Libby specifically claimed that in one instance he had been authorized to divulge portions of a then-still highly classified National Intelligence Estimate regarding Saddam Hussein's purported efforts to develop nuclear weapons, according to correspondence recently filed in federal court by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald.

Beyond what was stated in the court paper, say people with firsthand knowledge of the matter, Libby also indicated what he will offer as a broad defense during his upcoming criminal trial: that Vice President Cheney and other senior Bush administration officials had earlier encouraged and authorized him to share classified information with journalists to build public support for going to war. Later, after the war began in 2003, Cheney authorized Libby to release additional classified information, including details of the NIE, to defend the administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case for war. [...]

Libby testified to the grand jury that he had been authorized to share parts of the NIE with journalists in the summer of 2003 as part of an effort to rebut charges then being made by former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson that the Bush administration had misrepresented intelligence information to make a public case for war.

But what about the leak of Ms. Wilson's identity? Did Cheney authorize Libby to take that step? Here the story gets a little murkier:

Libby testified that Cheney told him about Plame "in an off sort of, curiosity sort of, fashion," according to other information recently unsealed in federal court. Not long after that date, Libby, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, and a third administration official began to tell reporters that Plame had worked at the CIA, and that she had been responsible for sending her husband to Niger.

Finally, the new information indicates that Libby is likely to pursue a defense during his trial that he was broadly "authorized" by Cheney and other "superiors" to defend the Bush administration in making the case to go to war. Libby does not, however, appear to be claiming that he was acting specifically on Cheney's behalf in disclosing information about Plame to the press.

It seems Libby will admit that Cheney first told him of Valerie Plame Wilson's CIA service "off handedly" (which if you believe that have I got some hot stock tips for you!), and that Cheney had "broadly authorized Libby to leak classsified information to brunt Ambassador Wilson's claims. This sounds highly suspicious to me and anyone else but a dyed in the wool Rove brainwashed Republican. I don't for a moment think that Cheney had a hands off policy on what Libby could and could not tell the press. Nonetheless, it's the first crack in Cheney's armor, the first time anyone has tied him directly to authorizing the disclosure of classified information for propaganda purposes.

It will be interesting tonight to watch the "usual suspects" on cable news to see whether this becomes a topic of discussion, or not.