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REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS
White House outs CIA secret agent
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 7:58 AM
GEEZER
Keep the Shiny side up
Quote: The CIA’s top officer in Kabul was exposed Saturday by the White House when his name was inadvertently included on a list provided to news organizations of senior U.S. officials participating in President Obama’s surprise visit with U.S. troops. The White House recognized the mistake and quickly issued a revised list that did not include the individual, who had been identified on the initial release as the “Chief of Station” in Kabul, a designation used by the CIA for its highest-ranking spy in a country. The disclosure marked a rare instance in which a CIA officer working overseas had his cover — the secrecy meant to protect his actual identity — pierced by his own government. The only other recent case came under significantly different circumstances, when former CIA operative Valerie Plame was exposed as officials of the George W. Bush administration sought to discredit her husband, a former ambassador and fierce critic of the decision to invade Iraq. The Post is withholding the name of the CIA officer at the request of Obama administration officials who warned that the officer and his family could be at risk if the name were published. The CIA and the White House declined to comment. The CIA officer was one of 15 senior U.S. officials identified as taking part in a military briefing for Obama at Bagram air base, a sprawling military compound north of Kabul. Others included U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan James B. Cunningham and Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., the commander of U.S. and coalition forces in the country. Their names were included on a list of participants in the briefing provided by U.S. military officials to the White House press office. The list was circulated by e-mail to reporters who traveled to Afghanistan with Obama, and disseminated further when it was included in a “pool report,” or summary of the event meant to be shared with other news organizations, including foreign media, not taking part in the trip. In this case, the pool report was filed by Washington Post White House bureau chief Scott Wilson. Wilson said he had copied the list from the e-mail provided by White House press officials. He sent his pool report to the press officials, who then distributed it to a list of more than 6,000 recipients. Wilson said that after the report was distributed, he noticed the unusual reference to the station chief and asked White House press officials in Afghanistan whether they had intended to include that name. Initially, the press office raised no objection, apparently because military officials had provided the list to distribute to news organizations. But senior White House officials realized the mistake and scrambled to issue an updated list without the CIA officer’s name. The mistake, however, already was being noted on Twitter, although without the station chief’s name. It is unclear whether the disclosure will force the CIA to pull the officer out of Afghanistan. As the top officer in one of the agency’s largest overseas posts, with hundreds of officers, analysts and other subordinates, the station chief in Kabul probably has been identified to senior Afghan government officials and would not ordinarily take part in clandestine missions beyond the U.S. Embassy compound. The identities of at least three CIA station chiefs in Pakistan have been exposed in recent years. In one case, a CIA officer became a target of death threats after his cover was blown, forcing the agency to rush him out of the country.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 8:37 AM
AURAPTOR
America loves a winner!
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 10:06 AM
REAVERFAN
Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: But BUSH! Valerie Plame!!! Nothing to see here, move on.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 11:21 AM
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 12:02 PM
MIKER
Once I found Serenity
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 12:23 PM
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 2:00 PM
STORYMARK
Quote:Originally posted by reaverfan: Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: But BUSH! Valerie Plame!!! Nothing to see here, move on. Correct. A mistake by a flunky doesn't begin to compare to an intentional outing done for political spite.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 2:10 PM
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 2:25 PM
Quote:Originally posted by reaverfan: A mistake by a flunky doesn't begin to compare to an intentional outing done for political spite.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 2:48 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Geezer: Quote:Originally posted by reaverfan: A mistake by a flunky doesn't begin to compare to an intentional outing done for political spite. Sure doesn't give you much faith in the competence and professionalism of the President's staff when they have to find out they leaked the station chief's name to 6000 people from Twitter messages. "When your heart breaks, you choose what to fill the cracks with. Love or hate. But hate won't ever heal. Only love can do that."
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 2:49 PM
NEWOLDBROWNCOAT
Quote: Initially, the press office raised no objection, apparently because military officials had provided the list to distribute to news organizations.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 2:50 PM
CHRISISALL
Quote:Originally posted by Geezer: Sure doesn't give you much faith in the competence and professionalism of the President's staff when they have to find out they leaked the station chief's name to 6000 people from Twitter messages.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 4:32 PM
JONGSSTRAW
Quote: I hope Obama is properly embarrassed by this.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 4:34 PM
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 4:59 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Jongsstraw: Quote: I hope Obama is properly embarrassed by this. You hope? Really? Oh Shirley you jest.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 5:22 PM
Quote:Originally posted by chrisisall: Quote:Originally posted by Jongsstraw: Quote: I hope Obama is properly embarrassed by this. You hope? Really? Oh Shirley you jest.The Plame thing was malice, this was stupidity; neither is at all acceptable.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 6:14 PM
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 6:31 PM
Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: THIS is far more serious than Val Plame, who was a desk jockey in VA, vs a front liner in Afghanistan.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 6:33 PM
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 6:49 PM
Quote:Originally posted by MIKER: This is the way I remember it. The thing about it is that Cheney still vehemently defends all he said back then even though facts now show him to have been incorrect in just about everything. "Cheney retaliated against Joe Wilson who was married to Plame because Cheney and Bush claimed that Saddam was buying "yellow cake" uranium in Niger to make bombs. Joe Wilson went down there to investigate and disproved the claim. So he made that public. Someone from the White House talked to Judith Miller and Matthew Dodd to reveal Valerie Plame's work at the CIA. So Plame had to quit her job. If there was no substance to the story, why bother to force Joe Wilson's wife out in the open"? https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100904113533AAi4res
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 7:08 PM
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 7:43 PM
WHOZIT
Quote:Originally posted by MIKER: I believe in my heart George Bush new nothing about it. I also think Cheney and libby were guilty as hell.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 7:53 PM
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 7:55 PM
Quote:Originally posted by MIKER: Quote:Originally posted by whozit: Quote:Originally posted by MIKER: I believe in my heart George Bush new nothing about it. I also think Cheney and libby were guilty as hell. Why don't you libs just admit it, these dimwits could fuck up a wet dream. To which dimwits are you referring? Door number 1: The past administration(Bush) Door number 2: The current administration(Obama) Door number 3: The next administration(Clinton) I better duck I sense incoming objections.
Quote:Originally posted by whozit: Quote:Originally posted by MIKER: I believe in my heart George Bush new nothing about it. I also think Cheney and libby were guilty as hell. Why don't you libs just admit it, these dimwits could fuck up a wet dream.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 8:03 PM
Wednesday, May 28, 2014 12:37 AM
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