[Shermy]

"This CIA disclosure, moreover, is said to have been made not to Americans at large but to Fidel Castro's anti-American regime in Cuba"

Another mystery. Might have something to do with alleged Cuban WMD?

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040722-115439-4033r.htm

"...In a second compromise, officials said a more recent inadvertent disclosure resulted in references to Mrs. Plame in confidential documents sent by the CIA to the U.S. Interests Section of the Swiss Embassy in Havana.

The documents were supposed to be sealed from the Cuban government, but intelligence officials said the Cubans read the classified material and learned the secrets contained in them, the officials said. ..."

[Ax]

I'd sure like to know how that happened. I served at the US Interests Section (USINT) in Havana for four years 1993-1997. I worked in the Communications Section. We met the charter plane carrying the diplomatic pouches on the tarmac at Jose Marti Int'l Airport. The orange canvas pouch bags were loaded on to the back of a USINT truck, accompanied by a USINT officer. There was always another USINT officer in a chase car that followed the truck. The truck pulled up to the USINT building, and the pouches were unloaded. They are under US scrutiny every step of the way. The pouches are humped up to the sixth floor (for the longest time, during the upgrade, we didn't have an elevator). The pouches were opened up there and then distributed. If a document were compromised, it was AFTER the commo people had done their duty.

As an aside, the departure lounge at Jose Marti had one mens room. There were two toilets, and one didn't have a seat. One could by cigars and rum there prior to walking out to the plane. In the arrival lounge, one could buy laundry detergent or a gallon of paint, depending on the day.