Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Rule can head off dirty tricks at CIA(MUST READ)
ajc.com opinion ^ | 11/2/05 | Zell Miller

Posted on 11/02/2005 5:13:52 PM PST by Jewels1091

It's like a spy thriller. Institutional rivalries and political loyalties have fostered an intelligence officer's resentment against the government. Suddenly, an opportunity appears for the agent to undercut the national leadership. A vital question of intelligence forms the core justification for controversial military actions by the current leaders. If this agent can get in the middle of that question, distort that information and make it public, the agent might foster regime change in the upcoming election.

But the rules on agents are clear. They can't purposely distort gathered intelligence, go public with secret information or use their position or information to manipulate domestic elections or matters without risking their job or jail.

But their spouse can!

The agent realizes her spouse can go out on behalf of the spy agency, can distort information, go public with classified information and use all this spy-agency-sponsored material and credentials to try to pull down the current government, and it is all perfectly legal.

Suppose the spouse adds just one more brilliant, well-aimed lie: claim your foremost political opponent put the spouse up to the trip. As your spouse uses your agency's name to mount attacks, your enemy may fall into your trap. Will your enemy suffer your spouse's lies or take the bait and try to clarify his non-role? If he tells the press he didn't hire your spouse, the press will demand to know, "Then who did?"

Instead of you violating secrecy laws, it is your victim who is guilty because he tried to set the record straight. Heads, you win; tails, he loses.

It sounds unbelievable, a fiction, perhaps to be called "To Sting a King." But it is no fiction. This is the story behind Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson and the Bush administration. And it appears that Plame and Wilson will get away with the biggest sting operation ever.

No one seems to care that our intelligence agency has crippled our president. Certainly not the media. They are determined to make Wilson a hero. Recall the dozens of times the Washington Post and The New York Times carried his lies on the front page, above the fold. The conclusive story discrediting Wilson was buried 6 feet deep, back by the obituaries.

To the media, it doesn't matter that the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence says Wilson lied about what he did and with whom he met while investigating Iraqi attempts to purchase "yellowcake" uranium.

To the media, it doesn't matter that the CIA says what Wilson did actually find supported that Iraq was attempting to buy the uranium — a direct contradiction to Wilson's public claims.

To the media, it doesn't matter that he claimed the vice president assigned him to the uranium investigation when we all know now it was his wife.

Some absurdly claim that Plame had nothing to do with her husband's political activities against President Bush. But let it be clear. Plame could not have done what Wilson did and gotten away with it. Wilson could not have done what he did without Plame giving him a way to do it.

Something has to be done. We can't let the CIA become the domestic dirty tricks shop, with Republican and Democratic agents each trying to pull down their opposing presidents.

We need a Plame rule. Any family member of a CIA agent tapped to help out must live by the same rules regarding information disclosure and domestic political manipulations as those imposed on the agent. If the family member fails to live by those rules, the agent is terminated.

Clearly this will restrict the flexibility of the CIA. But who ever thought that the flexibility given to CIA agents would be misused to destabilize a U.S. president? No one — until Valerie Plame.

Zell Miller is a former Georgia governor and U.S. senator.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: msm; plame; wilson; zellmiller
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last
I Know this was posted this morning, but I think it's worth repeating, since most of us don't go back more than 3 or 4 pages at most.
1 posted on 11/02/2005 5:13:53 PM PST by Jewels1091
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Jewels1091

Thanks for posting, I didn't see it earlier today. Go ZELL! Now if only this article would be discussed on the Senate Floor, read into the senate record, and someone take action on it. Does any senate republican have the backbone to do so??? Unfortunately, I won't hold my breath.


2 posted on 11/02/2005 5:18:49 PM PST by Laverne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jewels1091

I didn't see it earlier and am glad to read it now. Wish I'd see it in every newspaper in America, but not likely is it?


3 posted on 11/02/2005 5:20:04 PM PST by pepperdog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jewels1091

Thanks for doing so bump.

I'm sure this will be widely syndicated nationally.


4 posted on 11/02/2005 5:21:20 PM PST by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jewels1091

Ping.


5 posted on 11/02/2005 5:21:48 PM PST by xjcsa (The Kyoto Protocol is about as futile as sending seven maids with seven mops to rid a beach of sand)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jewels1091
We need a Plame rule. Any family member of a CIA agent tapped to help out

Must first join the CIA, take the training, and be selected for some future mission. The current employee who recommends a spouse should be immediatly cashiered.

6 posted on 11/02/2005 5:25:00 PM PST by adamsjas
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jewels1091

ping


7 posted on 11/02/2005 5:28:58 PM PST by Cruz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jewels1091

Ahh, Zell, my favorite Democrat.


8 posted on 11/02/2005 5:29:46 PM PST by Redgirl (I don't do hyphens.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jewels1091

Zell for President, Democrat ticket, 2006.


9 posted on 11/02/2005 5:30:03 PM PST by ez (If you're the party of tolerance, then tolerate my intolerance.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ez
Zell for President, Democrat ticket, 2008.
10 posted on 11/02/2005 5:30:40 PM PST by ez (If you're the party of tolerance, then tolerate my intolerance.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Jewels1091

BUMP!


11 posted on 11/02/2005 5:36:07 PM PST by nuconvert (No More Axis of Evil by Christmas ! TLR) [there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jewels1091

Thanks for reposting I missed it earlier.
God bless Zell.


12 posted on 11/02/2005 5:43:08 PM PST by kalee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TR Jeffersonian

zell miller ping


13 posted on 11/02/2005 5:43:54 PM PST by kalee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jewels1091

Bump


14 posted on 11/02/2005 5:47:21 PM PST by AmericaUnite
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ez
If McCain gets the Republican nomination, I will write in Zell Miller.

To all the partisan RINOs:
Save your breath.
15 posted on 11/02/2005 5:49:10 PM PST by sarasmom (What is the legal daily bag limit for RINOs in the USA?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Jewels1091

Thanks for posting it again. Give 'em hell, Zell!


16 posted on 11/02/2005 5:56:57 PM PST by Ohioan from Florida (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.- Edmund Burke)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jewels1091
"But who ever thought that the flexibility given to CIA agents would be misused to destabilize a U.S. president? No one — until Valerie Plame."

I think some people have feared this for decades, and worse. Wasn't it JFK who vowed to 'scatter the cia to the wind"? When he was assassinated there was a lot of talk about the cia being involved.

17 posted on 11/02/2005 6:17:08 PM PST by TheCrusader ("The frenzy of the Mohammedans has devastated the churches of God" -Pope Urban II, 1097AD)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jewels1091

UNfortunately this is what the GOP leaders should be saying OVER and OVER

Zell was the best speaker at the convention


18 posted on 11/02/2005 6:44:09 PM PST by uncbob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jewels1091

Black ops bump


19 posted on 11/03/2005 9:17:08 PM PST by Dajjal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jewels1091

bttt


20 posted on 11/04/2005 12:41:07 AM PST by nopardons
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson