738 Days

It has been 738 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

SF-312 is also known as the "Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement," which White House officials with national security clearances have to sign. You can read more about SF-312 in this fact sheet PDF from Rep. Henry Waxman.

As GOPers furiously try to bat back The Leak scandal, they generally argue that 1) Rove got his info from a non-classified source, a journalist, and 2) Rove didn't know that info was classified.

That theoretically could save him under one of the laws in question, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.

But it would not save him from his SF-312 nondisclosure agreement.

Under SF-312, it does not matter where he got the info from. It does not matter if he knew it was classified.

If he came across some gossip about a CIA agent, he has an obligation to check with the CIA before he goes blabbing about it.

And under SF-312, the White House cannot simply sit back and wait for a Special Counsel criminal investigation to finish its job. It must do its own investigation and any breach of security requires "corrective action."

If Rove was simply being careless with classified info, he should have his clearance revoked. If he was using classified info for political payback, he should be fired.

It's been 738 days. Where is the corrective action?

To see how GOP Chairman Ken Mehlman responded to questions about SF-312, check out today's LiberalOasis post.