Posted on 04/19/2006 5:12:02 PM PDT by RealTeen
A critic of mine tried to say that the recently released memos which showed no indication of Plame's identity being secret were actually marked secret. You can read our entire exchange HERE, and I figured I'd break down the evidence. First off, let's look at THE PICTURE of the memo:
declassify- To cancel the security classification of an item of classified matter. Also called DECL.
1.6 X 1: Reveal an intelligence source, method or activity, or a cryptologic system or activity
Now a debate will bring out about whether or not this information SHOULD have been declassified. The Left will try to continue the debate, but the legalities will be on our side now.
I'm on your side, but I offer this as a military intelligence officer with 20 years service, who had to deal constantly with declassifying documents.
DECL does not mean a document is declassified; it is an instruction to handlers that means that it can only be declassified from SECRET according to the category "1.6 X 1: Revealing an intelligence source." You would then have to look up that category in a DoD Security Regulation to determine when it can be declassified.
The person to send it to is the DoJ people who recused themselves so that Fitzgerald was given the opportunity to harass Bush Administration officials who were trying to serve the national interest.It would have been a bit of a hassle handling the press corps until this memo turned up - but then it would have settled down to the usual straining at gnats and swallowing of camels that we expect from journalists.
Well, you are an expert. From what I looked up on this, it was already declassified as of the July 7,2003 release.
Wouldn't a source be in an SCI program?
The President is the ultimate declassification authority, thus he can never be charged with leaking information. My personal belief that the person who leaked that Valarie Wilson was working for the CIA was Joe Wilson.
I bet, if you search here on the Free Republic you can find your proof. If I find something I'll post it to you.
I understand that DECL is a declassification instruction but evidence shows that her identity was not secret in this document, and the declassification was allowed as to reveal intelligence information. Also, I believe it was declassified in July of 2003.
Both could be true.
If an authority high up enough says to declassify something, then "natch", it will be declassified. However, sometimes when that authority is a 4-star general, that is not "high enough"; I'll save that for another time.
Nevertheless, that is what the "DECL" means: it is a handling instruction. This is to ensure that something that is stamped SECRET doesn't stay secret forever. When I was in a Bomb Wing in 1974, the Wing History dating from the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) was still Top Secret, which was ridiculous.
Doesn't really downplay the significance of this revelation. There were specific instructions in place to declassify this info, and I believe the requirements were met in 2003.
If she was in such a covert program would her name appear on a memo marked SECRET NOFORN?
Here is the thread that discusses the memo; 100 plus comments:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1616316/posts
I would like to know who did the redacting because obviously on this date they redacted some names but not hers.
I think you are wrong. Most classified documents have a marking to indicate when or how it would be declassified. I'm not sure what the current format is - but that is what it looks like to me.
I hate it when I go do chores for the wife while midway thru a reply, and then hit post and find out a dozen people said the same thing while I was in the garage...
Beacuse she wasn't. She was only a desk analyst...
No Hint Seen in Memo that Plame's Role Was Secret (Valerie Wilson, a CIA WMD managerial type)
I am just trying to help out RealTeen.
bump fo later
Appears to me that once the deletions (the white spaces above)were made, someone in the State Dept or the CIA no longer had a problem with it, and agreed that it could be marked UNCLASSIFIED.
As to your question about SCI, many CIA programs get the special marking SCI. I suspect that a true undercover CIA agent's identity is slightly "above SCI"; as an old boss told me (who used to work with the CIA closely) when I asked what would happen to me if I ever revealed a certain fact about one of these type programs, "they will come after you, and kill you." (smilingly).
The fact that Plame was just another analyst with the CIA is sensitive, but I don't know that such a thing was ever classified. I worked with (weekend) reservists who had CIA day-jobs and they had a cover story for who they worked for, but I could freely call them at their day-job, and everyone at our unit knew they were CIA analysts.
Alright, and thanks for the assistance and explanations. I put an update on my site to clarify, and I still think this evidence helps make the case that Plame wasn't covert, or certain declassifcation standards wouldn't have been in place.
I agree with you. Her name would have been blanked out, no doubt about it.
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