Posted on 08/04/2005 9:17:13 PM PDT by Cautor
If Valerie Elise Plame Wilson was a top-notch covert spy, as the main stream media would have us believe, we’re all in real trouble. Spending even a couple of hours on the web demonstrates she was less than adept at hiding her deep cover as the following items—pieced together from searching the Internet—indicate.
So what do we know about Ms. Plame? She was born April 19, 1963 in a military hospital in Anchorage Alaska to Samuel D. Plame, an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, and Diane E. Plame her mother. She graduated from Lower Moreland High in Huntingdon Valley, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in 1981 and headed off to Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania where she received a BA in journalism in 1984. She later studied abroad at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the College of Europe, an international relations school in Bruges Belgium. It is possible she studied in Europe after she was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
According to a friend who knew her when she worked on the staff of the college newspaper, The Daily Collegian, Valerie “visited State College [PA] a year or two after her graduation, and she spoke vaguely of her new occupation in Washington.” The friend thought her visit was probably for a football game or some such. This suggests she was may still have been in the U.S. in the 1985-1986 timeframe.
Not much if anything is publicly known of Plame’s career during the 8 year period from about 1986 until 1994. We do know that on February 22, 1994, Aldrich Ames, a CIA counter-intelligence officer and analyst, and his wife were charged by the US Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union. From many published accounts, including one by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times, it appears highly likely that Ames’ spying activities disclosed the covert identity of Plame along with that of many other CIA agents thus effectively ending her utility as a spy. So her undercover security was undermined at that time and she was brought back to Washington, DC for safety reasons.
Only 3 months after the Ames indictment, it appears the CIA set up a front company called Brewster-Jennings & Associates. According to the records, Brewster-Jennings was first entered into Dun and Bradstreet records on May 22, 1994. With an address at 101 Arch Street, Boston, Massachusetts, the company claimed to be a “legal services office.” According to its web site, the company billed itself as a “law firm concentrating in the energy field.” The site also claims they were founded in 1994 by company partner Victor Brewster. Also according to the site, the company “conducts business with leading energy firms such as Mobil and ARAMCO. With offices in both Boston and Washington, DC the firm has staff with a combined 70 years of legal experience, eager to serve you.”
But, according to a piece called "Apparent CIA front didn’t offer much cover," the company had no visible presence at the 21-story office tower in Boston. It didn’t even bother to file the state and local records required of most real businesses. Some from the real estate industry said they believed something was “amiss, if not illegal” about the company. Rob Griffin, regional president of a real estate firm that once oversaw the leased property remarked that “It’s almost like out of a spy novel—the tenant that wasn’t there.”
In fact, former intelligence officials mentioned in the story confirmed Plame’s cover was an invention “and that she used other false identities and affiliations when working overseas.” In fact one former intelligence official who did not want his name used in the story put it this way: “All it was was a telephone and a post office box…when she was abroad she had more viable cover.” According to intelligence observers mentioned in the story, “that’s a good thing, considering how little work seems to have gone in to establishing the company’s presence in Boston…At the least, a dummy company ought to create the appearance of activity, with an office and a valid mailing address…A cover that falls apart on first inspection isn’t very good. What you want is a cover that actually holds up… and this one certainly doesn’t.” David Armstrong, an Andover researcher for the Public Education Center, believed the Brewster-Jennings cover had not been done convincingly and that other covers would have been established for her by the CIA. In any case, the bottom line is that Plame’s non-official cover as an energy analyst with Brewster-Jennings was not apparently used until 1995 because the firm did not exist prior to that time. As a point of interest, Brewster Jennings the man was president of the old Vacuum Oil Company, a predecessor of Exxon Mobil. He is mentioned in the “Forrestal Diaries” edited by Walter Millis in connection with the importance of Middle Eastern oil.
While supposedly employed by Brewster-Jennings, Plame was apparently working in the Washington, DC area, as a history of addresses reported for her include one in Falls Church and one in Arlington, both in the Virginia suburbs of Washington DC and both in reasonable proximity to CIA headquarters.
In early 1997, about 3 years after the CIA established the Brewster-Jennings cover for Plame, she met her future husband, Joseph C. Wilson, IV, a career foreign service officer and diplomat, at a party in Washington, D.C. They married on April 3, 1998. Soon after, in 1999, they purchased a home on Charleston Terrace in Washington, DC in the exclusive Foxhall Road area close to Georgetown. They paid $735,000 for the home which records show had previously sold for a mere $44,000.
It’s clear both Wilson and his new wife Valerie Plame Wilson were staunch Democrats who supported Al Gore for President. In fact both contributed money to the Gore 2000, Inc. campaign committee. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) records disclose that Mr. Joseph C. Wilson IV of Charleston Terrace, Washington, DC, who named J.C. Wilson International Ventures as his employer, contributed $2,000 to Gore on March 26, 1999. On April 22, 1999, his wife, who billed herself in the FEC records as Ms. Valerie E. Wilson, contributed $1,000 to the Gore campaign. She listed her employer as Brewster-Jennings & Associates. Just so there’s no mistaking the fact that Valerie Wilson was and is a left-leaning Democrat, it should be noted that she more recently contributed $372 on October 11, 2004 to “America Coming Together” organization, a George Soros-backed liberal Democrat activist group. Interestingly, in the records documenting this contribution, she listed no employer and instead stated she was “retired,” a statement in clear contradiction of the facts. In short, she told a fib on her campaign disclosure.
About this same time (1999) or certainly not long thereafter, there is an interesting post on a web site for genealogists researching Polonnoye, Ukraine. The web page indicates the site was last updated on May 29, 2000, so posts on the page were made on or before that date. Among the queries listed on the page is one looking for information on the Plame surname by a researcher who called herself Valerie Wilson. The email address listed for replies is jvwilsoniv@cs.com. Clearly this was a post by Valerie Plame Wilson.
Moreover, about this same time the web site for the Saudi-linked Middle East Institute posted a biography on its web site for Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, IV. The web page has since been taken down, but a search of cashed versions of the page indicate it was copyrighted in the year 2000 so this biography was posted in that year or before. The Middle East Institute biography concludes as follows: “He [Wilson] is married to the former Valerie Plame and has two sons and two daughters.” Another biography for Wilson is posted on the web site for the CPS Corporate & Public Advisory Group, and it also includes the notation that Wilson is married to the former Valerie Plame. The date for this biography is uncertain, but blog sources put it no later than some time in 2003.
The Bob Novak column which the main stream media claims “outed” Valerie Plame appeared on July 14, 2003. But before this date, what can be said about her? For one thing, until 1994, she very probably did not use the Plame name. She certainly did not use the Brewster-Jennings cover because it did not exist until May of 1994. In April 1999, she associated herself with the company called Brewster-Jennings which any self-respecting spy would quickly have concluded was a phony company and quite possibly a cover for some kind of covert operation in the international energy field. The company claimed it had ties to the Saudi Arabian Oil Company ARAMCO. In 1999, she also exposed her preference for Al Gore over George W. Bush for President. Sometime in 2000 (possibly before) we know Wilson himself identified his wife as the former Valerie Plame. He too had some kind of connections with the Saudi-backed Middle East Institute. We also know that not later than May 29, 2000, Valerie Wilson connected herself with the Plame surname and with the name of her husband Joe Wilson. The inescapable conclusion seems to be that if anyone really outed Ms. Wilson, it was not Bob Novak in July of 2003, but Plame and her husband well before that date. Whatever else can be said, Plame and her husband showed little concern over connecting her maiden name with her married name, nor did she worry about connecting herself with her CIA front company.
And what of the terrible damage done to covert operations? Well, it seems that from the time she was hired by the CIA in the mid to late 1980s until May 1994, she was using names and cover that remain a secret to the US public but which were likely revealed to the Soviets by Aldrich Ames. From May 1994 forward, Plame was not under any real cover—unless the Brewster-Jennings farce is considered deep cover. This is doubtful as even former intelligence officials point out she used other identities when working overseas—away from her desk at Langley, Virginia, CIA headquarters.
The real question the main stream media continues to ignore is who in the CIA and/or Department of State went to bat to support Plame’s efforts to get her Bush-hating-Kerry-supporting husband an assignment in Niger which he would soon use to try and torpedo the Bush campaign. The signs increasingly indicate it was neither Rover nor Libby. A fact worth recalling is that Wilson was on the payroll of the Kerry campaign until he was thoroughly discredited by revelations proving he had lied about how he garnered the Niger trip. The Kerry camp pulled out all the stops to try and trash George W. Bush. Could they have had a hand in this phony outing setup? Judith Miller may hold the key.
Including his own employer. . .CNN. . .
The story reads with a presumption of guilt on Novak. . .and hence; his snappy behavior.
Allowing for legalities etc/et al. . .still think more of the truth could be framed by Novak. . .and made suitable for public consumption/edification.
I sure hope this thread does not turn into a shouting match.
Nice Research. There was another fact covered yesterday in the UK. Plame has been un an UNPAID leave of absence from the CIA. Maybe that's why she claimed 'retired'. Wonder why the CIA would 'can' her?
Well there you have it. A journalism grad. She leaked her own 'secrets' at parties --- couldn't resist the impulse to do so. She's astonishingly quiet now though. How'd 'they' get her to shut up, I wonder?
Nice piece of work, Cautor. Bookmarking it.
Thanks for posting this. Great work. Bump & a bookmark.
Apparently, she was a Non-Official Cover officer overseas, which means the more likely culprit for blowing her cover with the soviets was Nicholson, who blew the cover of many NOCS in the early 90's due to his work at the training facility. The real question, if she is married to a guy who is going on very public missions to Nigeria, how in the world could she operate quietly undercover in the future. This entire scandal is much ado about absolutely nothing.
what I want to know is this:
why did Plame use her cover name to donate money to the Kerry campaign? did she also donate money under her own name?
if so, isn't that a violation of campaign finance law?
wouldn't donating under a fake name violate some kind of law, in any case?
Cowboy, thanks for you contributions to this story and for your links to other material. You in good company with those who think Wilson staged this "outing" himself, and I think this is quite likely myself. I'm glad we have sites like this one so we can get the kind of information and analysis the MSM has to continue to ignore because it doesn't comport with their leftist story line that Rove did it.
"where did you get the information on the prior purchase price of the house ($44,000)?"
See http://eyeball-series.org/plame-eyeball.htm
"I'm sure Novak is jumping out of his skin to discuss the Plame/Saudi angle"
I agree. I think the MSM must be very nervous because they fear the real facts will eventually come to light, and it won't make them look good. Miller is the one who is really screwed IMO.
Thanks for you commentary. Sounds like you know a bit about the cloak-and-dagger business. All I know is what I read in the....well, read on sites like Free Republic.
"Fitzgerald needs to wrap this sucker up and indict Miller for criminal contempt and obstruction of justice and throw the book at the crooked Wilson's. That would be true justice in this case."
I agree completely. Miller is a real threat to US national security with her anti-Bush sources in CIA, State &c. And sounds like the Wilsons are both dangerous and incompetent. With spies like Val, it's no wonder our intelligence organizations are in such bad shape.
Totatally. The more we learn about this, the more and more it's becoming clear that these reporters were haphazard in how they handled this story, while Rove was just caught up in the middle of everything.
Somewhere, in some article, in the past few days I read that this house was built new for them. Looking at the real estate information, it seems to me that as you go down the list, you come to "Lot Number:30
Prior Sales Price: $44,000"
and that would indicate to me that that is the price of the lot on which the house was built.
"The US government and its foreign policy and intelligence communities are riddled not so much by neocons as with vast numbers of Arabists and Saudi sympathizers and hirelings. Saudi cash has bought them a great many friends in the US. We know that Joe Wilson and his institute receive substantial funding from the Saudis. Is there more of a Saudi connection than that? And is the sum of all such connections essential to explaining what Wilson and Plame have been up to?"
Great post. And great questions.
If Wilson were a Republican and had done what he has done to a Democrat President, we would never hear the end of how he is on the Saudi payroll. It would be on the front page of the NYT above the fold for the next five years.
If the house was built new for them in 1999, why in the world were they doing a kitchen remodel (complete with granite countertops) at the time of the Vanity Fair interview?
Also, last night (Thursday) something else occurred to me as I was thinking about this. The twins were born in 2000 and afterwards she developed postpartum depression--duration and severity unknown but she did help establish some kind of counselling service to help other women who have the same problem which seems to indicate to me that what she experienced she considered to be of significance if she would go to all the trouble to devote so much of her time to doing this kind of thing. For the better part of a year after the birth she would have been on maternity leave. During this time she would probably have been receiving a reduced salary. She may have gone back to work shortly before setting up the Niger trip. There has been some speculation that one of the motives for the trip was to help Wilson's business. Yesterday we posted the article by Philip Sherwell from the London Telegraph and focused in on the words "enforced leave" and the fact that Sherwell says it was "unpaid". However further down the article, Sherwell, referring to what Wilson told him says, "He said that since the scandal broke he had been vilified, his reputation tarred and clients discouraged from doing business with him." So the money question is very interesting and mysterious and certainly should be investigated by someone.
Cricket wrote: "Once this myth saturates public consciousness. . .the truth will not matter."
Cautor wrote: "I hope the grand jury is extended beyond October and her ass rots in the slammer for years."
Cricket, you have nailed what the problem is with the special prosecutor and grand jury. Any reasonably competent -- and honest -- prosecutor would quickly have uncovered the key information Enchante and other FReepers have found out about this case by simply using the internet. And that information makes it clear there was no crime centering on the Novak story. Heck, even the media said so in their court filings trying to prevent Cooper and Miller from being held in contempt.
In other words, the investigation into that incident should have ended almost before it began. Yet, like all of these politically motivated special prosecutors, Fitzgerald has been at this for two years, with no end in sight. Why? (Expiration of the GJ does not end his investigation. That only ends when he says it does.)
Pardon my deep skepticism, Cautor, but the last thing we need is for that grand jury to be extended and for Fitzgerald to make a career out of this pathetic case. I'm not one who believes Fitzgerald is targeting Wilson or anyone on the Left. Even though their plotting is obvious, I'm not sure a crime was committed by Wilson, Plame, etc., either. The most Fitzgerald will do, if he indicts anyone at all, is charge some poor dolt caught up in this thing with perjury because he's managed to trap the scared rabbit into a "material" mistatement or something like that.
Fitzgerald supposedly told the court he has nearly wrapped up the investigation. If that's so, then he has an obligation to clear the air quickly insofar as innocent parties are concerned. Otherwise, like Cricket so wisely pointed out, the truth will not matter once the myths saturate public consciousness.
I don't trust Fitzgerald and am sad to see so many FReepers have such high expectations for his investigation.
I just did a search on JC Wilson, Washington home and found where I had seen this. It is Rasmusen.org where he quotes from the January 2004 Vanity Fair article. It says:
"The Wilsons live in the Palisades, an affluent neighborhood of Washington, D.C., on the fringe of Georgetown. In winter, when the trees have no leaves, the back of their house has a stunning view of the Washington Monument. They'd first seen the house in 1998, when it was still being built, and they had instantly fallen in love with it. Even so, Plame took some persuading before they made an offer. "She's very frugal," explains Wilson. "My brother who's in real estate had to fly in from the West Coast and explain that a mortgage could cost less than our rented apartment in the Watergate.
Plame also told Wilson that she'd be moving with him into the new house only as his wife."
Granite countertops are a fairly new idea and considered very classy from what I gather from the Home and Garden network shows. Everyone that is anyone should have them. Considering everything else we've learned this seems to fit.
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