strong suspicion and anecdotal evidence is that the leak of the NSA program came off of Capitol Hill from the office of a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. We stand by that reporting.

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