The Spy Next Door

The Washington Post ^ | October 8, 2003 | Richard Leiby and Dana Priest

[petitfour]

One evening this summer, former diplomat Joseph Wilson sat amid the African-themed decor of his spacious Washington home, sipping a glass of beer and talking about a trip he took to Niger for the CIA. His wife, Valerie, was in the kitchen, preparing chicken for a cookout and arranging red, white and blue napkins.

Suddenly a giggling boy streaked nude into the living room and jumped into his father's lap. Bath time was nigh. Valerie Wilson rounded up the towheaded 3-year-old and his twin sister, efficiently taming the household whirlwind.

When Valerie E. Wilson -- maiden name Plame -- introduced herself to a reporter in her home on July 3, there was no hint she was anything other than a busy mother with an unflagging smile and classy wardrobe. She talked a bit about the joys and challenges of twins, then faded into the background.

. . . .

[petitfour]

I hope this wasn't already posted. I did a search, but couldn't find it. More info on Mrs. Wilson.

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[At _War_With_Liberals]

Dana Priest was better on the Munsters.

[syriacus]

More info on Mrs. Wilson.

Thanks for posting this. The article is informative.

[aristeides]

The daughter of an Air Force officer, Plame sure does not sound like the crazed leftist some people want to portray her as. As Tony Blankley's column today in the Washington Times indicates, this business can be a political disaster for the Bush administration if it is not handled properly. As Blankley goes on to suggest, the proper course is for the leaker(s) to out themselves and take their lumps.

[Antoinette from NYC]

fyi.

A Sense of Betrayal
Former CIA Officers Are Furious About the Leaking of the Identity of One of Their Ranks

Oct. 6— In the shadowy world of the espionage, where the truth can endanger lives, the recent leaking of a CIA operative's name has left the intelligence community feeling enraged, bitter and betrayed.

For CIA officials who put their lives at risk to serve their country, accepting a very different, very strict code of conduct under which their families are often kept in the dark about their work, the alleged leak has come as an unwelcome shock. As the Justice Department investigates allegations that the White House maliciously leaked the name of a CIA operative, five former CIA officials told ABCNEWS' Nightline the scandal could have far-reaching consequences for American security and the international war on terror. In an unusual criminal investigation, the Justice Department is probing allegations that the White House revealed the name of a CIA officer after her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, publicly accused the Bush administration of exaggerating the case for war in Iraq. The CIA agent was named in a column by Robert Novak in July, in what critics say is a breach of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, which makes the disclosure of CIA operatives' names a criminal offence. 'Kneecapping a Star Basketball Player' But quite apart from legal issues, ex-CIA officials warn that this case has raised fears within the agency that taking a position in opposition to the current administration could lead to an agent's outing. "This was a political act, for the first time an agency, a clandestine officer was outed for political reasons," said Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer. "[It] puts fear in other people who are undercover, that if you take a position in opposition to the White House, they'll out you.""It's kneecapping a star basketball player," said Jim Marcinkowski, a former CIA intelligence officer. "You just can't perform like you did in the past." Speaking to Nightline on condition of anonymity, with her voice digitally manipulated to avoid recognition, an undercover intelligence officer said the implications of the leak were grim. "Just a few months ago, this administration went out of its way to tell us how important human intelligence is," she said. "We cannot find Saddam Hussein because we have no human intelligence. We cannot find Osama bin Laden because there is no human intelligence. And here you are, you have a case officer who is gathering human intelligence, who is running agents, and here you are exposing her and everyone that she came in contact with." As an undercover agent, Mrs. Wilson's duties would have included recruiting agents overseas in order to gather human intelligence — the basic, but extremely dangerous brickwork, experts say, of intelligence work. A Matter of Safety At a time when Washington is waging a war on terror as anti-U.S. sentiment across the Muslim world has been running at record highs, the leaking, according to Brent Cavan, could spell dangerous times ahead."I think it sets a precedent that will make anyone that would consider working with us think twice about it," warned the former CIA officer. "Money, status or the prestige of working for the U.S. in those capacities won't matter because you'll wind up potentially dead." In the secretive world of intelligence-gathering that operates above — or more accurately, below — national laws, safety is a concern that cannot be overestimated. In an interview with NBC's Meet the Press this weekend, Wilson said he was increasingly concerned about his wife's security posture. The U.S. government had not offered any security measures, said Wilson, adding that a leading former CIA official had said his wife "was probably the single highest target of any possible terrorist organization or hostile intelligence service that might want to do damage." But by all accounts, experts say the gravest threats arising from the leaking could be the networks — including agents and informers — who worked for Mrs. Wilson overseas. "For folks overseas that may have had an association with Mrs. Wilson, in certain countries, there is no real protection of law," said Cavan. "The people that have dealt with Mrs. Wilson could be picked up, interrogated imprisoned or worse and I think that was thought of very lightly here." Analysts and Undercover Agents While Mrs. Wilson was an undercover agent, Novak has argued in a subsequent column that the fact that she is currently an analyst does not endanger her security. But Mike Grimaldi, a former CIA analyst, maintained that when it came to safety, the distinction between working for the CIA as an analyst or an operations officer in the field made little difference. "In covert operations, as a case officer or operations officer, you're tasked to collect particular information," he explained. "You may not know why you are collecting that, however, an analyst, their job is to look at all of the information, so by definition, an analyst would have more information than perhaps an operations officer, which, in an overseas setting would make them more of a target for hostile intelligence services." Echoing Grimaldi's view, Caran believed the distinction between an analyst and an operative was theoretical at best and worthless at worse. "I don't know there is a distinction worth making," he said. "As an analyst, you are still traveling oversees — at least for temporary periods of time you need cover to operate effectively." Politics Is Not the Point In an election year, the political implications of the leak have received wide attention with Democrats and Republicans have contended that the case could be tainted by politics.Republicans have charged that Wilson has worked as an unpaid adviser to Sen. John F. Kerry, offering foreign policy advice and speechwriting tips to the Democratic presidential candidate from Massachusetts. Kerry's advisers have also acknowledged that Wilson has donated $2,000 to his campaign this year. But on their part, Democrats have noted that Attorney General John Ashcroft, who is overseeing the investigation, has had a long political relationship with President Bush's senior political adviser, Karl Rove. According to Wilson, it was Rove who condoned the leak and directed reporters to it after it appeared in Novak's column. But according to former intelligence officials, the Wilsons were not in breach of any CIA codes of conduct. The issue, they insist, is not politics but a grievous leakage that could have disastrous consequences for the people involved as well as the nation. "The fact [that] you walk in the front door of the CIA does not mean you lose your political rights in this country," said Grimaldi. "The point is, it shouldn't be an issue for anyone." The most disturbing issue for former CIA officials who put their lives at stake to serve the nation, often not even telling their families about their work, the latest incident comes as a low blow. "It's really unfathomable," said Grimaldi. "I never thought in those sorts of terms before, but your own government, your own administration, the people that you are working to protect, come out and throw you out like that, it just — it breaks your heart."

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/nightline/US/cia031006_leak.html


Q Mr. President, how confident are you the investigation will find the leaker in the CIA case? ....

THE PRESIDENT: .... Randy, you tell me, how many sources have you had that's leaked information that you've exposed or have been exposed? Probably none. I mean this town is a -- is a town full of people who like to leak information. And I don't know if we're going to find out the senior administration official. Now, this is a large administration, and there's a lot of senior officials. I don't have any idea. I'd like to. I want to know the truth. That's why I've instructed this staff of mine to cooperate fully with the investigators -- full disclosure, everything we know the investigators will find out. I have no idea whether we'll find out who the leaker is -- partially because, in all due respect to your profession, you do a very good job of protecting the leakers. But we'll find out.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031007-2.html

[leadpenny]

Welcome to FR. I refuse to read that unless you make some paragraphs. Use these, <>, with the letter p in the middle where you want to make a paragraph.

[MikeJ]

Wow. I gotta say, I am not happy about this.

Until now, my assumption was that Plame was a desk-jockey and not a real undercover agent. I had also assumed that whoever had cold-called those six journalists had done it after Novak's story was published.

Now, I have to see it differently. If this article is to be believed, there is no getting around the fact that somebody in the administration really did blow a real agent's cover. That's bad.

I'd like to see those journalists subpoenaed right now. It's time to get to the bottom of this one, fast.

[hobbes1]

Remember, this is the Washington post.


For instance notice how they slipped in the fact that Wilson was a Political Advisor to the Commander of US European Command in 1997. Funny how they just mention that its a general, considering who the general is....


Do I need to tell you or can you guess......


Clinton Buddy Wesley Clark.(assumed Command US Eur. July 1997)

[MikeJ]

Remember, this is the Washington post.

Yes. This story seems to change every five minutes, so I agree it appropriate to let this one simmer for a while and see what else floats to the top.

However, if they are correct about those two facts, this is going to be a Big Deal, and rightly so.

[Ann Archy]

Dana Priest is an anti-Bush hack.

Who was the journalist that Wilson let into his HOME n July 3????

[leadpenny]

Good point. This may still turn out to be a better "story" than the Hiss/Chambers episode.

[Ann Archy]

The Wilsons will be more like the Rosenberg-Wilsons when this story REALLY comes out!!!

So who was the reporter that was in their home on July 3???

[Tallguy]

So who was the reporter that was in their home on July 3???

Isn't it obvious from the details of the visit? It had to be Dana Priest.

[leadpenny]

I agree, it had to be Dana Priest. She knows all the players and recently did a book about the Joint and Unified Commanders. As I remember, she traveled extensively with General Zinni when he was Central Command CG.

[AmericanInTokyo]

General comments:

Funny how we all get behind the military TROOPS, have FR sub sites to help the boys and girls overseas in uniform, prayers are offered each time an American military serviceman is killed in Iraq. Fine.

And yet, we treat other people on the front line of our national defense, CIA operatives, like crap; (yet) they are out there doing just as much dangerous work under duress and personal risk under the same sworn oath to The Republic, and dying as heroes (like clandestine service operative Johnny Spann, R.I.P. slain in Afghanistan by bare-handed Taliban). We on FR, 24/7, (and rightfully so) criticized Traitor Clinton for a lack of morale in the Pentagon and DOD down to the unit-level.

Well, we better get these petty political CIA leaks under control and stop giving them such light consideration, (just because the Republicans are in office) because believe me, we do not need a demoralized central intelligence agency overseas in this day and age of terrorism having been attacked on 9-11, and with assets perhaps all over the world now with their d__ks hanging in the wind who could get burned very easily on the whims of DC journalists, Administration officials playing narrow politics, or liberal agenda holders loose with their lips. We need every bit of elint, sigint and HUMINT to keep our major cities safe from a horrendous WMD attack, and we had better remember the people out front, in the shadows close to our adversaries' worlds, who get little to no credit, for the role they have in protecting all of us.

That is the least we owe those Americans, and getting to the bottom of this, without fear or favor, and punishing to the maximum as a clear message.

[mrsmith]

If she liked her job Valerie shouldn't have been leaking classified information to the media.

She outed herself.

She should be in jail, and unless the media succeed with their cover-up the investigation of her will put her and her husband there.

[Tallguy]

Her spy background is supplied entirely by anonymous spooks. They could be making the whole thing up to make the administration look bad.

I'm betting that she has been an "analyst" since she had her bout with "post-partum depression" and the CIA had to take her off the road.

I would add that the Clinton Administration was extremely lax about security matters. Joe Wilson rose to a senior position during their tenure in the White House. I'm betting that her status as a CIA "NOC" had lapsed during this time frame -- and moreover, it was during this time that it became "common knowlege" at Washington dinner parties that Joe Wilson's wife was a spook.

That said, it is still illegal to knowingly divulge her name because she HAD BEEN an undercover. Somebody will have to pay the piper for that one.

[petitfour]

I agree.