In the manner of the inimitable december, I’m gonna link to a couple of blogs for this story; I don’t think it’s hit the mainstream press yet (and perhaps it’s not that newsworthy). Anyway, apparently Robert Novak, in his Monday column about former diplomat Joseph Wilson (the guy who was supposedly sent to Niger to evaluate the Iraq-buying-uranium claim, and found it inaccurate), wrote the following:
If Plame’s wife is an operative, she is–rather, was–undercover; her day job’s as “an energy analyst for a private firm.” (quoted from here)
So what’s the verdict? Is this worth looking into? Assuming administration officials gave Novak that information, is it okay for them to have done so? Cool or uncool behavior?
If this was truly (as it appears to have been) done to send a message to the intelligence community that “loose lips sink careers”, then it’s hard to imagine starker arrogance than the kind which protects political appearances in favor of protecting national security. On the other hand, if this was merely unsanctioned rank incompetence on the part of the two “senior officials”, such blatant disregard for secrecy must be contained and corrected, or if the allegation is false, and was made in order to personally damage the Wilsons, then at the very least the Wilsons are entitled to seek redress.
Uncool and illegal under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982I. This is not a partisan issue, this is a national secuirty issue. If senior members of the administration released this information, they must face trial, and hopefully jail time. People can die because of leaks like this. Of course this may all be a ploy by that prince of liberal punditry, Robert Novak.:dubious:
Anyone want to defend the actions of the senior administration officials, stipulating a) that they did provide lifelong Democrat Novak with that information, and b) that they were, in fact, officials of the Bush administration?
Should this be getting more play in the media than it is right now? Will it?
there is no justification. And Shodan, could you kindly suggest other administrations which dear Bobby might be referring to?
Not bloody likely unless a member of those lemmings we call democrats make a stink. And given past performance, that ain’t too likely.
An interesting question: What if Novak is lying about the source, or is writing something that he was not meant to know about? The article in “The Nation” (when did that become a “rag”? Liberal yes, but hardly a rag or blog.) states:
So Novak is cleared unless he does it more than once? I did not find that anywhere in my link given above, but I could not find the entire act on the web. Anybody have any details about that aspect?
Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson’s wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report.
The above quote stops short of saying that the officials said that the wife was an Agency operative, only that she suggested sending him to Niger. This may be needlessly picky, but it implies that either her position is common knowledge, or Novak is the one who spoke out of school.
If there ever was a case of looking for the silver lining, this is it. Who, {B]Finagle**, do you suppose told Novak that Ms. Wilson was a CID type. Do you suppose Novak had independent knowledge of that even though she has a nominal day job? Don’t you think that the “unnamed sources” let that slip as well?
Robert Novak is hardly a lifelong Democrat, to my knowledge. He frequently offers a conservative viewpoint to the various political discussion shows he appears on. Also, the cite provided links to the website townhall.org, a collection of various strongly conservative pundits who sit around agreeing with each other.
(OK, that last one was kind of cheap, since IIRC Novak was one of the few 'Pubbies to oppose the Iraq war.)
Spavined Gelding – so on the basis of the inference that it was the officials that spilled the beans, you’re willing to buy into the whole chain of reasoning in the above quotes, namely that the administration * deliberately * blew the cover of a CIA operative to send a message?
OK, it’s not impossible, but wouldn’t you like a bit more evidence? Like, that the Ms. Wilson actually is a CIA operative? That Novak didn’t know this beforehand? That this was a deliberate spill of information?
The train of reasoning cited in the OP is so full of inference and hypotheticals that no responsible journalist would run with it unless they could get more information.
Finagle, did you read the Nation story linked to in the OP? Both Wilson and David Corn claim Novak himself says the administration officials told him about Mrs. Wilson:
Which makes the basis for believing this was a deliberate outing a bit stronger than an inference.
Sorry Airblairxxx, didn’t mean to whoosh you. You are quite correct that Novak is a conservative pundit, in fact one of the most conservative out there (discounting wastes of space like Coulter, Savage, and Limbaugh).
Has anyone established that Mrs. Wilson is in fact an undercover analyst for the CIA? Lots and lots of analysts work for the CIA quite openly, and the mere fact that she works for a private firm hardly prevents her from consulting with the agency.
While I certainly wouldn’t put it past the Bushies to do something like the complaint in The Nation, I just wanted to point out that it’s far from established that’s really what happened.
What is this: Novak is not conservative enough? He is only on Crossfire taking the side opposite mad dog Carville. He one of few conservatives I respect.
Good point-a great aunt of mine was a secretary for the CIA. I don’t know if she worked for any serious higher ups, though. I guess I could ask my grandfather or my dad.
Well, one must infer (see Finagle, here’s what an inference looks like) that Mrs. Wilson does not advertise her alleged service to the Agency, when we have Wilson quoted as below:
Now, Wilson may be overdramatizing the potential damage, but it’s hardly likely he’d make such a claim if his wife’s CIA connections were public.
I still would like to know if this really happened, who the alleged officials are, and when Novak found this out.
How long has Plame been with the CIA? Is she really deep cover?
People keep blaming “some government officials” or “adminstration sources” or whatever. Who specifically is this? Is it Bush and Cheney? Is it some low level staffers who want to sabotage someone else’s work? Is it someone during the Clinton administration, and Novak sat on it until now? Is this something he overheard at a cocktail party, and figured it sounded better if he attributed it in a mysterious way?
I would like some confirmation that Plame is really employed by the CIA. All this third-hand rumor isn’t getting us anywhere.