Covert agent ..look at what they are dragging out now.. what do you think

[southernleftylady]

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/50/chapters/15/subchapters/iv/sections/section_426.html
I was just reading over the law and it states that a covert agent means one:
"who is serving outside the United States or has within
the last five years served outside the United States"
I am sure I read she wasn't acting as an overseas covert agent since the mid 90's. Wouldn't that negate this whole discussion? If she hasn't been a covert agent since 5 years previous to the articles no law could have been broken.

[TrueAmerican]

1. another article says

the late 90's. The late 90's puts it in that 5 year window.

[TrueAmerican]

7. Link to article

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/07/18/spy.law.tm

"What is certain is that Plame was still classified as a covert operative at the time of the leak and that as recently as the late 1990s she was working as a nonofficial cover (NOC) officer, one of a select group of operatives within the CIA who are placed in neutral-seeming environments abroad and collect secrets, knowing that the U.S. government will disavow any connection with them should they be caught."

[skids]

2. Answers.

Simple Answer: The CIA says her outing was a crime. They should know.

Longer Answer: That isn't the only law the WH could have broken, there are many others. Both the CIA and Fitzgerald think there was a crime, and judges reading the classified material have agreed.

[dogday]

3. She Was A Covert Agent

The CIA went to the Justice Dept and The White House and demanded an investigation on her outing. If she was not covert, why ask for the investigation in the first place? This whole investigation would of been moot...

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

8. Because even if she wasn't a covert agent...

the fact that she had been covert was probably still classified, and leakage of that would still be a crime that it's in the CIA's interest to pursue. I suppose time will tell.

[Dems Will Win]

9. There are several ways to be covered

The five-year section was just one of a few ways to be covered under the law. And if she served in 1998 then she was covered under the 5-year anyway.

Remember this happened in 2003, 5 years from 1998.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

27. She had a W-2

Or some other tax form indicating that her front company was her nominal employer as late as 1999.

[Frances]

4. There is another law that applies as well

Look at DU's homepage for story on Waxman (on edit Waxman refers to an executive order not a law)

But a few days ago I read on DU about a man who leaked a name who was sent to prison for a year because of a different law. Maybe someone else has the link.

[htuttle]

5. Did you find a list of her recent classified assignments somewhere?

Examined her top-secret CIA timecards for the last 5 years?

Didn't think so.

If there was no possibility of a crime committed, Tenet would not have referred the case to the Justice Department in the first place. If she had not been a covert agent under the law, the case would never have gotten this far.

[TrueAmerican]

15. Yes, it amazes me

how the right wingers can be so simple. Any assignment she was working on would be "classified"; furthermore not releasable to the general public.

[wallwriter]

6. Also, surely Fitzgerald is smart enough to check this issue...

Likewise, sure the Rove and co. defense has tried to wiggle off the hook on this basis. And failed.

[Beaverhausen]

10. and where did you read about her not being covert since the 90s

why are you bringing up the RW talking points?

Even if she wasn't "covert" at the time she was dealing with others who were and their cover was blown and they were put in danger.

[southernleftylady]

16. this is being discussed on another board...

and i knew that this place could debunk it fast :)

[Beaverhausen]

17. on what other board? FR?

come on, this is old news already.

[southernleftylady]

21. no smartass...lol

a mothering board ;) they are behind the times :) (hey if you dont want to read this crap then just ignore it )

[Raksha]

31. Besides, it isn't only HER status that's important!

Although I have no doubt that she was still classified by the CIA as a covert agent at the time Novak outed her. What is IMPORTANT is the material Brewster Jennings & Associates was working with--don't forget they were in the business of tracking WMD proliferation. All of this focus on whether or not Valerie was an active NOC is just another right-wing smokescreen. WHAT rocks did Brewster Jennings look under and what did they find there that BushCo didn't and still doesn't want the world to know about?

[displacedtexan]

11. They're too stupid for words!

They need to contact Fitzgerald and the US Supreme Court and tell them that they made a mistake in convening a grand jury and issuing all of those rulings... and Judy Miller should be released, too.

Ignorance can be fixed;
Stupidity is forever.

[Guckert]

12. Here's the law that the CIA thinks was Broken

From www.crooksandliars.com


Note, section (a) that states, Whoever, having or having had authorized access to classified information that identifies a covert agent, intentionally discloses any information identifying such covert agent to any individual not authorized to receive classified information".

In other words, any information, such as "Joe Wilson's wife", makes you liable for prosecution.

50 U.S.C. § 421. Protection of identities of certain United States undercover intelligence officers, agents, informants, and sources.

(a) Disclosure of information by persons having or having had access to classified information that identifies covert agent Whoever, having or having had authorized access to classified information that identifies a covert agent, intentionally discloses any information identifying such covert agent to any individual not authorized to receive classified information, knowing that the information disclosed so identifies such covert agent and that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such covert agent’s intelligence relationship to the United States, shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

-----------------------------------
First of all NO-body knows if she was a Secret Agent. it's a SECRET. I am guessing we will know when the testimony comes out. Joe Wilson said she was no longer under cover the DAY Novak outed her. that suggests that she was. How would Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh even know who is or is not an under cover agent. Her own neighbors have said that she told them that she was a consultant for the Government. NOT that she was telling everyone she was a Spy. these GOP slime merchants are lying through their teeth.

[southernleftylady]

14. thanks for this! nt

[Just Me]

20. Or, maybe not. Conversion of government docs is a crime, too.

Conspiring to maliciously leak (for political revenge) a CIA operative and operation, which directly impacts national security is a crime when it involves the conversion of a government document (in this case, the memo/write-up on Wilson and his wife).

Conspiring to cover-up the conversion of the document leading to the leak is a crime. Obstruction of justice or conspiring to do so is a crime. Committing perjury is a crime, too.

I suppose, conspiring to cover-up a cover-up *LOL* is also a crime ala the W.H. publishing a "talking points" memo relating to the investigation and the case.

[Guckert]

Just because it took Karl 2 years and the impending incarceration of Matt

Cooper to finally realize he had nothing to hide, and did nothing wrong, does not mean he was covering up the conversation????? :sarcasm: :puke:

[leveymg]

24. There are half a dozen related laws that were broken. Here's the list.

They structured the crime to avoid prosecution under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. Thus, Fitz will have to also go after them under other statutes enumerated in their Nondisclosure Agreements, such as:

* Conversion of classified materials for improper use (18 USC. Sec. 641)(10 years imprisonment);
* transmission of defense information (Sec. 793)(10 years);
* Disclosure of classified information related to codes or communications surveillance, Sec, 798 (10 years);
* Unauthorized removal and retention of classified, Sec. 1924 (1 year imprisonment)(Larry Franklin, who has been indicted in the parallel OSP-AIPAC spy case, is already charged with this offense);

Here's the relevant section of the Nondisclosure Agreement the Bush Gang all signed:

"I have been advised that any breach of this Agreement may result in the termination of any security clearances I hold; removal from any position of special confidence and trust requiring such clearances; or the termination of my employment or other relationships with the Departments or Agencies that granted my security clearance or clearances. In addition, I have been advised that any unauthorized disclosure of classified information by me may constitute a violation, or violations, of United States criminal laws, including the provisions of Sections 641, 793, 794, 798, *952 and 1924, Title 18, United States Code, * the provisions of Section 783(b), Title 50, United States Code, and the provisions of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. I recognize that nothing in this Agreement constitutes a waiver by the United States of the right to prosecute me for any statutory violation."

For a full text of both the Nondisclosure Agreement and Related Laws, please see: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/18/161945/313
and http://www.bizbozos.com/US_Code/18/18_USC_Sec_1924.html

There will likely also be indictments handed down in this case for criminal conspiracy and perjury, which are old prosecutorial favorites.

[Just Me]

13. Don't forget, she was an active NOC AND the operation was also,...

,...revealed. There's a great deal more to this than merely the leak of Valerie Plame. There's countless possibilities of numerous crimes beyond what you cite.

Moreover, shouldn't you trust that the CIA investigated this matter and found it fit for referral for investigation/prosecution?

Stop allowing the RW "talking points" to distract you. They were published to help cover-up the whole thing.

[TahitiNut]

18. Well, hell, let's just publish EVERY trip she ever took!

What I find completely reprehensible about this right-wing vomit is that they presume to require publication of Ms. Plame's assignments. It's not enough for these traitorous whores that the US has lost critical intelligence resources in the "War on Terror" and the proliferation of WMD in south Asia and northern Africa, they seem to demand that the CIA detail her most recent activities. It's not enough for these rabid reichbots that the CIA's 2-month investigation resulted in a request to the Justice Department to prosecute the case, clearly with abundant classified evidence to substantiate the need for prosecution.

When partisan fanaticism reaches such highs that they're eager to destroy national security, we're truly dealing with lunatics.

[Raksha]

32. You make a very good point.

Re >>What I find completely reprehensible about this right-wing vomit is that they presume to require publication of Ms. Plame's assignments.<<

Yeah, like Valerie Plame is really supposed to post her every move over the past five years on Free Republic to "prove" her covert status???? The CIA would just LOVE that, wouldn't they? WTF? You have to wonder what these morons are using for brains.

[demgurl]

19. Actually......

Whether Valerie had served overseas in the past five years or not, I am sure the undercover CIA agents at her overseas business were undercover, deep undercover. By outing the name of her undercover business, they outed every single agent that worked there. This means they did not just out one person. I am not sure how big the business was but they most likely outed 50-60 people! It does not matter about when Valerie did what since the business was still a viable undercover operation until the name was announced in the news.

[napi21]

22. Here is a snip from the US Code Collection-definition of a covert agent.

(4) The term “covert agent” means—
(A) a present or retired officer or employee of an intelligence agency or a present or retired member of the Armed Forces assigned to duty with an intelligence agency—
(i) whose identity as such an officer, employee, or member is classified information, and
(ii) who is serving outside the United States or has within the last five years served outside the United States; or
(B) a United States citizen whose intelligence relationship to the United States is classified information, and—
(i) who resides and acts outside the United States as an agent of, or informant or source of operational assistance to, an intelligence agency, or
(ii) who is at the time of the disclosure acting as an agent of, or informant to, the foreign counterintelligence or foreign counterterrorism components of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; or
(C) an individual, other than a United States citizen, whose past or present intelligence relationship to the United States is classified information and who is a present or former agent of, or a present or former informant or source of operational assistance to, an intelligence agency.

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode50/usc_sec_50_00000426----000-.html

NOTICE the use of the word "OR" in Secion B.

I'm not an attorney, but it sounds like the five year requirement is just one of several "or" requirements!

[flamin lib]

23. Don't forget that when she was outed the name of the front

company she worked for was also outed. Brewster-Jennings & Associates is an international company. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that every other intel organization in the world immediately searched their data base for contacts with that company.

Every agent and their contacts was compromised when that piece of information went public--it is public record because when made a political donation to Gore.

[fasttense]

25. Well, even the minority opinion on the federal appeals court

thought it was serious. The minority judge opined that there was a federal shield law but the seriousness of the crime outweighed the public's need to know:

"An alleged covert agent, Plame evidently traveled overseas
on clandestine missions beginning nearly two decades ago. See,
e.g., Richard Leiby & Dana Priest, The Spy Next Door; Valerie
Wilson, Ideal Mom, Was Also the Ideal Cover, Wash. Post, Oct.
8, 2003, at A1. Her exposure, therefore, not only may have
jeopardized any covert activities of her own, but also may have
endangered friends and associates from whom she might have
gathered information in the past. Acting to criminalize such
exposure of secret agents, see 50 U.S.C. § 421, Congress has
identified that behavior’s “intolerable” consequences: “he
loss of vital human intelligence which our policymakers need,
the great cost to the American taxpayer of replacing intelligence
resources lost due to such disclosures, and the greatly increased
risk of harm which continuing disclosures force intelligence
officers and sources to endure.” S. Rep. No. 97-201, at 10-11
(1981), reprinted in 1982 U.S.C.C.A.N. 145, 154-55.

The leak of Plame’s apparent employment, moreover, had
marginal news value. To be sure, insofar as Plame’s CIA
relationship may have helped explain her husband’s selection for
the Niger trip, that information could bear on her husband’s
credibility and thus contribute to public debate over the
president’s “sixteen words.” Compared to the damage of
undermining covert intelligence-gathering, however, this slight
news value cannot, in my view, justify privileging the leaker’s
identity."

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/cialeak.pdf

[Individualist]

26. Diversion, distraction, convolution

The standard reich wing tactics are falling flat this time.

[spanone]

28. It's not the law, it's the lying.

[JHB]

29. Look at it this way:

from the Rudepundit:

Some on the right are now claiming that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was not an undercover agent nor an "operative," as Bob Novak first called her. That she was a desk jockey analyst. Although can one not be a desk jockey who needs to keep cover because of all the secrets that she knows? Isn't that the idea of a cover identity?

For Alias fans, the ABC show about CIA agents doing all kinds of cool shit against villains and each other, one need only think of wee little Marshall Flinkman, the tech nerd, who rarely ever leaves the office, but is as deeply undercover as any of the agents in the field. Would you want Marshall to be outed? Would you want Marshall to be open to intimidation, violence, or bribes?

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2005/07/five-reasons-why-karl-rove-must-be_14.html

[Stirk]

30. Oh, how they rush to defend treason.

Sickening.