Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, received a 30-month prison sentence for his repeated and blatant lies, which bamboozled the investigation into who disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame (Wilson), a CIA covert intelligence officer. Shortly after, President Bush commuted the convicted felon's 21¼2 year prison sentence, saying it was "too harsh."
Unfortunately, most undercover CIA case officers charged with preventing WMDs from reaching America's shores disagree with the president's assessment. James Malcenkowski served 24 years in the CIA and went through intensive training with Plame in 1985.
She was recruited upon graduation from college and was much younger than Malcenkowski and the other CIA recruits. He told me that Plame accepted a risky non-official cover assignment after the training ended. Third World countries merely deport a CIA officer with official cover, but NOC's like Plame could be executed.
Most overseas CIA operatives use state department official cover to play the James Bond role, commonly seen wearing fancy attire and mingling with foreign big wigs at embassy cocktail parties. By assuming NOC, Plame didn't pretend to be a "fake diplomat" and enjoy the protection of diplomatic immunity. If caught by foreign intelligence, she wouldn't be granted a Libby-style "get out of jail free" card to protect her from prosecution under that country's laws.
The deep cover she assumed was her only chance of survival.
Because of Libby's mendacity, Americans may never know the persons employed at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue who
exposed Plame and the CIA front company, BJ & Associates. I'm amazed at his potential to dutifully shield and protect his White House superiors, while waywardly betraying his conscience and country. America's security hinges on the CIA's ability to create 'deep cover' to protect NOCs like Plame.
Shortly after the Plame leak, I looked up the company's listing in Dun & Bradstreet's database. It had vanished. The word "betrayal" resonates in my mind as I recall conversing with Malcenkowski about how CIA case officers fret over the safety of the foreign assets they recruit. He spent time with them at Christmas and met their families during the recruitment process. When CIA operatives recruit assets overseas, their spouses and children pay the price if the operation is uncovered. NOCs like Plame have double anxiety. They worry not only about themselves, but about the foreign assets and their families as well.
President Bush's commutation of Libby's prison sentence was, indeed, an act of betrayal. These highly-trained operatives can no longer carry 'promises of protection' or maintain the level of trust they once maintained among the foreign spies they handle.
It's tougher for them to not only recruit new spies, but to convince existing ones to continue sharing vital secrets.
Malcenkowski believes Plame's exposure triggered foreign intelligence services to pour through passport databases to determine if she ever set foot upon their soil. They undoubtedly tracked down those she had contact with, placing the lives of many CIA foreign spies and their families in peril.
The White House leak and the commutation of Libby's 21¼2 year prison sentenced damaged our national security.
Due to a drop in foreign spy recruitment, an information shortage exists on unaccounted for nuclear material and weapons of mass destruction proliferation. It will take years for our overseas CIA operatives to regain the trust among their various spies and to recruit new ones. Until then, America remains more vulnerable to terrorist attack.
It's time to redeem the CIA for the wasted human sweat and money spent in creating Plame's BJ & Associates deep cover operation and to help overseas operatives regain the trust they need to recruit foreign spies. A patriotic president would re-evaluate his hasty commutation of Libby's sentence and judge it to be immoral, unless he fears the prison time may tempt Libby to sing.
http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070804/OPINION02/708040307
3 comments:
Can't blame anyone for not wanting to work for the CIA as the White House would leak their name at any time. I knew what covert agent was but they really gave Plame a death sentence. Iran knows now what the US knows, to bad Bush/Cheney ordered the leak now we'll never know what Iran is up to. We can all thank the White House for losing all inside information around the world. This is truly the gang who couldn't shoot or it a target.
The author knows the spy business well; I can tell. Anonymous
Yes Anon, you are right. The author knows the CIA business as well as Valerie Plame and her profession. Most folks don't really how much damage and danger that the Bush Administration has done by exposing a covert operative. Not only a violation of national security but putting current and past covert operative's lives in risk.
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