A Bad Day to Be Scott McClellan

[Alexander's Horse]

Isn't every day

A Bad Day to Be Scott McClellan

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
Isn't every day

A Bad Day to Be Scott McClellan

That was my first thought when I saw the thread title too.

[Ramo]

Direct and official CIA employment seems like it would be a big no-no for someone with a need for cover, yes?

It seems like I was mistaken. At the time of the leak, Plame was still under non-official cover working for the energy company.

[Ramo]

Interesting comment from ex-CIA analyst Larry Johnson:

The misinformation being spread in the media about the Plame affair is alarming and damaging to the longterm security interests of the United States. Republicans' talking points are trying to savage Joe Wilson and, by implication, his wife, Valerie Plame as liars. That is the truly big lie.

For starters, Valerie Plame was an undercover operations officer until outed in the press by Robert Novak. Novak's column was not an isolated attack. It was in fact part of a coordinated, orchestrated smear that we now know includes at least Karl Rove.

Valerie Plame was a classmate of mine from the day she started with the CIA. I entered on duty at the CIA in September 1985. All of my classmates were undercover--in other words, we told our family and friends that we were working for other overt U.S. Government agencies. We had official cover. That means we had a black passport--i.e., a diplomatic passport. If we were caught overseas engaged in espionage activity the black passport was a get out of jail free card.

A few of my classmates, and Valerie was one of these, became a non-official cover officer. That meant she agreed to operate overseas without the protection of a diplomatic passport. If caught in that status she would have been executed.

The lies by people like Victoria Toensing, Representative Peter King, and P. J. O'Rourke insist that Valerie was nothing, just a desk jockey. Yet, until Robert Novak betrayed her she was still undercover and the company that was her front was still a secret to the world. When Novak outed Valerie he also compromised her company and every individual overseas who had been in contact with that company and with her.

The Republicans now want to hide behind the legalism that "no laws were broken". I don't know if a man made law was broken but an ethical and moral code was breached. For the first time a group of partisan political operatives publically identified a CIA NOC. They have set a precendent that the next group of political hacks may feel free to violate.

They try to hide behind the specious claim that Joe Wilson "lied". Although Joe did not lie let's follow that reasoning to the logical conclusion. Let's use the same standard for the Bush Administration. Here are the facts. Bush's lies have resulted in the deaths of almost 1800 American soldiers and the mutilation of 12,000. Joe Wilson has not killed anyone. He tried to prevent the needless death of Americans and the loss of American prestige in the world.

But don't take my word for it, read the biased Senate intelligence committee report. Even though it was slanted to try to portray Joe in the worst possible light this fact emerges on page 52 of the report: According to the US Ambassador to Niger (who was commenting on Joe's visit in February 2002), "Ambassador Wilson reached the same conclusion that the Embassy has reached that it was highly unlikely that anything between Iraq and Niger was going on." Joe's findings were consistent with those of the Deputy Commander of the European Command, Major General Fulford.

The Republicans insist on the lie that Val got her husband the job. She did not. She was not a division director, instead she was the equivalent of an Army major. Yes it is true she recommended her husband to do the job that needed to be done but the decision to send Joe Wilson on this mission was made by her bosses.

At the end of the day, Joe Wilson was right. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It was the Bush Administration that pushed that lie and because of that lie Americans are dying. Shame on those who continue to slander Joe Wilson while giving Bush and his pack of liars a pass. That's the true outrage.

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/7/13/04720/9340

[Vanguard]

Well, if Karl Rove thought that there was nothing wrong with releasing the identity of Wilson's wife, then why did he insist that it be on "double super secret background"?

And then why did he deny being the source of the leak, despite the fact that the White House was "determined" to find and punish the leaker?

There's no getting around it. Rove knew what he was doing was at least wrong and almost certainly knew it was illegal. And he did it knowingly and maliciously to discredit someone who spoke out against Bush's policies.

To prison with him.

[Admiral]

Originally posted by Ogie Oglethorpe


Point being Cooper's the ***** here. Not that Rove isn't a ***** its just in this instance all threads of communication originated from Cooper and Rove was attmpeting to prevent the Times from looking like idiots when the final story surfaced. In the long run the WH was right it was a non-story from a lying Megalomaniac Wilson. Course that didn't prevent the Times and every other media source from running the hit piece anyway.

I'm sure those were Rove's motives.

Every so often, one side or the other does something that really is in no ways justifiable. In this instance, there really can be no defence of Rove. Even under the unlikely case that Plume was not a "covert" agent (don't you think that a grand jury would first establish that a crime had been committed?), the act is still morally wrong. And I won't even mention the WH's backpedaling. Point being, you win the partisan hackery award. Let me be the first to congratulate you.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Ramo

It seems like I was mistaken. At the time of the leak, Plame was still under non-official cover working for the energy company.

Sorry, having a cover doesnt make her a NOC.

I very much doubt that she was a NOC or that she was a covert agent at all (in the sense intentioned by this law).

OTOH, even though she was an analyst (IMO) and not an operative (although that is not required), I believe that she was 'outed' in a deliberate manner and that is worthy of investigation. Even if an agent is not truly covert, it is a security risk to bandy about the names of intelligence personel. Outing her in this manner must have broken other american laws and, at an absolute minimum, was unethical and worthy of dismissal for the guilty party(ies).

[Ramo]

I didn't say that having a cover makes her NOC. I said that she was NOC, and that the energy company background was her cover. For instance, according to the Hill:

CIA agents work under different sorts of “cover.” There’s “official cover” — like when an agent is assigned to a U.S. embassy under the guise that he or she is a foreign service officer. Then there’s “nonofficial” cover — like when your business cards say you’re a manager at Acme Overseas Energy Corporation, but you really work for the CIA.

Plame is in that latter category.

http://www.hillnews.com/marshall/073003.aspx

And as Johnson said, in the post above:

A few of my classmates, and Valerie was one of these, became a non-official cover officer. That meant she agreed to operate overseas without the protection of a diplomatic passport. If caught in that status she would have been executed.

The lies by people like Victoria Toensing, Representative Peter King, and P. J. O'Rourke insist that Valerie was nothing, just a desk jockey. Yet, until Robert Novak betrayed her she was still undercover and the company that was her front was still a secret to the world. When Novak outed Valerie he also compromised her company and every individual overseas who had been in contact with that company and with her.

The Republicans now want to hide behind the legalism that "no laws were broken". I don't know if a man made law was broken but an ethical and moral code was breached. For the first time a group of partisan political operatives publically identified a CIA NOC. They have set a precendent that the next group of political hacks may feel free to violate.

[Ramo]

Another interesting thing I found:

Plame "ran intelligence operations overseas," said Vincent Cannistraro, former CIA counterterrorism operations chief.

Her specialty in the agency's nonproliferation center was biological, chemical and nuclear weapons and "recruiting agents, sending them to areas where they could access information about proliferation matters, weapons of mass destruction," Cannistraro said.

[...]

Cannistraro called Plame's outing a "dirty trick."

"Her assets may be at risk," he said. "I think that's what justified the probe."

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/122875p-110377c.html

She wasn't an analyst, but ran operations.

[Admiral]

In the long run the WH was right it was a non-story from a lying Megalomaniac Wilson. Course that didn't prevent the Times and every other media source from running the hit piece anyway.

As an addendum to my above post, the above is simply wrong. The facts of that matter are that Wilson was selected for the mission to Niger in part because a memo from his wife established his qualifications for the mission. Equating that to "his wife authorized the mission" is utterly crap. While in Niger, he determined that Saddam Hussein was not and could not be getting uranium from Niger, which was the point of his June 6th editorial. His findings proved that the documents that were being thrown around by the Bush administration saying that Hussein was getting uranium from Niger were false. His findings were also ignored by the Bush administration, leaving him with no recourse but to go public.

To recap, "it was a non-story" is crap. The story was that the Bush administration was basing the necessity for a war in part on demonstratably false intelligence. "Lying megalomaniac Wilson" is also crap. He never said that he debunked the claim that Hussein was getting uranium from Africa, that is a charge made up by the GOP. That being said, all Bush would have had to do was find those pesky WMDs. And boy, did that happen.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Ramo
I didn't say that having a cover makes her NOC. I said that she was NOC, and that the energy company background was her cover. For instance, according to the Hill:

http://www.hillnews.com/marshall/073003.aspx

And as Johnson said, in the post above:

If she walks in through the door at Langley (for example) she is not 'a NOC' even though she has a non-official cover. Therefore, she shouldnt really be covered by the intent of the law. As I said before though, that's somewhat beside the point.

I have no reason to doubt his word, but I'm a little suspicious of Johnson. He is "known" as a former CIA agent yet he is identifying Plame as 'a NOC' not an analyst with non-official cover.

Its just SOP in the intel world to never admit anything of this nature even in the face of overwhelming proof. So either he's playing with words 'a NOC' vs NOC (for some reason) or he's screwed up and confirmed something that shouldnt be confirmed. In my experience, that is almost as wrong as what the others have done.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Vanguard
Well, if Karl Rove thought that there was nothing wrong with releasing the identity of Wilson's wife, then why did he insist that it be on "double super secret background"?

Yup. And this makes the notion that innocent-little-Rove was just being a nice guy and "warning" the Times very suspect. If that were the case, he could have just spoken off the record to Cooper. The way he did it indicated that he very much wanted his information on Plame out in the press. So I fail to see why Cooper is an "*******" for doing precisely what Rove wanted him to do.

Also, Rove told Chris Matthews that Plame was "fair game." And the Washington Post reported in 2003 that two admin officials had shopped the Plame info around to 6 journalists. That, to me, looks very much like their intent wasn't anything so noble as warning a paper, but rather deliberately spreading information to undermine Wilson's credibility.

[Ramo]

If she walks in through the door at Langley (for example) she is not 'a NOC' even though she has a non-official cover. Therefore, she shouldnt really be covered by the intent of the law. As I said before though, that's somewhat beside the point.

I have no reason to doubt his word, but I'm a little suspicious of Johnson. He is "known" as a former CIA agent yet he is identifying Plame as 'a NOC' not an analyst with non-official cover.

Its just SOP in the intel world to never admit anything of this nature even in the face of overwhelming proof. So either he's playing with words 'a NOC' vs NOC (for some reason) or he's screwed up and confirmed something that shouldnt be confirmed. In my experience, that is almost as wrong as what the others have done.

If you believe the ex-chief of counterterrorism at the CIA, Cannistraro, she was definitely not an analyst, but she ran operations (so, her assets would be endangered by the leak). See my prior post.

And what exactly is wrong with what Johnson said? He doesn't endanger a single person with what he said; Rove OTOH possibly did.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Ramo


If you believe the ex-chief of counterterrorism at the CIA, Cannistraro, she was definitely not an analyst, but she ran operations (so, her assets would be endangered by the leak). See my prior post.

And what exactly is wrong with what Johnson said? He doesn't endanger a single person with what he said; Rove OTOH possibly did.

Assuming she was 'a NOC', its not impossible that the cover-up/attempt to portray her as an analyst was instigated in order to protect her contacts (or at least cloud the issue) once it was realized the seriousness of the leak.

Rove (or whomever) may have believed her to be an analyst at the time of the leak. Although it is wrong to publicize the name of any agent of any kind it was hardly a threat to national security. Once she was outed though, bells and whistles may have gone off amongst those few who knew that she was not an analyst. The agency may have been interested in downplaying her function.

Again, lets assume she was 'a NOC'. Now every intel agency in the world knows it (as opposed to believing it) because its been confirmed by people who were in a position to know (but shouldnt have said). Johnson and Cannistraro should have known that and kept their mouths shut. Like I said, it's SOP.

[Ramo]

That's assuming anybody would believe any such attempts to recast her as an analyst. If foreign intelligence services have had contacts with Plame's assets during this time, they know that their intelligence is compromised anyways. They're not going to believe any half-assed cleanup operation recasting her as an analyst. Besides, I don't think that the Agency would use rightwing opeds trying to protect the Admin as a vehicle for such a recasting. It's a blatantly ludicrous idea.