BobWoodward: intelligence operative before WP andWatergate.Still is.

[evolvenow]

(Despite the focus on Mark Felt's role, the real story is Bob Woodward's role as a Intelligence operative, then and now.

See Operation Mockingbird, which ironically Carl Bernstein wrote about possibly without realizing his partner Woodward was part of.)



http://www.webcom.com/ctka/pr196-woodward.html

Aboard the Wright, Woodward had top secret "crypto"
clearance-the same clearance researcher Harold
Weisberg found had been assigned to Lee Harvey
Oswald when he was himself in the Marines. Such clearance
in Woodward's case gave him full access to nearly all
classified materials and codes on the ship. Woodward
also ran the ship's newspaper. Woodward has insisted
that possessing a high security clearance is not
necessarily indicative of intelligence work.
snip<
By 1968, Woodward ran the ship's radio team. In
1969, Woodward was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal for
his communications work. From there, Woodward moved on
to a Pentagon assignment, a job that included
briefing top officers in the government. Admiral Thomas
Moorer and former secretary of defense Melvin Laird are
both on record noting that Woodward briefed Al Haig at
the White House during this period. What is suspicious
is Woodward's semi-admittance to Hougan that he had
done some briefing, and his complete denial to Colodny
and Gettlin that he had ever briefed anyone at the White
House.

Havill notes:

Considering the evidence, Bob Woodward's denial
more strongly suggests intelligence than it does his
uninvolvement in White House briefings.

Woodward's secrecy about his past, his choice of
associates, and what is known of his activities
caused
Havill to write:

The question, then, begs itself once more. Was
Bob
Woodward ever a free-lance or retained Central
Intelligence Agency liaison officer, informant or
operative . . . ? This author got various forms of
affirmative opinions from intelligence experts. It
would explain his assignment to the Wright and his
misleading statements to interviewers. It would make
understandable his being able to get out of going to
Vietnam in 1968, his extension for an additional
year
at the Pentagon, his being chosen to brief at the
White House and his denials as well. It would also
help explain his subsequent high-level friendships
with leaders of the U.S. military and the CIA.

It would also explain the role Woodward and
Bernstein
wittingly or unwittingly played in keeping the CIA's
nose clean while making sure the world saw the
President's nose was dirty.
snip<

More about Mockingbird:

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MOCK/mockingbird.html

[Al-CIAda]

1. .

[Wilms]

2. .

[evolvenow]

3. kick to reveal the real story

[Roland99]

4. Hmm...he was buddies with the CIA?

And Poppy was with the CIA?

And Poppy was a bit peeved with Nixon?

And Woodward wrote what could have been a scathing book on * but, instead, Plan of Attack, while critical, lacked sharp teeth?

[Wilms]

5. Keep going! n/t

[LuPeRcALiO]

6. odd, but not entirely surprising

I gave his Bush bio to my dad (on a CD so I didn't read it) but from what I saw in the store it pretty much took Junior seriously and pushed the WMD line on Iraq.

In other words let him off the hook.

edit to clarify subject line.

[evolvenow]

7. Bob'sassignment was to a very special ship...in the event of nuclear war..

Three days after graduating from Yale, Woodward was
sent by the U.S. Navy to Norfolk, Virginia, where he
was commissioned as an ensign by none other than
U.S. Senator George Smathers from Florida. Bob's
assignment was to a very special ship, called a "floating
Pentagon," the U.S.S. Wright. The ship was a
National Emergency Command Ship-a place where a President and
cabinet could preside from in the event of a nuclear
war. It had elaborate and sophisticated communications
and data processing capabilities. It had a smaller
replica of the war room at the Pentagon. It ran
under what was called SIOP-Single Integrated Operation
Plan.
For example, in the event of nuclear war, the Wright
was third in line to take full command if the two
ahead of it, the Strategic Air Command in Omaha
(SAC)
and NORAD, were rendered incommunicado.

Woodward-straightfacedly-told authors Colodny and
Gettlin (Silent Coup) that he guessed he was picked
for the ship because he had been a radio ham as a
kid.

(snip)

[dogman]

8. More Poppy and Woodward background.

Woodward discussed his past with Felt."I said that I had been doing some volunteer work at the office of my congressman, John Erlenborn, a Republican, from Wheaton, Ill., where I had been raised."
When Ford was seeking Rethug advice on naming his VP. John Erlenborn of Illinois was more than captivated by Bush, writing Ford that Bush "is attractive personally--people tend to like him on sight." Why, "he has almost no political enemies" that Erlenborn knew of.

[evolvenow]

9. kick