Case against aides (doesn't have leg to stand on. (Valerie Plame case) (MUST READ: NO CRIME)

Chicago Sun Times ^ | Oct. 25, 2005 | MICHAEL BARONE

[FairOpinion]

The problem is that the narrative line being offered up by the press is almost entirely wrong. And it is almost certainly true neither of the statutes that might cover the situation -- the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 and the Espionage Act of 1917 -- was violated, at least by anyone in the administration.

Consider the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. To violate it, you must disclose the name of a covert agent who has served abroad within the last five years, while knowing that that person was a covert agent. It does not appear that Plame was a covert agent who had served abroad within five years of the disclosure of her name to reporters. She was a desk officer at CIA headquarters at Langley at that time. This law was narrowly drafted and intended only to apply to people who purposefully endangered covert agents abroad. That is clearly not the case here.

The Espionage Act is less narrowly drafted. But it does set out specific things that cannot be disclosed -- ''information concerning any vessel, aircraft, work of defense, Navy yard,'' etc. The list does not include identity of CIA agents -- there weren't any in 1917 -- which is why the drafters of the 1982 IIPA felt the need for a new law to protect a very limited class of covert operatives.

So it seems clear to me that an indictment under either of these statutes would be a gross injustice.

To visit the rigors of criminal indictment, trial and punishment on someone who has done nothing that is specifically forbidden is unjust -- the very definition of injustice.

But why should there be indictments if there was no crime?

[carl in alaska]

Man you are up real late for someone in PA. Do you work the night shift somewhere?

[syriacus]

This is a very strange Clintonesque case.

Yes, it is.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Any blogger who calls Mickey Kaus "astute" is a Democrat tool.

[NavVet]

This is why I find it hard to believe that Rove or Libby would have motivation to cover up anything. Any first year law student could tell in 5 minutes that Ms. Flame is not covered by either statute. I'm sure if I knew there was no possibility of these statutes being violated so did the lawyers for Rove and Libby, that's probably why they cooperated so much. If you know you can't be convicted of the crime in question, why risk committing perjury? It just doesn't make sense.

Another question is why would the prosecutor spend two years on something he had to know couldn't be a crime, even if he bought into the Dem version of how her name got out there.

[beyond the sea]

I don't sleep much. I just operate a small nursery all hours of the day.

;-)

[shezza]

And if someone perjured them self to misguide the investigation, they should be punished as well.

Why does the name "Joe Wilson" spring immediately to mind?

[chgomac]

I don't know where this case is heading, but there are some things about it that don't add up.

1) Valerie Plame Wilson works in the WMD section so presumably she has been active in preparing analysis of WMDs in Iraq and she knows what her section of the CIA knows. All through the 1990s there was no apparent conflict in intelligence reports that Saddam presented a danger and was attempting to acquire more/better WMDs which is why we put troops in harms way flying the no-fly zones for all those years.
2) After 9/11, and with a new administration at the helm, things probably changed dramatically in the way intelligence reports were analyzed. For one, the "wall" between agencies came down. GWB got conflicting reports from intel agencies on WMDs in Iraq & decided that with Saddams refusal to adhere to UN resolutions, he (GWB)had no choice but to take Saddam out.

You know the saying, knowledge is power? Well, I think a lot of this case is from that section of the CIA angry that GWB had access to other reports and made his decision to bypass their intel and approval.

[leprechaun9]

...intended only to apply to people who purposefully endangered covert agents abroad.

Such as Senator Robert Toricelli (ex D-NJ). Or what were the consequences for the actions of Leaky Leahy (D-VT) that got him removed from the Senate Intelligence (misnomer) Committee? Or where were the actions against John F'in Kerry for his breach of security?

[hershey]

Squeezing the second tier to get him to flip on the first tier is exactly what Chris Matthews and his pals were drooling about the other night as they discussed Fitzgerald's past legal tactics. They expect Rove and Libby to say Cheney and Bush had had conversations about this in the WH and helped orchestrat a smear campaign against Wilson and his wife. Voila! (They also implied that without Cheney, Bush wouldn't know how to put on his pants in the morning.)Indictments of the President and VP, impeachment! Republicans driven from office in disgrace, out of power for the next forty years. Happy Days are Here Again! Dems and MSM are drooling over this.

[Mila]

I remember reading that CIA spokesman Bill Harlow asked Novak not to use Plame's name because it would cause difficulties. Novak has confirmed that account. I suppose, because he was not told outright not to print the story,he decided to go for it.

[AliVeritas]

I like that list.

[AliVeritas]

Yikes.

[Dorian]

I've avoided posting on this topic but I'm going to don my asbestos suit and weigh in.

#1 - There have been conflicting stories about her exact status at the time of the leak. We may not know the real answer right now, but you can be assured that Fitzgerald does. It disturbs me that people just state with certainty that 'she wasn't covert for 6 years'. It seems to me that the CIA was very angry that her name was made public (since they originally requested the DOJ investigation that started this) so my guess is that she might have been covert. I heard a credible report that she was home temporarily because she had recently given birth to twins. It's not unusual for covert agents to take a break for family reasons and then go back to overseas work after a year or two.


#2 - It also disturbs me greatly that some folks on this board seem to be willing to forget their principles in the rush to defend Libby & Rove.

I don't care what the technicality of the narrow 1982 law says. I don't care if they broke the law or not. What they did was unethical at best.

Valerie Plame was a covert agent at some point in her career and she worked on WMD issues. The CIA set up a front company overseas for her. Other CIA agents worked in that company as well. Plus the civilians in that country who did business with that front company...some unknowing and some that were giving us valuable information.

By outing her they compromised national security, they put at risk every civilian who had business ties to that company, they outed every other CIA agent who worked there, they undoubtedly made it more difficult for our agents to get cooperation from civilians in other countries because they might fear being carelessly exposed, and they gave a roadmap to how the CIA sets up operations in foreign countries.

No CIA or FBI agent should ever be outed...ever. Former or current...doesn't matter. Libby & Rove had top secret security clearance and with that comes a great deal of responsibility to be extremely careful when discussing ~anything~ to do with our intel agencies.
Period.

If this was happening during the Clinton years everyone on this board would be baying for blood. Everything I hear tells me that the folks who work in the CIA are extremely angry and feel betrayed. The Bush administration would do well to take a lesson from Nixon. Don't mess with your spies.

[AmishDude]

I refer to my reply to this exact same post on another thread.

I love your screen name. It enables me to use this quote: "In an attice somewhere is a picture of you getting prettier."

[Rodney King]

What I've never understood is how Wilson knew about the forged documents so many months before it was known the documents were forged.

Because this rogue gang on CIA agents, including his wife, were, with the French, in on the forgery to try to affect US foreign policy.

[Rodney King]

Thanks for your post. I, too, have misgivings about this whole thing and Rove & Libby's role in it. However, what I don't get is the following: If it was such a big deal that she was undercover overseas, why would she possibly then have a desk job at the CIA for 5 years? Certainly the Russians, Chinese, etc. know who is driving up to the CIA headquarters every day? In that case, it is hard to make the case that the White House compromised that she used to be undercover overseas.

2nd, and this is only an opinion and not a comment on the law, it seems that someone who is concerned about being undercover shouldn't involve themselves in political campaigns to destroy they President.

I wouldn't be all that upset if Rove and Libby are indicted under a strong legal theory, but Wilson and Plame herself shouldn't get away scot-free either.

[Roses0508]

One of several things you fail to take into consideration is that Valarie Plame had been outed while she was overseas, not once, but twice. Both times by spies who truly meant harm to the US.

The second item is that she and her family (especially her husband) lived a very public life in an extremely gossipy city. Many, many people would have made the connection, even if they did not know it for a certainty, they would know it for a near certainty. Do you honestly believe that the intelligence services of foreign governments are less attuned to such circumstances?

I lived and worked in Washington, DC for many years. In fact, I was at one time working for an "attorney" whose practice was a CIA front. I was, apparently, the only person in the entire city who did not know that fact. I learned it from the newspaper one fine morning on my way to work. No legal consequences, because Mr. Attorney was NOT overseas even though he was undercover. I went to my family attorney, just to be certain I had not unintentionally put myself in jeopardy. My attorney started laughing at my naivety - like I said, I was apparently the only person in DC who didn't know. Believe me when I tell you, most people who were acquainted, even on the edges with Joe and Valarie Wilson had a pretty clear idea about her employment.

[Dorian]

"I love your screen name. It enables me to use this quote: "In an attice somewhere is a picture of you getting prettier."


LOL!! I may have to borrow that for my emails.

And now I need to go yell at my mother (again) for trying to be creative with my name. Sheesh...Lisa would have been fine with me...but noooooooo

[soccermom]

Unfortunately, the apparently impending indictments go beyond the scope of that law. I think it is pretty clear that no one "outed" a covert agent and, reportedly, even Fitz is no longer going that route. However, he was authorized to go after crimes related to that and they appear to be going after Libby for perjury. If Libby did intentionally lie, and Fitz isn't just nitpicking, he should be indicted for stupidity.

[petercooper]

Michael Barone is the best political analyst around.