Watching the webcast of Friday’s hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was a new lesson in GOP denial over the CIA leak.
The new talking point used by administration apologists is that ‘Nobody in the White House knew Valerie Plame was covert.’ Sometimes they cling to a veneer of dignity by softening it: ‘there is no evidence that anyone in the White House knew Mrs. Wilson’s status was covert.’
Then they get a little blunter and blame the CIA point-blank for not taking adequate precautions to protect Plame’s cover. Rep. Tom Davis, Republican of Virginia, who agrees that “this should never have been leaked,” nevertheless asks, “Did they send their A team to talk to Novak?” But they don't ask it solely about Novak; they ask the same thing about administration officials.
In other words, did anyone in CIA particularly emphasize and impress upon these White House and OVP officials who had top-secret clearances that Valerie Plame was an undercover operative?
This seems to me a strained argument. These clowns have pulled off the feat of making me – someone who regrets every instance of ‘blowback’ the palace-guard sectors in CIA ever committed – feel a trifle protective toward the CIA. Ever since 9/11 I have been critical of the CIA for shielding behind the selective celebrity book-writing of Bob Woodward (and look where it’s gotten them). Now I feel sorry for them.
Let’s put our thinking caps on.
First, a general point: According to the administration narrative itself, (a) the first thing any of these characters heard about Mrs. Wilson, aside from her being married to Joseph Wilson, was that she was in CIA. (b) Their next argument, if you recall, was that her CIA employment was mere gossip.
Interesting segue. If I had been a top-secret-cleared government official in this notoriously buttoned-down current White House, I would have thought that (a) was reason to pause in idle chitchat (b), myself.
What did they think ‘CIA’ stands for?
COMMUNICATE IT AUDIBLY?
Second: As the declassified exhibits in the Libby trial demonstrate, every memo or report transmitted as part of a briefing on Joe Wilson’s trip or on
Third: If you were Dick Cheney’s CIA briefer, would you like to be the one saying, ‘Now remember, Mr. Vice President, be sure to keep this under your hat . . .’?
‘Mum’s the word, Mr. Libby. Whatever you do, please be sure not to emphasize her CIA employment, especially not to anyone in journalism . . .’
‘Okay, Mr. Armitage. Remember, loose lips sink ships. Should you by chance go talking to any reporters, try not to choose as one of your first topics current employees of CIA, and especially try not to home in on NOCs in the Counter-Proliferation Division . . .’
In spite of the ludicrousness of this argument, obviously the CIA did in some sense make a mistake in confiding critical information to the Bush-Cheney team. you could argue that the entire CIA made a mistake not submitting a resignation en masse on December 12, 2000. However, the IC is supposed to be able to inform the Executive; that’s what it’s there for. Former CIA officer Robert Grenier, testifying in the Libby trial, acknowledged some distress over having shared the information about Mrs. Wilson with Libby – but Libby was also told about her by Marc Grossman and by Cheney.
So who told Cheney? Was it former CIA Director George Tenet? And when? Who told Richard Armitage and Marc Grossman, in the State Dept?
GOP officeholders like
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