Monday's edition of Investors Business Daily features a (Reuters) photo of Plame on the front page and tells you Plame had nothing new to offer. Its the same nonsense Julie Hirshchfeld Davis (AP) had to offer Friday which makes you wonder if they were all so stunned by what Plame wore [see Greg Mitchell's "Media Reviews Plame's Wardrobe -- But Not White House Coverup" (Editor & Publisher)] that they missed what she was saying in the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Or maybe they still put their faith in the breathing fungus that is Vicky ToeJam? "Later, Republican attorney Victoria Toensing testified repeatedly to an incredulous committee that Plame was not, in fact, covert, despite the confirmation by the CIA and by Plame."
Let's stick with Vicky ToeJam for a bit. (And note that you can search The Common Ills for more on Vicky ToeJam in 2005.) This ugly, one person megaphone was so busy, since the outing of Valerie Plame, spitting out spin, she didn't have time to identify herself as a friend of Robert Novak (the columnist who outed Plame after the White House fed him the information).
Here's Robert Parry deconstructing ToeJam:
Toensing, who had been buzzing around the TV pundit shows decrying Libby’s prosecution, wrote that "Plame was not covert. She worked at CIA headquarters and had not been stationed abroad within five years of the date of Novak’s column."
Though it might not have been clear to a casual reader, Toensing was hanging her claim about Plame not being "covert" on a contention that Plame didn't meet the coverage standards of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.
Toensing's claim was legalistic at best since it obscured the larger point that Plame was working undercover in a classified CIA position and was running agents abroad whose safety would be put at risk by an unauthorized disclosure of Plame's identity.
But Toensing, who promotes herself as an author of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, wasn't even right about the legal details. The law doesn't require that a CIA officer be "stationed" abroad in the preceding five years; it simply refers to an officer who "has served within the last five years outside the United States."
That would cover someone who -- while based in the United States -- went abroad on official CIA business, as Plame testified that she did.
Toensing, who appeared as a Republican witness at the March 16 congressional hearing, was asked about her bald assertion that “Plame was not covert.”
"Not under the law," Toensing responded. "I'm giving you the legal interpretation under the law and I helped draft the law. The person is supposed to reside outside the United States."
But that’s not what the law says, either. It says "served" abroad, not "reside."
When asked whether she had spoken to the CIA or Plame about Plame’s covert status, Toensing said, "I didn't talk to Ms. Plame or the CIA. I can just tell you what's required under the law. They can call anybody anything they want to do in the halls" of the CIA.
In other words, Toensing had no idea about the facts of the matter; she didn't know how often Plame might have traveled abroad in the five years before her exposure; Toensing didn't even get the language of the statute correct.
Oh, little Vicky, you were always someone's fool.
Now that we've dispensed with Crazy, let's address Valerie Plame's testimony.
The committee chair, Henry Waxman, opened the hearing with a statement which included this:
I have been advised by the CIA and that even now, after all that has happened, I cannot disclose the full nature, scope and character of Ms. Wilson's service to our nation without causing serious damage to our national security interests.
But General Hayden and the CIA have cleared these following comments for today's hearing.
During her employment at the CIA, Ms. Wilson was undercover. Her employment status with the CIA was classified information, prohibited from disclosure under Executive Order 12958.
At the time of the publication of Robert Novak's column on July 14, 2003, Ms. Wilson's CIA employment status was covert. This was classified information.
Valerie Plame was covert, her "status with the CIA was classified information." Waxman was cleared by the CIA to state that upfront.
Plame testified under oath. She opened with a rundown of what she had done at the CIA:
I worked on behalf of the national security of our country, on behalf of the people of the United States until my name and true affiliation were exposed in the national media on July 14, 2003, after a leak by administration officials.
Today, I can tell this committee even more. In the run-up to the war with Iraq I worked in the counter proliferation division of the CIA -- still as a covert officer whose affiliation with the CIA was classified.
I raced to discover solid intelligence for senior policymakers on Iraq's presumed weapons of mass destruction programs.
While I helped to manage and run secret worldwide operations against this WMD target from CIA headquarters in Washington, I also traveled to foreign countries on secret missions to find vital intelligence.
I loved my career because I love my country. I was proud of the serious responsibilities entrusted to me as a CIA covert operations officer and I was dedicated to this work.
It was not common knowledge on the Georgetown cocktail circuit that everyone knew where I worked.
But all of my efforts on behalf of the national security of the United States -- all of my training, all of the value of my years of service -- were abruptly ended when my name and identity were exposed irresponsibly.
In the course of the trial of Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, "Scooter" Libby, I was shocked by the evidence that emerged.
My name and identity were carelessly and recklessly abused by senior government officials in both the White House and the State Department.
All of them understood that I worked for the CIA and, having signed oaths to protect national security secrets, they should have been diligent in protecting me and every CIA officer.
Along with testifying that she was a covert agent, Plame addressed how it felt to be outed by the administration ("hit in the gut"), how it put people she was working with at risk, how it lowered morale at the CIA (obviously, when the White House thinks nothing of an outing an agent, everyone's going to be concerned about their own cover), how the criminal act could cause potential informants to be reluctant about coming forward since they had seen how cavalier the administration could be about protecting the nation's own agents, that her area of expertise was WMD (something you might think was needed) and that she had been overseas, while undercover during the last five years prior to the outing in the Robert Novak column. [For more on Plame's testimony, you can check out David Swanson's live blogging of it.]
As if Plame's testimony wasn't news all by itself, another bombshell emerged when James Knodell, Director of the White House's Office of Security, testified. Knodell repeatedly responded to questions about whether or not there was an internal investigation with "Not by my office" and "Not in my office." Robert Parry (Consortium News) explores the revelations in Knodell's testimony (the White House originally objected to Knodell testifying):
Though Bush declared in September 2003 that he was determined to get to the bottom of who blew Plame's cover, it was revealed at the March 16 hearing that the White House never even undertook an administrative review to assess responsibility for the leak.
James Knodell, the hapless director of the White House security office, was forced to concede that no internal security investigation was performed; no security clearances were suspended or revoked; no punishment of any kind was meted out to White House political adviser Karl Rove who is now known to have revealed Plame's classified identity to at least two reporters.
The fact that, after outing Plame to reporters, Rove still has a security clearance was raised in the hearing as well. But the AP and many others want to say that there were no revelations, no bombshells. Apparently, the Beltway Babies work overtime when it comes to protecting their own.
I want to tell you all a story 'bout a covert CIA agent's life
She had a husband who called out the administration lies
Well her husband came home one afternoon and didn't even call on the way
He said, "Val, Robert Novak's outed you in his column today."
The press ignored the obvious but focused on her manner of dress
They lied that she was on a Vanity Fair cover and trying to impress
Vicky Toejam was a one woman echo chamber for her friend
Robert Novak -- who decided to up and out Valerie Plame one day.
Well, it happened that a committe called her to testify
They were sure surprised when Plame strode in and didn't bat an eye
And as she sat down, I still recall the words she had to say
She said, "I'd like to address this to the Beltway Babies USA"
Well, there's Danny Burton still just sittin' there
He wouldn't start an investigation into my outing when he was the committee chair
And Mr. Issa, can you coin another term like non-Nixonian?
Or better yet, how 'bout you "Step away from the podium"?
Well, Gil Gutknecht couldn't be here 'cause he lost his seat in Nov. 2006
Same election that put an end to Tom DeLay's dirty tricks
Now some of you have the nerve to say my cover wasn't blown?
Well, this is just a little Peyton Place and you're all Beltway Baby overgrown
No I wouldn't put you on because it really did, it happened just this way
The day my Valerie Plame socked it to the Beltway Babies USA
The day my Valerie Plame socked it to the Beltway Babies USA
