CIA: Plame Was "Covert"
Ms. Wilson was a covert CIA employee for whom the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States... When traveling overseas, [Plame] always traveled under a cover identity [undercover], sometimes in true name and sometimes in alias -- but always using cover -- whether official or non-official (NOC) -- with no ostensible relationship to the CIA.
The CIA declassified Plame's employment status because "public interest ... outweighed the damage to national security that might reasonably be expected from the official disclosure of [Plame's] employment and cover status."
Plame became a pawn in official justification for the Iraq War after her husband publicly contradicted assertions from the White House. Her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times that accused the Bush Administration of deliberately misleading the public about the possibility of Iraq having sought nuclear weapons material from Niger. On the heels of that charge, conservative columnist Robert Novak published a column noting that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. The CIA cried foul -- insisting that a covert agent had been unmasked.
After a protracted investigation, special counsel Fitzgerald indicted Libby on obstruction of justice and perjury charges. He was found guilty in March.
Last fall, David Corn wrote in the Nation that Plame "was an operations officer working on a top priority of the Bush Administration" -- weapons of mass destruction, specifically, whether or not there were any in Iraq. Her group, renamed the Joint Task Force on Iraq, "found nothing. The few scientists it managed to reach insisted Saddam had no WMD programs."
But WMD was a prime rationale given for invading Iraq in March 2003.
This new data confirms that Plame operated with non-official cover (NOC), and Corn asserts that "NOCs are the most clandestine of the CIA's frontline officers ... they do not have the protection of diplomatic immunity."
Nevertheless, many supporters of the Administration have contended for almost four years that Plame was not a covert agent. If so, no laws would have been broken. However, in August 2003, former Nixon staffer John Dean disagreed, writing in FindLaw that the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Intelligence Identities and Protection Act of 1982 might be applicable:
In July 1984, Samuel Morrison - the grandson of the eminent naval historian with the same name - leaked three classified photos to Jane's Defense Weekly. The photos were of the Soviet Union's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which had been taken by a U.S. spy satellite.
Although the photos compromised no national security secrets ... the Reagan Administration prosecuted the leak ... [arguing that] the leak of classified material alone was enough to trigger imprisonment for up to ten years and fines. And the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit agreed.
Where does this leave Patrick Fitzgerald? Does his investigation end with the sentencing of Libby? Will this latest confirmation prompt Congress to action, given the funny business at Justice with US Attorneys?
Inquiring minds, and all of that.
Added: Dan Froomkin thinks Fitz is still looking at Cheney:
[Fitzgerald asks if there was] concerted action by any combination of the officials known to have disclosed the information about Ms. Plame to the media as anonymous sources, and also whether any of those who were involved acted at the direction of others. This was particularly important in light of Mr. Libby's statement to the FBI that he may have discussed Ms. Wilson's employment with reporters at the specific direction of the Vice President.
Captain's Quarters blames Tenet and the SundriesShack calls the story a "dead horse." Heading Right continues to insist that Plame was not covert.
For the record, I don't understand why Plame's appearing in Who's Who means she was not covert (one of the arguments given). "Covert" doesn't mean you hide, it simply means you hide who is your real employer. And your real job.
Also, see a timeline; Libby Found Guilty; the players.