Plame was ‘covert’ agent at time of name leak

[Robbien]

Source: By Joel Seidman, Producer, NBC News

WASHINGTON - An unclassified summary of outed CIA officer Valerie Plame's employment history at the spy agency, disclosed for the first time today in a court filing by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, indicates that Plame was "covert" when her name became public in July 2003.

The summary is part of an attachment to Fitzgerald's memorandum to the court supporting his recommendation that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former top aide, spend 2-1/2 to 3 years in prison for obstructing the CIA leak investigation.

. . .

The unclassified summary of Plame's employment with the CIA at the time that syndicated columnist Robert Novak published her name on July 14, 2003 says, "Ms. Wilson was a covert CIA employee for who the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States."

Plame worked as an operations officer in the Directorate of Operations and was assigned to the Counterproliferation Division (CPD) in January 2002 at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

The employment history indicates that while she was assigned to CPD, Plame, "engaged in temporary duty travel overseas on official business." The report says, "she traveled at least seven times to more than ten times." When overseas Plame traveled undercover, "sometimes in true name and sometimes in alias -- but always using cover -- whether official or non-official (NOC) -- with no ostensible relationship to the CIA."

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18924679/

[RamboLiberal]

1. Plame was ‘covert’ agent at time of name leak-Newly released unclassified document details CIA emplo

Source: MSNBC

WASHINGTON - An unclassified summary of outed CIA officer Valerie Plame's employment history at the spy agency, disclosed for the first time today in a court filing by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, indicates that Plame was "covert" when her name became public in July 2003.

The summary is part of an attachment to Fitzgerald's memorandum to the court supporting his recommendation that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former top aide, spend 2-1/2 to 3 years in prison for obstructing the CIA leak investigation.

The nature of Plame's CIA employment never came up in Libby's perjury and obstruction of justice trial.

The unclassified summary of Plame's employment with the CIA at the time that syndicated columnist Robert Novak published her name on July 14, 2003 says, "Ms. Wilson was a covert CIA employee for who the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States."

<snip>

The employment history indicates that while she was assigned to CPD, Plame, "engaged in temporary duty travel overseas on official business." The report says, "she traveled at least seven times to more than ten times." When overseas Plame traveled undercover, "sometimes in true name and sometimes in alias -- but always using cover -- whether official or non-official (NOC) -- with no ostensible relationship to the CIA."



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18924679/

---

Where are the treason charges against Novak and Bushies?!

[Double T]

13. When will dick and karl be taken into custody??

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Plame was ‘covert’ agent at time of name leak

Source: MSNBC.com

WASHINGTON - An unclassified summary of outed CIA officer Valerie Plame's employment history at the spy agency, disclosed for the first time today in a court filing by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, indicates that Plame was "covert" when her name became public in July 2003.


The unclassified summary of Plame's employment with the CIA at the time that syndicated columnist Robert Novak published her name on July 14, 2003 says, "Ms. Wilson was a covert CIA employee for who the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States."

Plame worked as an operations officer in the Directorate of Operations and was assigned to the Counterproliferation Division (CPD) in January 2002 at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

The employment history indicates that while she was assigned to CPD, Plame, "engaged in temporary duty travel overseas on official business." The report says, "she traveled at least seven times to more than ten times." When overseas Plame traveled undercover, "sometimes in true name and sometimes in alias -- but always using cover -- whether official or non-official (NOC) -- with no ostensible relationship to the CIA."



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18924679/

---

Wonder how the Freepers will react since they've said she wasn't covert for so long?

[antiimperialist]

40. test

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Pay up, Karl and Dick.

It's cheaper than the judgment with punitive damages -- and attorneys fees.

[Gregorian]

4. This chapter of American treason needs to be reopened.

Of course she was covert.

[MGKrebs]

5. Well then why the hell isn't someone being prosecuted??!!

[jtrockville]

19. I'd LOVE to know the answer to that!

[TheWraith]

38. According to Fitzgerald, it's impossible to determine who was responsible.

Libby's perjury, specifically, blocked any further investigation of whether anyone was criminally liable for the disclosure.

[jtrockville]

39. Did Fitz have access to Palast's emails?

[TheWraith]

47. I don't know. NT

[ben_meyers]

6. But if Fitzgerald had this info during the trial

Why wasn't it used then? I'm more confused by this than before. Do Rove and Novack get indicted now too or what? I thought this was central to the whole argument.

"The nature of Plame's CIA employment never came up in Libby's perjury and obstruction of justice trial."

Why not?

[RamboLiberal]

9. IMHO Fitzgerald overrated - he didn't reach high enough

He had the goods for more than Scooter for perjury!

[wellst0nev0ter]

44. Typical Prosecutor

more worried about stats and "getting a win" than aggressively pursuing the truth even if it means risking the unmentionable spector of losing a case (or more likely being stonewalled by mass pardons).

[DearAbby]

21. Because

Libby was not charged with the crime of outing Plame. His crime was lying to a grand jury, and obstructing justice. The fact that Plame was covert was not relevant to the charges. And as you can tell by the verdict. Fitzgerald got his conviction.

[Usrename]

24. He would have had to prove the leakers knew she was covert.

He did not think he would be able to prove exactly who knew about her covert status, largly because of the lies and cover-up that Libby (and I think others) participated in.

They seem to have gotten away with it, for now, at least.

[MGKrebs]

25. I don't know. We now know that there were four leakers.

It should not be hard for a special prosecutor to find out who had security clearance for the info and who didn't, and when they got it.

Did Armitage have clearance? I bet he did. And he leaked the info. You don't get the security clearance without taking responsibility for it, and that has to have consequences.

wtf.

[Usrename]

31. Sure, I get what you're thinking.

Here's the problem with that, though. Armitage may indeed have had the need to know and the required clearance, and yet he may not have been informed of the classified nature of her employment status.

Take Bob Novak for a different example and look at what he knew. He claims that he was not told that her status was classified when the story of her involvement was told to him. But he says he did call the CIA to find out if it was true that she worked there. He says that the CIA spokesperson confirmed that she worked there, then shortly thereafter called him back and told him not to use her name in his article.

Novak now claims that he was too stupid to know what the CIA meant when they told him not to use her name. He should be charged, of course, because even though he may not have the proper clearance or the need to know, he was forewarned about the sensitive nature of her employment status.

I don't think anyone else has admitted that they knew she had protected status, even though it's hard for me to believe that no one knew she was a spook. And it isn't very plausible, at least in some of the cases, that they did not know. Obviously they were all afraid to comment publicly about her, either before or after she was outed, so that is a very strong indication that they all did know that she was covert. She also testified that pretty much everyone in her division is/was covert, which also makes it more likely that they knew.

The CIA dude who claims to have personally briefed the VP says that he can't remember if he ever told anyone that her status was protected. So there you go. He is at the very least eligible for some kind of disciplinary action, like the loss of his clearance or something, it would seem.

[madhoosier]

33. There's another explanation

The President has the power to declassify classified information and Cheney has claimed the same power. (Cheney's authority is less certain)

Fitzgerald's failure to charge anybody with leaking her name is virtual proof that the leak was Okayed by Bush or Cheney and therefore not a clear cut crime.

The NeoCons need "intelligence failures" to justify their attacks on nations that do not present a threat to America but are important to America's oil addiction. This administration has been responsible for four diffrent "outings" of vital intelligence sources, the Plame, Brewster Jennings outing, the release of the bin Laden-crippled Saudi Sheik tape in December of 2001, the release to Ahmed Chalabi the the U.S. had cracked the Iranian diplomatic code and the Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan leak that was a window into the inner workings of al Qaeda.

Here's an article I wrote and posted yesterday that has a little more information on the damage to America's intelligence gathering ability.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x284315

[Usrename]

45. A very interesting proposition, and a damn good article, too.

I don't think there is an easy response to this proposition. The crux of what you are asking is whether or not the president can violate his own Executive Order regarding the declassification of classified material. I don't think he can do this kind of thing indiscriminately, because I think he was obliged to sign the same non-disclosure agreement as everyone else in order to get his own security clearance.

I think the President is ultimately her boss, that is correct, but I'm not sure how much authority he would have in this specific case. I guess, at the very least, he could order the head of the classifying agency to de-classify the material. That person could either comply, resign, or try to show why following this kind of order would be illegal.

I don't think that just because he is the president that he has an inherent right to violate any laws governing unauthorized disclosure. I don't think you believe that either, and that is not exactly what I hear you asking or proposing.

Like I said, I think he signs the same agreement to obtain his security clearance as everyone else does, so in that respect he is just like any other person with a clearance, and he is obliged to protect the secrets of all the classifying agencies.

The question is more about whether he has the authority to de-classify her status directly, without any cooperation from the classifying agency. I don't think so, but I don't know if it has ever been tested to find out. I have no idea of where this authority would come from, if it does exist.

I think it's a good question. I personally would not want a president to have that much ability to do mayhem.

Your article is very interesting and I pretty much agree with all of it. But it becomes actually even more complicated than the first case, because in the Plame example we know who the classifying agency is. But each of the other two branches can also classify material, and it can be subject to the same rules, or even more severe restraint on who can have access. It is conceivable that a court could seal a certain document from being seen by the president. This might have been possible (for example) in the Jones v. Clinton case, if he had tried to go on a wild fishing expedition, demanding to see stuff he wasn't entitled to see.

But even under normal circumstances, I would think this type of declassification could be illegal in some cases, and perfectly fine in other cases. Some examples that come to mind are the release of classified information from a previous administration (before the 12-year waiting period). That might be considered illegal. Declassifying his own National Intelligence Estimate for release to the press might be perfectly legal. I just don't know.

[SpiralHawk]

7. republicon TREASON against the United States of America

Throw the traitors out.

k and r

[poverlay]

8. Does anyone still question this? I thought it was put to bed a long time ago.

Anyone who doesn't want blood over this is a traitor to this country, and should be executed immediately.

[RamboLiberal]

10. Bet the Freepers & the Dittoheads and their heroes

are still claiming she wasn't covert. Hell they know better than the CIA!

[ben_meyers]

16. I don't care about the Freepers & the Dittoheads

This is not new information! Fitzgerald had this already. I can't buy that he was over rated, something just doesn't seem right.

[DearAbby]

22. Read Post #21 -nt

[Robbien]

12. The right side of the world declared this is a lie. Period. End of subject.

They will allow no fact stating otherwise to be broadcast in the public news media.

They say Bush/Cheney/Rove did nothing wrong because Plame was not covert. Now go away.

[Usrename]

29. Sure, Victoria Toensing.

She testified to Waxman's committee that Plame was not covert.

All the freeptards want to cling to her testimony. "She wrote the IIPA (Intelligence Identities Protection Act)" is what they base their denial on.

Also, at one point, Libby's defense attorney may have claimed that she was not covert, but they abandoned that strategy for the "I don't recall" strategy.

Some people just don't want to face reality. No government source that I am aware of has ever claimed that she was not covert. The media sure has made a huge issue out of something that can be so easilly checked and verified, something that should have never been in doubt.


All three branches of the US Government have asserted claims that she was covert.

Executive - The Justice Department (through Special Prosecutor Fitz) and the CIA (through the Director Hayden and former spokesperson Hagood) have all claimed her status was covert.

Legislative - The opening statement of Rep. Waxman, made prior to Plame's testimony, claimed that she was covert.

Judicial - Two different judges in the Libby case have made rulings that were based on the fact that she was covert.

No one in a government position that would have information about her status has ever made any claim that she was not covert.

[poverlay]

30. Oh I totally forgot that crazy old bitch. Good remembering... I thoroughly enjoyed the thought

of her spewing her morning coffee all over when she read that.

Ya know, she is probably what Monica Goodling is going to look like in 5 years or so.
All that sour, vitriolic ignorance takes its toll after a bit.

[Usrename]

32. She's nasty all right.

I sure wish someone would charge her with perjury over this.

What a crazy old bitch.

[RamboLiberal]

36. Larry Johnson got it right when he called her delusional

n/t

[MaineDem]

11. Of course she was

I thought this was proven already.

[Grandrose]

14. So disappointed and let down!

Treason and this is all we get??? :eyes: :grr: :mad: :kick:

[Robbien]

17. What, you want Gonzales to arrest Rove/Cheney?

Which would have been the next step in a world where this country had a real Attorney General.

[Grandrose]

23. Yeah...in my dreams!

What a sad place we are in, when the top cop could be arrested for obstruction of justice!:yoiks:

[kskiska]

15. Tenet said as much in his book

She was covert. Period.

[flamingyouth]

18. I'm glad this is back in the news.

Of course, this isn't news to any of us, but I'm glad it's back in the headlines.

[Toots]

20. "disclosed for the first time today"

And this guy is producer of NBC News...........My God.....

[xxqqqzme]

26. This goes a long way in helping the civil action...or has

a *ie appointed judge thrown that out as well?

[superconnected]

27. Can we call it Treason now?

[brentspeak]

28. But I thought everyone and their dog in D.C. knew Plame worked for the CIA!

Or so Hannity, Limbaugh, Fox News claims...

[burythehatchet]

34. the objective was always to shut down Brewster Jennings operations

[dicknbush]

35. Lookie what I found Ms. Toesuckers email address if you would like to forward her this little tidbi

[email protected] <[email protected]>

I'm not saying harras her or anything but it seems like she could use a little bit of enlightenment about her supposed area of expertise! I'm just sayin....

[hootinholler]

37. 3 Years is a wrist slap considering the crime that was being investigated.

Shouldn't obstruction carry the penalty of the crime protected?

-Hoot

[antiimperialist]

41. Mark Levin: "Everything suggests Plame was a desk jockey"

Back in March, a dumb reporter from the conservative National Review website said,

I also have had enough of this game about Plame's official status. I see no reason why, at this point, the CIA can't release her official classification. Plame has retired. Everyone knows who she is. We don't need to know what she was working on, we just want to know her official status. Everything suggests she was a desk jockey, despite the pedestrian use of the word "covert" to describe her status.
flashback

Email him these new revelations:
http://www.wabcradio.com/EmailAddresses.asp

[antiimperialist]

42. And now we know she worked on Iraq WMD

Not Iran as it was once reported. (From the memo)

[orleans]

43. k&r n/t

[LeftHander]

46. Now that the truth has been uncovered....the investigation can proceed...

Guilty Scooter....liar.

Now we have material evidence that Plame was classified as covert by CIA.

GOP asks where is the crime?

There it is.

Goodbye Dick.