Posted on 10/11/2003 8:29:16 PM PDT by jmstein7
Valerie Plame, wife of Leakgate accuser Joseph Wilson, was outed as a CIA agent at least nine years before conservative columnist Robert Novak supposedly blew her cover three months ago in his column.
"The C.I.A. suspected that Aldrich Ames had given Mrs. Wilson's name (along with those of other spies) to the Russians before his espionage arrest in 1994," revealed the New York Times on Saturday.
In a column revealing the critical information for the first time since the Leakgate scandal exploded two weeks ago, Times columnist Nicholas Kristof explained that the Ames tip compromised Valerie Plame's undercover secrecy so thoroughly that "she was brought back to Washington for safety reasons."
At the time, he noted, Mrs. Wilson "was already in transition away from undercover work to management, and to liaison roles with other intelligence agencies. So this year, even before she was outed, she was moving away from 'noc' -- which means non-official cover."
What's more, said the Times writer, Mrs. Wilson's intelligence connections became known a bit in Washington as she rose in the C.I.A. - an assessment that stands in marked contrast to Mr. Wilson's portrayed of his wife's identity as being so secret that she was endangered when Novak revealed her name.
Concludes Kristof:
"All in all, I think the Democrats are engaging in hyperbole when they describe the White House as having put Mrs. Wilson's life in danger and destroyed her career; her days skulking along the back alleys of cities like Beirut and Algiers were already mostly over."
For example, see this thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/992557/posts?q=1&&page=101
My post from that thread (only one of several, including posts by jwalsh07 and aristeides, discussing the relevant statute) is as follows:
"To: jwalsh07; aristeides
"A story in USA Today, posted on 10/1 at 12:38 a.m(http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-09-30-couple_x.htm), contains the following information about Plame:
"'Much less is known about Plame, Wilson's wife, for obvious reasons, given the secretive nature of her occupation...
"'A former intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, says Plame worked under non-official cover in overseas assignments, meaning she claimed no affiliation to any government agency...
"'Wilson's overseas assignments had ended by the time he married Plame, so the two were never posted abroad together...
"'In Washington, Plame was assigned to the CIA's Non-Proliferation Center, an organization of analysts, technical experts and former field operatives who work on detecting and, if possible, preventing foreign proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.'"[End quote]
"If this story is correct, Plame is now an analyst and not an operative, and has not been posted abroad since the time she married her husband. Since she has 3 year-old children according to the press, this puts her last foreign posting at at least 4 years ago, or a little less, and maybe more. I have not been able to determine exactly when the two were married.
"You may have something here about the 5-year statute of limitations on the "covert agent" definition.
"The part of the statute that includes a covert agent's foreign agents as being within the ambit of a "covert agent" would seem to be a weak read to support any conviction. Since no actual name of any such foreign person was disclosed, it would be very hard to prove the leaker had the requisite intent to out such an (unnamed) foreign person. Specific intent seems to be an essential element of the crime. Do you agree?
130 posted on 10/01/2003 12:08 AM PDT by nvskibum ((lapsed lawyer, therefor dangerous...))"
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.