Thursday, July 14, 2005
Karl Rove - "Outing" of a "Covert Agent"?
Anyone still contending that Karl Rove "outed" a "covert agent" in violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 must read the amicus brief submitted by a gaggle of news companies dated March 23, 2005. It offers facts that refute any possible argument of such violation.
The statute does not apply to every CIA employee, but only to "covert agents." A "covert agent" is one who is working in a foreign assignment or did so within 5 year of the time of disclosure. Ms. Plame returned to the US in 1997 and did not have a subsequent foreing assignment. Bob Novak's column appeared July 14, 2003, over 5 years after she returned to the US.
The statute requires a showing that the "United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal [the] covert agent's intelligence relationship to the United States." The amicus brief contends that Ms. Plame "worked a desk job at CIA headquarters, where she could be seen traveling to and from, and active at, Langley." This hardly suggests either that Ms. Plame was working as a "covert agent" or that the United States was concealing her intelligence relationship to the United States.
The amicus brief points out that the CIA sent Mr. Wilson, not a CIA employee, to Niger on a mission to determine whether Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium. Mr. Wilson had not served in Niger in over 20 years and had no expertise in nuclear weapons.
Even more shockingly, Mr. Wilson was not required to sign a confidentiality agreement and the CIA allowed him to write a tendentious op-ed piece in the New York Times announcing to the world his mission to Niger and his alleged report to the CIA resulting from such mission. This clearly suggests that the CIA was either not seeking to conceal Ms. Plame's intelligence relationship to the Unted States or was grossly negligent in doing so.
Furthermore, does the CIA normally allow its contractors to publish their reports to the general public? This seems extremely unprofessional at the least and raises questions about the seriousness of Mr. Wilson's efforts in Niger, the seriousness with which the CIA viewed those efforts, extreme mismanagement by the CIA or a conscious decision by members of the CIA to attempt to embarrass the administration.
According to the amicus brief, Mr. Novak obtained his information regarding Ms. Plame simply by telephoning the CIA. They verified her employment and "also failed to give him a serious request not to publish her name." If true, these facts clearly indicate that either Ms. Plame was not a covert agent or the CIA grossly failed in its duties to take "affirmative measures to conceal such agent's intelligence relationship to the United States."
Furthermore, legislative history indicates that Congress sought to "exclude the possibility that casual discussion, ... journalistic pursuit of a story on intelligence, or the disclosure of illegality or impropriety in government" would be chilled by the statute. The statute sought to "criminalize only disclosures that 'clearly represent a conscious and pernicious effort to identify and expose agents with the intent to impair or impede the foreign intelligence activities of the United States." (emphasis in original, see amicus brief, pp. 6-7 for references)
Matt Cooper's questions regarding Mr. Wilson clearly represented the journalistic pursuit of a story on intelligence. Discussion of Mr. Wilson's being hired by the CIA clearly fall within the ambit of the disclosure of an impropriety. The hiring, mission and subsequent publication of findings of that mission in the New York Times raise many questions of impropriety. In addition, from a legal standpoint, federal law prohibits nepotism. The recommendation of a person for employment may fall within that prohibition. Little wonder that Mr. Wilson has been so sensitive regarding how he obtained his assignment.
Obviously, we do not know all of the facts which the Special Prosecutor has and is pursuing. However, the facts now before us raise serious doubt as to the application of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 to Ms. Plame.
# posted by Thomas A. Becket : 12:02 AM
