With the news that White House senior adviser Karl Rove apparently will not be indicted in the CIA leak investigation, Media Matters for America urges the media to ask the following question: What about his security clearance?

As Media Matters has previously explained, both Rove's apparent confirmation of CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity to syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak and his alleged disclosure of her identity to Time magazine correspondent Matthew Cooper should trigger the loss of his security clearance under the Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement.

In November 2005, Knight Ridder reported that “sixteen former CIA and military intelligence officials ... urged President Bush to suspend top political adviser Karl Rove's security clearance following revelations that he played a role in outing CIA officer Valerie Plame.”

As Media Matters repeatedly noted, the subject of Rove's security clearance has gone largely unreported by the news media. When the White House has faced questions about the clearance, it has repeatedly refused to answer, citing the "ongoing investigation."

Now that Rove is apparently no longer the subject of an “ongoing investigation” into the Plame matter, Media Matters hopes reporters will demand answers about his security clearance.