OCTOBER 1 UPDATE
Valerie Plame was reportedly working as an analyst, not as an undercover operative, at the time she was identified publicly in the press as an undercover agent for the Central Intelligence Agency. Why the furor?
Two reasons: first, Plame had previously worked undercover;
second, the suspicion is that she was “outed” in retaliation against her
husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson, who famously reported his findings that Saddam
Hussein was not trying to buy “yellow uranium” in
Leaving aside for the nonce the possibility that
The CIA is really two nominally distinct intelligence agencies, usually referred to as the DDO and DDI, meaning the directorate of operations and the directorate of intelligence. The lines separating the so-called “spooks” and “black bag” people from the analysts has gotten blurred over time, and any number of people have shifted from one to the other.
The intelligence community, headed by the Director of Central Intelligence, who is also the director of CIA, includes other departments which have intelligence units: Defense and State are the primary players, but, Justice (FBI) and others now play major roles – and all draw upon the intelligence “feed” from the National Security Agency, and others.
Every embassy has a station chief, or head of intelligence, always CIA. A station may consist of any number of specialists, some are disclosed and some are not. Every major country has people who serve as second secretaries, cultural attaches, trade specialists, interpreters, even staff like chauffeurs, who have intelligence responsibilities, but are not disclosed as such, ie, their presence made known to the host government. Any number of embassy personnel who are on the diplomatic list may have intelligence functions. Then, there are people who travel out from Washington, who have dual responsibilities, and are possessed of a great deal of top secret, often compartmentalized information, and who engage in what are patently intelligence activities abroad.
A great deal of information is gathered, at
Cocktail parties, dinners, trade association meetings are very much venues for exchanges of information.
A primary responsibility of every embassy official, regardless of function, is to not only know the identity of foreign counterparts, but to cultivate them. Intelligence personnel not only need to know their intelligence counterparts in the host government, but, also the intelligence operatives of other countries – agents of influence. The average citizen would be surprised how much “intelligence” is traded – not the selling of secrets like Aldrich Ames – but the sharing of knowledge which helps maintain the status quo. The world’s best poker players could take lessons from some of our people with intelligence responsibilities – knowing what to give, what to hold back. This is known and accepted.
Then, there is the clandestine gathering of information,
usually but not always involving undercover operatives. An operative will mine a
source, not necessarily converting one into a double agent, but establishing an
information channel. The source may
be a high ranking government official, but may be a much lower ranking person
with access to sensitive information. The
source may be a military officer with special knowledge of arms and systems, or
a banker who knows inside information about the financial affairs of governments
and key industries, or a reporter who is known to have deep access.
A priority task of every embassy and especially its intelligence
officers, and, to key people in
The people who live at what is called “the sharp end” of the intelligence business are the deep-cover operatives, who assume a phony identity, and indeed try in every aspect to become a citizen of a foreign country, or, in fact may be a foreign national whom we have recruited. Their activities by definition are clandestine. Needed information may be gathered from inside sources by an undisclosed intelligence officer, ie, one who has other nominal duties and is not identified as such to the other side, but, he or she essentially remains an American. A deep cover operative, who may be a foreign national or is masquerading as one, is quintessentially a spy.
To a degree, everyone who obtains the secrets of another government, or its military, or its industries, is a spy. There are many degrees of separation among all the different types of people who collect these secrets, and those degrees are important.
The critical information any intelligence “gatherer” possesses is names. Sure, the trajectory, aiming mechanisms, payloads, etc., of missiles is important, but the real currency of intelligence is people, graded by their degree of access and reliability.
Logically, undercover operatives, whether they are undisclosed embassy staff or deep cover operatives, know the names of sources, and, the degree to which those sources assist us in the gathering of clandestine information can imperil their lives.
What is at risk here are the people with whom Valerie Plame may have had contact while working undercover, contacts which would have been known in some instances, but, not known as intelligence contacts. With disclosure, every person with whom she, or any agent, had contact, could be suspect in their native country.
If, in fact, the ongoing investigation should conclude that her role was broached as reprisal against her husband, then there is damage of another kind. Thus, while Robert Novak may have treated the disclosure as a throw-away item, buried in his column, the CIA had no choice but to determine the source(s) of the leak.
Leaks are a way of life in
Unfortunately, Congress is not inhibited by the same laws or conventions. Not only do Members of Congress leak almost every secret, usually to curry favor with the press and not infrequently to inflict damage on an administration, an agency, or a person, but Members have been known to disclose the names of operatives and informants.
Three hearings come to mind.
Asked to testify before a subcommittee of House Foreign Affairs, I was subjected to a barrage of questions about a highly classified report I had written; looking around the room, I not only saw staffers whom I knew were not cleared for this information, but some reporters. I refused to answer, unless the Chairman cleared the room, which he declined to do. When I walked out, NBC’s camera focused on me, then on my locked briefcase: “There goes the State Department, with all of its secrets locked away in Mr. Hesse’ briefcase; he refused to answer the Committee’s questions.”
And, with reason. The
There is nothing Congress likes more than to create a brouhaha when an operation fails. What did we know, when did we know it, who gave us the information, etc. The political appointees who held high-ranking positions at State and other agencies avoided these hearings like the plague, so this hearing, like so many others, had a cadre of professional officers at the table. Under great pressure, the FBI agreed to name the informants if the room was cleared, and did so. When we adjourned, two Congressmen raced out into the hall, faced the cameras, and told the world that the informants were known – and I believe they even gave out their names. The informants were blown.
While I traveled the world building the consensus on standards for coping with financial crime, and collecting information needed to enforce those statutes, in my capacity as chairman of the external relations committee of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force, I was also creating, in my role as State’s chief of financial intelligence, a network of highly-placed people around the world – bankers, lawyers, ministers, intelligence and enforcement officials, etc – which served many useful purposes and helped derail a number of fraudulent schemes. I resisted efforts within State to disclose the list – one political appointee who was going back to the Hill tried to have my safe drilled out – and did not keep a list in my office. The number of people I trusted with names that sensitive had been reduced to a minority of one – me. After 911, I turned it over to the FBI.
Reminds me of what Pogo said: We have seen the enemy and it is us.
COMMITMENTS
Tara Tembey, UT, CA Breeze A, to Univ of Tennessee-Chattanooga
Melody Popravak, P,
Lauren Roark, SS,OF, P. Birmingham Vipers, to Univ of
Angelena Mexicano, SS, San Jose Strikkers Gold, to Univ of
Ricci Robben, P,OF, San Jose Strikkers Gold, to Univ of
NEW
Oklahoma City, OK---The Amateur Softball Association
launched a new feature today on its official website www.asasoftball.com
to help fans navigate to information on topics that they are most interested in.
The ASA Communications Center will serve as the central hub for information
relating to ASA events, teams, umpires and association members. All fans can now
access association newsletters such as Inside Pitch and Youthtalk. Articles
including feature stories will be posted in the different sections of the
If you have a story idea that you would like to be considered for the
GILLIAN BOXX
In answer to a reader inquiry, SPY has learned that Gillian, a catcher on the 1996 Olympic gold medal team, and, for a time an assistant coach, has become a firefighter. Confirms my belief that catchers are a special breed: fearless. Shannon Boxx, starring with the USA Soccer Team, says Gillian was her idol (and sister) growing up, noting that Gillian already had a gold medal.
PET PEEVES
That hard-rock band in
The beat-the-deadline effort by telemarketers which also included blitzing the Internet with fax messages. I must have bought something with a fax order; this past week, I have deluged with offers to buy, buy, buy. Each fax provides a number you can call to have your fax number deleted; fine, if you can get through. One marketer’s number was a toll call. Another sent back a fax, to ask if I was sure I did not want their offerings.
The abuse of women in the
Madonna. Madonna
kissing
Drivers who speed through parking lots. Drivers who cut in at the head of the line at exits, creating just the kind of stoppage they are trying to avoid. Drivers who play stereos with bass so loud my fillings vibrate. The snotty kid up the street who races down our street, despite the children-at-play warnings. (In my hometown, the municipal swimming pool was up on Red Hill, the highest point in the town, reachable by the widest street in town. Our house was about two-thirds of the way toward Red Hill, which meant that drivers were at cruising speed when they passed our house. We had this huge front lawn, terraced down to the street. So, on the first Saturday of summer, when the pool opened, my father, the Judge, would put a chair down on the lower level, take out his notebook, and write down the license numbers of the speeders. On Monday, he and his good friend the Sheriff would make out the tickets. The judge was much beloved in that town, so no one complained to him. But, I suffered. I would accidentally get pushed into the pool, or, get swatted on the ass with a wet towel in the locker room, etc. But, he was fair. The Judge even fined my mother; in fact, that’s how they met – she was brought into court for excessive speeding – and sentenced to have dinner with the Judge.)
THE DA VINCI CODE
I am having difficulty in getting “into” this book.
Not that I am shocked by
Speaking of things Catholic, the indications are that John
Paul II is slipping into the shadows of his papacy.
You can be sure, when JP II has gone, and white smoke emerges from the
chapel, signifying that a successor has been chosen, the new pope will not be an
American. It’s not just the sex
scandal. The American Catholic
Church has long been too independent, in the minds of the European and
especially Italian cardinals. The
new cardinals just named include additional American cardinals, but, do not be
surprised if the College of Cardinals reaches out to a cardinal from a poor
country, even a minority race, from
LET’S HEAR IT
FOR
Two wealthy Mexican entrepreneurs, including a builder who
played on the Mexican team which won the Little League world series in the
‘50s, are trying to persuade Major League Baseball to put the hapless Montreal
Expos in