Was Valerie Wilson covert?

[Sugarcoated]

Please help me smack this lie down. Once and for all, she WAS covert right? I thought the last word on this was in Fitz's report a few months ago.

[babylonsister]

1. She WAS covert, no question. nt

[flyarm]

2. she was a NOC..it doesn't get more covert!! ..n/t

[Sugarcoated]

3. Is it easy to find in Fitz's website?

Or can you give me a link, or which page it is in the report?

[orleans]

4. yes. she was a noc (non-official cover)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002859980_cia12.html

and fitzgerald's other report DID say that (if memory serves correctly)

[NVMojo]

5. which reminds me, weren't contacts in other countries killed when

she was outed?? Or was that just a possibility of what could happen??

[Kagemusha]

6. Possibility. We aren't cleared to know if it really happened.

If it did, they wouldn't tell us.

[orleans]

7. i think i did hear that at least one person was but

supposedly we'll never know how many for sure

[Technowitch]

8. She was NOC

'Non-official cover' is what that means. It means she traveled under a regular passport, not a diplomatic one -- which means if she got caught talking to any informant or intelligence asset while in a foreign country, they could and likely would convict her for espionage and imprison and/or execute her.

It doesn't get more covert than that.

[w13rd0]

9. Not only was she NOC...

...but the company she "worked for" was part of an a NOC CIA front company that worked in tracking NCB proliferation. The company was outted, and several assets besides her were compromised. In fact, I do recall that someone directly related to the "AQ Khan" network and alQueada was somehow effected. I remember the Bush administration announcing the arrest of one of the many #2 guys, who as it turns out was an informant/asset for the CIA, and after his arrest and the subsequent discovery of the snafu, they had to put him in something akin to witness protection.

Bush is a traitor.

[oasis]

13. Treason: Bush/Rove blew the cover off an important CIA asset.(n/t)

[aden_nak]

10. We don't know if outing her got other NOCs killed.

Because, you know, they are NOCs.

[magellan]

11. Defintely covert, according to acting intelligence officials

From Wikipedia's Valerie Plame entry:

Plame is known to have served in a classified position as a CIA officer. At his October 28, 2005, press conference, Special Counsel Fitzgerald noted:

Valerie Wilson was a CIA officer. In July 2003, the fact that Valerie Wilson was a CIA officer was classified. Not only was it classified, but it was not widely known outside the intelligence community. Valerie Wilson's friends, neighbors, college classmates had no idea she had another life. The fact that she was a CIA officer was not well-known, for her protection or for the benefit of all us. It's important that a CIA officer's identity be protected, that it be protected not just for the officer, but for the nation's security. Valerie Wilson's cover was blown in July 2003. The first sign of that cover being blown was when Mr. Novak published a column on July 14th, 2003.

Some claim to be uncertain as to whether Plame was a covert agent. According to USA Today, Plame worked in the Langley, Virginia, CIA headquarters since 1997, when she returned from her last assignment, and married Joe Wilson and had her twins. <5> Conservative columnist Max Boot argues that it is very unlikely that a CIA employee commuting to the headquarters building each day would be a covert agent. Columnist Robert Novak wrote that an Agency source said Plame "has been an analyst, not in covert operations." <6> It has been speculated that Plame may have worked in the CIA administration in the office of former CIA Deputy Director of Operations (DDO) James Pavitt.

Former CIA officer Larry C. Johnson attempted to clear up the confusion surrounding Plame's status in a column responding to Max Boot: "The law actually requires that a covered person 'served' overseas in the last five years. Served does not mean lived. In the case of Valerie Wilson, energy consultant for Brewster-Jennings, she traveled overseas in 2003, 2002, and 2001, as part of her cover job. She met with folks who worked in the nuclear industry, cultivated sources, and managed spies. She was a national security asset until exposed by Karl Rove and Scooter Libby."<7>

It was confirmed that she was a covert operative early in the investigation by acting intelligence officials, setting the matter to rest.<8>

Of course if you really want to mess with freeper types who cling to this myth, hit them with logic: if Plame wasn't covert, then why is there an active and ongoing investigation to nail those who leaked her identity to the press? They might claim that this is nothing but a politically motivated investigation, but that's an indefensible position when you look at who Fitzgerald's boss is, and which party runs the other two branches of government.

[orleans]

12. great point

"if Plame wasn't covert, then why is there an active and ongoing investigation to nail those who leaked her identity to the press? "