V. Plame outing

[CCROEL]

What damage, if any, was done to the CIA by the outing of Valerie Plame?

[Clanad]

None, because she wasn't a covert agent within the preceding 5 years...

[Peter Pedant]

But that is not the point is it?

the offence complained of is outing an agent......

[Clanad]

The point is she could not be "outed" since she wasn't deemed covert... which is what makes the charges against Libby so strange... unless, of course, the prosecutor is politically driven... nah! that couldn't happen...

[suffragette]

Surely, you're not complaining about politically driven prosecutions against Republicans, Clanad? How quickly the evangelical right forget the politically inspired antics of Kenneth Starr.

[Clanad]

Funny you should mention that... It was Clinton's own Attorney General, Janet (Waco) Reno, that first appointed a Special Prosecutor to investigate both the Clinton's participation in Whitewater. The appointee, Robert Friske, was seen by a bi-partisan three judge panel as not complying with the requirements of the Special Prosecutor Act, which was installed during the Nixon/Watergate scandal. The same three judge panel and Reno selected Starr. They could have removed him at any time during the lengthy investigation, but did not. He was mandated to investigate the Whitewater investments by Clinton's as well as the firing of the White House Travel agency when Clinton's attempted to give the lucrative contracts to their friend Harry Thomason, a Hollywood producer . During that investigation, the issue of Clinton's lying to a Grand Jury panel about his involvement with Monica Lewinsky was added to his tasks by the same three judge panel. (What's the meaning of is?)

It should be noted, the only participant in the entire Plame investigation that could rightly be accused of being an evangelical was then Attorney General John Ashcroft who immediately recused himself from the case due to the appearance of conflicts of interest ...

How quickly the revisionist left rewrites the sordid history of the Clinton years...

[CCROEL]

Since asking my question, I've gotten some answers from other sources. Woodward opined that the damage was "minimal". Stansfield Turner, a former CIA director opined (along with three or four other CIA types) that the outing was "despicable".

Apparently, tjhe CIA conducted an "unofficial" damage assessment at the operational level (the "official" assessment hasn't been made yet because the matter is under "criminal litigation". The assessment is still secret, but unverifyed reports are that the damage was minimal as to personell but substantial as to intelligence operations.

While Plame may not have been a "covert agent", as defined in the 1978 law governing the outing of agents, the indictment said that Plame had a "cover" which was "blown". (I don't think there is any serious disagreement with that fact). That law required that the outing be intentional, deliberate and with full knowledge of the agent's undercover status; no such intent could be proven in the Plame outing.

The most persuasive opinions led me to believe that, while no one has been killed, or other agents seriously compromised, Plames work and intelligence on WMDs, especially those going to Iran, has been set back at least ten years, which is especially troubling considering the current tensions with that country..

In Woodward's taping of his conversation with Amitage (the original source of the leak), Woodward asks Why HIM? (refering to the decision to send Wilson) and I still don't know what about Wilson made his assignment so bad in both Woodward's and Armitage's eyes.

Anyhow, many thanks to those who responded.

Carl

[Clanad]

Simple answer, carl, is the person making the recommendation for Wilson's 'investigation' was none other than his wife, Ms. Plame...

Plame's Input Is Cited on Niger Mission
Report Disputes Wilson's Claims on Trip, Wife's Role
By Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 10, 2004; Page A09


Former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, dispatched by the CIA in February 2002 to investigate reports that Iraq sought to reconstitute its nuclear weapons program with uranium from Africa, was specifically recommended for the mission by his wife, a CIA employee, contrary to what he has said publicly.


Other than that, Wilson had absolutely no credentials (other than hating the Bush administration) to conduct such a trip in the first place...