Countdown to Rove Indictments...

The bottom line is that Wilson learned nothing of real impact in Niger. He did no undercover work. He did nothing but have tea with a few officials. Is anyone naive to believe they are going to tell him anything substantive? Wilson of all people should know this. Then to come back here and start claiming he has proof of anything and start writing op ed pieces is suspicious in my opinion.

See I AM trying to lighten up and be less dour and serious all the time.

Quack, quak.

Why didn't the administration hold a news conference and announce these facts?

They could have declassified his trip and told all the details. Why didn't they since it was so easy to defend against him?

If Wilson in reality learned nothing and only had tea then why do you even have to bring up who sent him? The argument you make if true is strong enough with nothing else. Why didn't the WH just lay it out there? The underhanded revealing of classified status of CIA agents raises some serious suspicions, don't you think? Either the case was not as simple as you think or the WH is completely incompetent.

Tico, I would be interested in what you have to say about Parados argument that Fitzgerald asserted that Plame being a CIA agent was classified. I have pointed out that at the same time he also said in the press conference (that Parados provided a link for) that he was not prepared to assert that she was a covert agent. There seems to be a difference, and it is my impression that the latter would be the most pertinent to this case, not the former?

It is a crime to reveal classified information. Plame's status was classified.
Title 18 section 798 makes the revealing of classified information a crime.

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

...

On Chris Matthews' Hardball Tuesday evening, MSNBC correspondent David Shuster provided updates on what RAW STORY first reported in February: that outed CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson was working on Iran at the time she was outed (The video of Shuster's report is now available here).

Shuster's Tuesday report suggested that the Office of Vice President Dick Cheney was aware of the sensitivity of Plame's work, though there are no indications he knew she was working on Iran. His report Monday, which can be read here was the first television report to identify Plame's Iran work.

RAW STORY's Larisa Alexandrovna broke the story earlier this year, which went unnoticed by the mainstream media (Read our full story).

According to current and former intelligence officials, Plame Wilson, who worked on the clandestine side of the CIA in the Directorate of Operations as a non-official cover (NOC) officer, was part of an operation tracking distribution and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction technology to and from Iran.

#
David Shuster: While the heart of the CIA leak investigation is the Bush administration's agressive defense of the WMD case for war in Iraq, there is new evidence now the defense may have undermined intelligence efforts on Iran.

The key player in the CIA leak story is Valerie Wilson, a CIA operative whose identity was outed by white house officials.

As MSNBC first reported yesterday, Wilson was not just undercover... but was, according to intelligence sources, part of an effort three years ago to monitor the proliferation of nuclear weapons material into Iran. And the sources allege that when Mrs. Wilson's cover was blown, part of the administration's ability to track Iran's nuclear ambitions was damaged as well.

There is no evidence Vice President Cheney, who gave information to his now indicted chief of staff Scooter Libby, knew what Wilson was involved in. But intelligence experts say the Vice President appears to have had indications that Wilson's responsibilities were sensitive. The Libby indictment says, quote, "on or about June 12, 2003, Libby was advised by the Vice President of the United States that Wilson's wife worked at the Central Intelligence Agency in the Counterproliferation Division."

In the Intelligence community, that division means something special.

Rand Beers: You know for a fact that firstly, the people who work there could be undercover agents working in that office or people on the agent's side of the CIA. And secondly, the issues were among the two most important issues the CIA was working on."

Vice President Cheney was no stranger to the CIA. In the run-up to the Iraq war, he visited CIA headquarters on half a dozen occasions. And Scooter Libby, his chief of staff, was also well versed on the intelligence community.

But prosecution documents in the Libby case paint a picture of a white house so intent on undercutting Cheney critic Joe Wilson that officials failed to consider the possible harm to Wilson's wife or the possible damage to the CIA. In other words, say intelligence experts, the white house war on the Wilsons may have actually weakened the administration's war on terror.

Rand Beers: Even at the time of the undermining in the summer of 2003, we were still deeply worried about what was happening in the Iranian nuclear program. So, why would you want to undermine that."

Presidential advisor Karl Rove has told colleagues he had no idea Valerie Wilson's status was sensitive.

As for the Vice President, the Libby indictment states that Cheney spoke to his chief of staff Libby about Valerie Wilson on at least two occasions. One occasion was just hours before Libby allegedly disclosed information about Wilson to reporters Matt Cooper and Judith Miller.

What did the Vice President tell Scooter Libby? And did either official discuss checking with the CIA to determine if Valerie Wilson's identity and work were sensitive? Today, the intelligence community is split on whether Iran is close or not to developing a nuclear weapon. And the CIA refuses to say anything about possible sources in Iran.

Shuster: But the White House has declared Iran to be one of the nation's biggest threats. And it's because of jobs like agent Wilson's that President Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush once declared that those who expose CIA sources are the most insidious of traitors. I'm David Shuster, for hardball, in Washington.

The article on which this thread was based is still linked to on the Truthout site. Maybe those guys get up late.

I do believe intelligence about Iran and WMD qualifies as "signals intelligence."

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

The paragraph identifying her as the wife of former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV was clearly marked to show that it contained classified material at the "secret" level, two sources said. The CIA classifies as "secret" the names of officers whose identities are covert, according to former senior agency officials.

Anyone reading that paragraph should have been aware that it contained secret information, though that designation was not specifically attached to Plame's name and did not describe her status as covert, the sources said. It is a federal crime, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for a federal official to knowingly disclose the identity of a covert CIA official if the person knows the government is trying to keep it secret.

SEC. 606. [50 U.S.C. 426] For the purposes of this title:

(1) The term "classified information" means information or material designated and clearly marked or clearly represented, pursuant to the provisions of a statute or Executive order (or a regulation or order issued pursuant to a statute or Executive order), as requiring a specific degree of protection against unauthorized disclosure for reasons of national security.

You realize, don't you, that in addition to completely ignoring my question pertaining to Title 18, § 798, both of your quoted paragraphs immediately preceeding this post relate to the IIPA, which requires that Plame be a "covert agent" as that term is defined in Sec. 426 thereof -- not a classified agent -- for there to be a violation of that act

If you'd like to reframe your argument, I'd be happy to respond.

I have to say in the Bush apologists' defense that they seem to only resort to splitting-hairs and semantics when they suspect that what one of theirs did was wrong.

I didn't quite understand SP 798 which is why I ignored it to be flat honest. Is there a legal difference between a classified agent and a covert agent?

Or do you and a majority of your ilk just enjoy playing sematics?

If Plame's name was marked (S)for classified then that means that the CIA didn't want her name known.

She was working on Iran WMD intelligence issues at the time of her outing. If someone knowingly leaked her name when it was clearly marked (S) merely for political payback, then at the very least that someone sucks and maybe even violated the Classified discloser Act thing.

Gee Tico,
I didn't see you jumping all over okie for claiming Starr convicted people of crimes associated with whitewater. Does the law matter only when it helps you split hairs?