Posted on 07/26/2005 11:44:04 PM PDT by Sam Hill
It isn't often we let a Republican give the weekly Democratic Radio Response, but we thought everyone should hear Larry Johnson's story. You can click here to listen or read the text below.
Good morning. I'm Larry Johnson, an American, a registered Republican, a former intelligence official at the CIA, and a friend of Valerie Plame.[Larry worked for less than four years at the CIA, at least one year of that was training.]I entered on duty at the CIA in September 1985 with Valerie. We were members of the Career Trainee Program. Senator Orin Hatch wrote the letter of recommendation for me which I believe that helped open the doors to me at the CIA.
From the first day we walked into the building, all members of my training class were undercover, including Valerie. In other words, we had to lie to our family and friends about where we worked. We could only tell those who had an absolute need to know where we worked. In my case, I told my wife.
[Larry Johnson has said, when pleading for people to leak classified material to hurt the war effort: " Thanks to our First Amendment, there is in America no broad Officials Secrets Act, nor even a statutory basis for the classification system."]
I knew the wife of Ambassador Wilson, Valerie, as Valerie P. Even though all of us in the training class held Top Secret Clearances, we were asked to limit our knowledge of our other classmates to the first initial of their last name.
So, Larry J. knew Val P. rather than Valerie Plame. I really didn't realize what her last name was until her cover was betrayed by the Government officials who gave columnist Robert Novak her true name.
[Elswhere, when pleading for Government officials to leak classified information, Larry says: "Some of you have documentation of wrongly concealed facts and analyses that--if brought to light--would impact heavily on public debate regarding crucial matters of national security, both foreign and domestic. We urge you to provide that information now, both to Congress and, through the media, to the public." Would this standard not applie to correcting a lie such as: "Dick Cheney sent me to Niger.]
I am stunned that government officials at the highest level have such ignorance about a matter so basic to the national security structure of this nation.
[Elsewhere, when Larry is begging intelligence officers to betray their country he says: " In our experience, the proper chain of command often does not work to correct corruption, crimes, lies, cover-ups, or incompetence within state agencies. Disclosing documents without authorization is frequently the only way to expose these abuses or to substantiate verbal allegations about them to the press." If Rove did tell Cooper about Plame, was he not exposing abuses?]
Robert Novak's compromise of Valerie led to scrutiny of CIA officers that worked with her. This not only compromised her "cover" company but potentially every individual overseas who had been in contact with that company or with her.
[Apparently Joe Wilson writing an editorial about meeting with people in Niger while he was on a secret mission for the CIA didn't put any of those people at risk. Likewise, when Larry pleads for intelligence officers to leak secrets to the media, he doesn't seem very concerned about the people that would put at risk. Most classification is done to protect intelligence assets--often the human source of the information. But Larry is willing to risk such people if it will hurt this country and its defense.]
We must put to bed the lie that she was not undercover. For starters, if she had not been undercover then the CIA would not have referred the matter to the Justice Department.
[According to news reports, the CIA referral did not mention the "Agee Law" protecting covert agents' names. In any case, we all know--and Larry should--that the law would not apply to Plame. She was not under non-official cover at the time of the "leak" or within five years prior, as the law requires. Larry is being purposefully mendacious to suggest that all "cover" is the same. He and Plame were under "light cover" as are all CIA employees. Not NOC, which protects less then ten percent of the CIA employees--when they are overseas in a non-official capacity.]
Val only told those with a need to know about her status in order to safeguard her cover, not compromise it. She was content with being known as an energy consultant married to Ambassador Joe Wilson and the mother of twins.
I voted for George Bush in November of 2000 because I was promised a President who would bring a new tone and a new ethical standard to Washington.
[Larry has repeatedly claimed to be a Republican and to have contributed financially to the Bush campaign--heavily even. There are no FEC records to support his claims. Larry belongs to Ray McGovern's VIPS and Daniel Ellsberg's Truth Telling Project. These are both ultra left operations. Larry's works appear in many ultra left publications and online sites. He is a popular guest of Democracy Now! and other far left programs. He shows no signs of ever having been a Republican.]
So where are we? The President has flip-flopped on his promise to fire anyone at the White House implicated in a leak. We now know from press reports that at least Karl Rove and "Scooter" Libby are implicated in these leaks and may have lied during the investigation.
[Of course the President's remarks are being mendaciously mischaracterized here. And neither Rover nor Libby have been found guilty of anything. Larry is suggesting that they be fired on the basis on allegations from people like him and Joe Wilson and other oft proved liars.]
Instead of a President concerned first and foremost with protecting this country and the intelligence officers who serve it, we are confronted with a President who is willing to sit by while political operatives savage the reputations of good Americans like Valerie and Joe Wilson.
This is wrong and this is shameful.
We deserve people who work in the White House who are committed to protecting classified information, telling the truth to the American people, and living by example the idea that a country at war with Islamic extremists cannot focus its efforts on attacking other American citizens who simply tried to tell the truth.
[Again, when Larry is begging for people to break the law and their oaths, he claims there is no such thing as classified information. And for him to talk about the importance of concentrating on the war with Islamic extremists is indeed rich. This is the very same man who told us they were nothing to worry about--even in his hilarious July 10, 2001 NY Times editorial: "The Declining Terrorist Threat."]
I am Larry Johnson.
[I wouldn't brag about it.]
Thank you for listening.
[Larry was so right about things, we really should listen to him. Especially when he says that terrorism isn't a problem---but big tobacco is! Larry did work for the EU, tracking down the worldwide source of running cigarettes.]
For reference:
Larry Johnson's Group (VIPS) Called On CIA Employees To Leak Secrets To Hurt Bush
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1450548/posts
Larry Johnson, Daniel Ellsberg & The Truth Telling Project --Pleading For Intel Leaks
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1451334/posts
Apparently, with enough groping and heavy breathing, the slut starts spilling the beans to her date. What kind of covert operative is that? Oh, stop, stop, stop. Stop that. By the way, I'm an undercover CIA operative. Oh, stop that, stop that.
Let's start calling him Larry's Johnson.
Not only that, but she told this to a guy who was working for NATO or whatever--in a hotel--in a foreign country.
God knows the rooms wouldn't be monitored by bad guys or anything. Sheesh.
Oh, when are you planning on doing that?
The people who blew Valerie Plame's cover (or whatever) are all journalists.
They must have gotten the info from someone, originally.
It's probably Wilson.
If the fact that she was CIA agent covert or not was well known on the "cocktail" circuit, would this have any legal implications if someone testified that they knew who and what she was?
no wonder the cia has been messed up for the last generation, look at the type of agents that are part of it
they make "get smart" look legitimate
By the way, it seems that he is so bright he has threatened a poster here with violence.
Is Ex-CIA Agent Larry C. Johnson Threatening A Freeper?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1450846/posts
That certainly would be in keeping with his being a Democrat spokesthug.
Yes, but my point is that the people who are freaking over this horrible leak are the ones whose livelihoods are based on people leaking to them; they then publish those leaks, like the one they published about the airline which was essentially a cover for covert activities--you don't hear them demanding someone hang for THAT though, and it's an active situation, not someone who's "hiding out" at CIA HQ.
bttt
Under the "Agee Law" a covert officer can out themselves. But Johnson was never a covert officer in the language of that law or sane understanding of the term.
He was a cubicle dweeb for less than four years--more than 16 years ago. This makes him an expert on every having to do with intelligence.
(Oh yeah, at some office in the State Department that nobody has ever heard of, he helped work out what the government would pay for the Pan Am flight that was shot down. BFD. This guy is a total fraud.)
Yes he should, but he won't. :-(
This is the best they can do, I mean who would ever put that together with Valerie Plame?
Clinton promised us the "most ethical administration in history" in 1992. He sure kept his promise. Yep.
Freeper PajamaGuy thinks that he was covert: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1446721/posts?page=160#160
Also the earliest version of his website mentioned work in Honduras and Argentina and the Argentina work was right before he started his 4 years at a CIA desk job.
Larry Johnson presenting his case online before delivering his presentation
or more directly...Larry and his Fans
Obviously he cribbed from this for his radio "hosting" dealie.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.