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Was Plame Covert? A Review of Isikoff and Corn's Hubris
Original FReeper research | 10/5/2006 | Fedora

Posted on 10/05/2006 9:46:41 PM PDT by Fedora

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This is an excerpt from a longer piece I'm working on.
1 posted on 10/05/2006 9:46:43 PM PDT by Fedora
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To: Shermy; piasa; Liz; backhoe; christie; GailA; Alamo-Girl; stockpirate; stands2reason; windchime; ...

Wilson ping.


2 posted on 10/05/2006 9:47:52 PM PDT by Fedora
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To: Fedora

I think this part is the most important

"Walter Pincus, Dana Priest, and other researchers have previously noted that Plame’s front company was called Brewster-Jennings & Associates, a disclosure that has generated remarkably little follow-up from a media usually eager to expose CIA scandals. Some researchers have asserted that Novak’s 2003 column compromised CIA assets linked to Brewster-Jennings."

I expect she was a low level noc that gathered information by phone or some such which was why Brewster-Jennings was not setup as a larger front company. All of the research in to Brewster-Jennings indicates that there was not much there other than a phone and a drop box. The only problem with exposing her and this front company is that if some other noc who was higher up in the covert ladder had Brewster-Jennings on there resume they are now exposed also. I don't buy in to the idea that the administration set out to destroy her or anyone else, mearly to discredit and in the process may have really screwed some other nocs...


3 posted on 10/05/2006 9:54:48 PM PDT by sedwards
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based on the minimal information about JTIF currently available S/b "JTFI". Never drink a beer before proofreading. . .
4 posted on 10/05/2006 9:57:10 PM PDT by Fedora
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To: Fedora

she initially posed as a State Department officer, using an Official Cover (OC, referring to a cover which involves another US government agency and thus provides diplomatic immunity). Then in the early 1990s she reportedly adopted a Nonofficial Cover (NOC, aka “deep cover”, referring to a cover involving a non-government CIA front such as a fake business entity), posing as a member of an energy firm operating out of Belgium.
[snip]

Posing as either a State dept. official or working with some firm in another country automatically makes you a CIA operative in the eyes of any foreign intel service. I think really these NOC classifications server more to protect their idenity in this country rather than protect them from coming under suspicion of a foreign intel service since they know all the games the CIA plays.


5 posted on 10/05/2006 10:02:29 PM PDT by AZRepublican ("The degree in which a measure is necessary can never be a test of the legal right to adopt it.")
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To: Fedora

excellent!


6 posted on 10/05/2006 10:04:15 PM PDT by The Spirit Of Allegiance (Public Employees: Honor Your Oaths! Defend the Constitution from Enemies--Foreign and Domestic!)
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To: sedwards
That does seem like one of the more important issues, and I agree. Isikoff and Corn have a passage on 300-301 which begins, "It was unclear what actual damage--if any--had been caused by the leak." They go on:

In assessing the impact of the leak, CIA officials were concerned mostly about the people Wilson had recruited over the years and the informants she had worked with, even while workingon the Iraqi WMD issue. "We were more worried about her soruces," said [CIA Executive Director Buzzy] Krongard. There was also the possible exposure of Brewster-Jennings & Associates, the front company that the CIA had used to provide paper cover (as opposed to operational cover) to Wilson and other CIA employees for tax records, insurance purposes, and other paperwork matters. . .This firm, according to business records, had a Boston address, but there was no Brewster-Jennings office at this address.

7 posted on 10/05/2006 10:06:06 PM PDT by Fedora
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To: Fedora

Thanks for the ping!


8 posted on 10/05/2006 10:14:22 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: AZRepublican
I think really these NOC classifications server more to protect their idenity in this country rather than protect them from coming under suspicion of a foreign intel service since they know all the games the CIA plays.

Yes, I'd think the CIA assumes any US embassy personnel abroad are going to be operating under the scrutiny of other intelligence agencies (especially in somewhere like Brussels, where Brewster-Jennings was based). The main advantage of official cover abroad seems to be not any added secrecy, but the ability to hide behind the embassy's legal shields under official and unofficial international agreements (which is the same reason foreign intelligence agencies often operate out of embassies and UN missions here).

9 posted on 10/05/2006 10:15:53 PM PDT by Fedora
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To: Fedora

read later marker


10 posted on 10/05/2006 10:17:49 PM PDT by Just mythoughts
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To: Fedora

Thanks for the piece and the ping.


11 posted on 10/05/2006 10:24:40 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (If I had a nut allergy, I'd be outta here. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Fedora

Is Joe Wilson a lier?


12 posted on 10/05/2006 10:33:54 PM PDT by Balata
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To: Fedora

Plame was outed by Aldrich Ames. At that time, she was working as a covert operative (where I don't know). At that time, she was "brought in from the cold". Her status as a "covert" was not changed on her CIA file, but she no longer worked as "covert", and was an analyst only - and most of her friends knew that (although they denied they even knew where she worked).

The next person to out her was her husband.

I don't know why these "facts" are so difficult to understand!!


13 posted on 10/05/2006 10:36:27 PM PDT by CyberAnt (Drive-By Media: Fake news, fake documents, fake polls)
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To: Fedora

It's brilliant.

If this is so" If my guess is correct, I would also suspect that CIA support of such a Joint Task Force would be determined by functional, task-oriented considerations rather than governed by the neat on-paper divisions between the CPD and other CIA units. Again, this is only a guess on my part, based on the minimal information about JTIF currently available. "--It is altogether likely that Judy Miller learned of her completely independently. She was wth the unites in Iraq searching for the weapons..

As for Foley--he denied absolutely to me that she worked for him and said he never heard of her until this all happened.


14 posted on 10/05/2006 10:43:16 PM PDT by the Real fifi
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To: CyberAnt
Her status as a "covert" was not changed on her CIA file, but she no longer worked as "covert", and was an analyst only

Sounds right to me.

I don't know if the Agency knew for a fact if Ames had outed her, but if they even suspected it, it would have been reckless for them to leave her out there, so I'd assume they would have pulled her in to err on the side of caution. Ames was certainly in a position to compromise her.

15 posted on 10/05/2006 10:45:14 PM PDT by Fedora
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To: the Real fifi
Thanks for mentioning your discussion with Foley--was thinking of adding something on that, actually. Here's the link to the FR thread on that:

The Wilson/Plame Affair Gets Even Stranger

16 posted on 10/05/2006 10:48:51 PM PDT by Fedora
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To: Fedora
Excellent work Fedora. I'm also interested in the new James Baker III (IV) book.


17 posted on 10/05/2006 10:51:25 PM PDT by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life)
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To: the Real fifi
It is altogether likely that Judy Miller learned of her completely independently.

That might help explain the "Valerie Flame" thing.

18 posted on 10/05/2006 10:53:27 PM PDT by Fedora
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To: Liberty Valance

Thanks for the reference--didn't know that was out. I remember looking at some memoir book Baker wrote a while back.


19 posted on 10/05/2006 10:55:16 PM PDT by Fedora
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To: Fedora

You'll like this one Fedora. He' has referenced the Plame affair in his latest book tour...thought you might like it. :o)


20 posted on 10/05/2006 10:58:06 PM PDT by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life)
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