Reuters: Rumsfeld May be Target of New Grand Jury

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Ramo
Exactly how would you know that?

Well technically very few assertions anywhere on this thread or most of the others are "known" by those making them. Assuming that you aren't simply being pedantic, then I "know" this because:

A) In the instance of a foreign contact being outed no one has made that charge much less substantiated it.

B) In the case of "irreversible damage" being done to our intelligence gathering capabilities, it is a meaningless distinction. Intelligence has a very short shelf life and because of that successful intelligence gathering is rather broader than deeper. In other words any damage to intelligence gathering is permanent in the sense that we can't go back in time and undo a mistake, but as the product and the methods used to obtain it are so perishable we are constantly rebuilding this capability.

C) Regarding the endangerment of Valerie Plame, I don't see what danger she could be in as she's been working at Langley for quite some time now. She had a better chance of being shot at the gate than being targeted for elimination or seizure by a foreign government.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Oerdin

The CIA has already said they had to close several cover groups she used to work at or frequently visited because their cover had been compromised. Foreign intelligence services just go back and track where she worked and who she used to associate with to piece together who used to work for the CIA, who visited CIA front groups, and figure out what those front groups were up to. Tens of millions of dollars and years of work were lost because of this not to mention other agents can no longer work because their cover is now suspect. This is a big deal.

Do you have a link to the CIA claiming that cover groups have been shut down and years of work and tens of millions of dollars have been lost because of this disclosure? I haven't seen those claims despite reading the NYTimes and the local rag most days as well as watching the Newshour.

It is my understanding that she was a technical expert (albeit one who did operate covertly in the past) and not a field agent in the sense that she was a recruiter or anything like that. It is almost certain that she is already known by some foreign intelligence services because she worked directly with them.