There is no indication that the Justice Department has made any progress in determining which Bush administration official blew the cover of CIA operative Valerie Plame five months ago.

This, in spite of President Bush's assignment of the task to senior professionals at the department in September, although he added publicly Oct. 7 that he didn't know if the employee would be found out.

What someone in the administration is alleged to have done is a federal crime, a violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The law, passed during the administration of President Reagan, is intended to protect the identities and lives of covert agents such as Ms. Plame as they carry out espionage on behalf of the United States overseas.

The leak was seen as revenge against Ms. Plame for a revelation made by her husband, retired U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson. He stated that the administration had been told, after an investigation he had carried out in Africa, that intelligence stating that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Niger was false.

Mr. Bush had nonetheless used the false information in his 2003 State of the Union address to support his contention that Saddam Hussein was developing nuclear weapons, a basis for the U.S. war against Iraq.

It is hard to believe that information supporting or refuting the charge of a senior administration leak isn't out there. Apart from syndicated columnist Robert Novak, who put Ms. Plame's name in print, reporters from ABC, NBC, Time and Newsday also have been cited as having been leaked the information by presidential political counselor Karl Rove.

When the matter first surfaced, this paper advocated putting the investigation first in the hands of nonpolitical Justice officials. Some members of Congress were calling for the appointment of a special independent counsel, given the possible conflict of interest created by a Justice Department headed by Attorney General John Ashcroft and the alleged involvement in the affair of Mr. Rove, an Ashcroft godfather.

Given the failure of the Justice Department to produce results in its investigation -- not even a grand jury subpoena so far -- we now recommend that an independent counsel be appointed, and that the Justice Department be required to turn over any information that has been found so far.

It's clear now that Mr. Bush's underlings heard his Oct. 7 message. The word in Washington today is that, indeed, the administration official won't be found.

That is unacceptable in terms of the implications for America's intelligence officers working in dangerous circumstances overseas. It must not be allowed to stand.