Had an interesting Conversation a couple of weekends ago... (Plame)

[hootinholler]

I've been debating whether or not to post about it, finally made up my mind.

I was at a wedding reception and met a lawyerly gentleman working in the DOJ. Polite and not freeperish really.

"Wow, what luck" thought I as I asked "So, what's the scuttlebutt on the Plame investigation?"

He immediately came back with "she was little more than a clerk in Langley."

"Aha! the party line" I thought as I said "Well then why Fitzpatrick taking so long for then? Isn't there a smoke-fire issue?"

"Well there's also that he might not have jack, after all he's investigating willful disclosure and she was a clerk." He started.

And then I said "Be that as it may, I think Fitz is investigating straight espionage. You know, like what they got the Rosen's on?"

He asked "What for?"

I said "Don't forget they uncovered Brewster Jennings too. That had to be at least code-word stove-piped."

I swear he winced ever so subtly, and asked me who Brewster Jennings is, which I explained and then he said "Well you certainly seem to be up to speed more than most people," and he politely excused himself to get a drink.

As he was walking away he turned back and said "Keep an eye on those guys."

To which I replied that if he ever needed to meet someone in a parking garage, I was his man.

-Hoot

[longship]

1. Interesting

:kick:ed

[DIKB]

2. Nice

Bring up the cover company being blown too, and you take all the wind out of their sails. The Repukes' talking points doesn't cover all the information, just enough to give the banshees something to screech about, nothing more.

[ret5hd]

3. can you explain to me what...

the sentence "That had to be at least code-word stove-piped." means?

sorry, the phrasing of it just doesn't seem to make sense to me. i think i understand the jist of it, i was just wanting a specific meaning.

[hootinholler]

6. Ok, fair enough...

Classified information has 4 basic levels of classification:

• Confidential: Lowest classification level.


• NOFORN: Do not disclose to foreign Nationals. Edit: This technically isn't a classification but a distribution restriction.


• Secret


• Top Secret

These relate to damage levels to the government would result from disclosure.

Within these levels of classification, you also have to have "need to know".

Now, stove-piping is a technique where information is developed by people who only see one part of a larger puzzle, and don't have need to know what's in other parts. To gain access to a stovepipe, you need to be briefed into it and given the name of the pipe, the code-word. You have to call them something. The more stovepipes you can see, the fuller picture of the puzzle you get.

This generally only happens at Top Secret, but isn't unheard of at Secret. That any given word like 'anchovy' is in fact a code word is classified.

-Hoot

[suziedemocrat]

4. So -- is this guy really on our side but can't speack his mind?

[hootinholler]

7. The guy is a carreer GS type...

I think he is worried about his retirement. I would have shrugged it off if he hadn't commented on his way out.

-Hoot

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. What the wince tells me:

That the guys in the DoJ know where the whole thing *can* go, but they don't really want to see it go there and they are hoping that not too many of the members of the public get the minutiae of this and the meanings held within.

Something like what you said was something he just did not want to hear.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. Well, WOW. Renews my hopes that Fitzy's got something

[melissinha]

9. Not necessarily

I hope that Fitz does has more, lets be frank we haven't heard a peep about what Novak told him.... that being said, I think that this gentleman was reacting to the fact that someone isn't just succumbing to the spin, and can see beyond the minutae of Plame's actual job and make a connection to the bigger picture which is Brewster Jennings.... I mean simply for the fact that she worked there in any capacity, her outing equals the entire organization's outing.

Its a big deal.

Thank God we have the ever so wise Air America hosts who do SUCH a good job at decoding and simpolifying matters for us. Particularly our Randi... and let me tell you.... the person that covered the whole Ohio Coingate thing before anyone gave it any credence was Sam Seder.

[gratuitous]

12. We haven't heard much of a peep about anything from Fitz

And that's as it should be -- Kenneth Starr, our last high-profile special prosecutor, was a sieve of politically-motivated leaks designed to bring public pressure on his investigative targets. And our slap-happy liberal media was only too happy to oblige, carrying Starr's water again and again so that it looked like he was really onto something, instead of obsessively pumping a dry well.

Fitzgerald, a real prosecuting attorney with real prosecution experience (how in the world did he get appointed?), is conducting his investigation the way it should be, without fanfare and publicity that can damage the innocent and let the guilty off the hook.

[librechik]

10. I wish you had said "Hey, thousands of people are well aware if that now

Thanks to whoever leaked to Novak." just to see his reaction

:evilgrin:

[hootinholler]

11. I wish I'd had time to pickhis brain. n/t

[hootinholler]

13. .