It was an eighteen count "kitchen sink" indictment; they threw everything they could think of at Randel. Most relevant for Karl Rove's situation, Court One of Randel's indictment alleged a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 641. This is a law that prohibits theft (or conversion for one's own use) of government records and information for non-governmental purposes. But its broad language covers leaks, and it has now been used to cover just such actions.

On the morning of February 12, 2003, Lawrence Franklin, the Iranian desk officer working in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, met with Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman. Both Rosen and Weissman worked at AIPAC - Rosen as the director of foreign policy issues and Weissman as a senior Middle East analyst. The indictment charges against all three men with conspiracy to communicate national defense information to persons not entitled to receive it in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 793(g) - a provision of the Espionage Act that requires that at least one of the co-conspirators acts in a manner to "effect the object of the conspiracy." (The "overt act" requirement is a common feature of conspiracy law, designed to prevent mere conversations from becoming the basis for criminal charges.)