Wednesday, July 20, 2005

CIA Leak?

So what to make of the alleged CIA leak? There is an ongoing investigation regarding the leaking of a name of a CIA operative. It is a violation of federal law to knowingly reveal the name of a CIA operative. However the law is very hard to prosecute. The CIA must be taking affirmative measures to conceal the identity of an undercover agent. That agent must also be either currently or in the past 5 years been working outside the United States. Former Deputy Ambassador to Iraq, Joe Wilson has accused the Bush administration namely Karl Rove the former Political Director for the White House now the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for naming Wilson's wife Valerie Plame, in retaliation for saying that the claim that the White House made that Saddam was attempting to aquire yellow cake(uranium) to produce nuclear weapons was not true. Currently there is a grand jury investigation to determine whether there was a violation of the law and if there was who it was. This law is very hard to prosecute because you have to prove that the person doing it knew that the person was undercover. Rove may not have known at the time that Valerie Plame was a CIA operative. Although it seems unclear whether she was under cover or not since her office was in Langley, Virginia. Judith Miller of the New York Times is in jail on a contempt of court citation after she refused to reveal the name of an anonymous source. Matthew Cooper was about to go jail as well but his anonymous source released him of that obligation. This investigation has been going on for a couple of years now.
9:48 PM, July 14, 2005

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