Leak of Agent's Name Causes Exposure of CIA Front Firm

[Newsjock]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40012-2003Oct3.html

By Walter Pincus and Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, October 4, 2003; Page A03

The leak of a CIA operative's name has also exposed the identity of a CIA front company, potentially expanding the damage caused by the original disclosure, Bush administration officials said yesterday.

The company's identity, Brewster-Jennings & Associates, became public because it appeared in Federal Election Commission records on a form filled out in 1999 by Valerie Plame, the case officer at the center of the controversy, when she contributed $1,000 to Al Gore's presidential primary campaign.

After the name of the company was broadcast yesterday, administration officials confirmed that it was a CIA front. They said the obscure and possibly defunct firm was listed as Plame's employer on her W-2 tax forms in 1999 when she was working undercover for the CIA.

... The inadvertent disclosure of the name of a business affiliated with the CIA underscores the potential damage to the agency and its operatives caused by the leak of Plame's identity. Intelligence officials have said that once Plame's job as an undercover operative was revealed, other agency secrets could be unraveled and her sources might be compromised or endangered.

more

[Democrats unite]

1. Way to go Bushco!

eom

[diplomats]

2. Notice the sources for this story

are "Bush admin. officials." Looks like the CIA is releasing more and more incriminating stuff about this WH.

[salin]

3. More interuption on intel on WMD proliferation - the Admin Compromised

National Security... for political gain.

Despicable.

[Cush]

4. as I said in the duped thread

*oops*

But um, why is this onpage A03?

[Newsjock]

5. Not at my paper

It's going to be on A1. :)

[diplomats]

6. Anyone else notice in the article that Wilson and his wife

have hired an attorney to take legal action against those who've defamed them? Sounds like they're giving the GOP a taste of its own medicine.

[Patriot_Spear]

12. Novak refused to answer questions on CNN today- on advice from his Atty.

Says it all really. Don't the repukes always say an innocent man has nothing to hide?

Novak may eventually dodge a criminal charge- but his ass has had it in a civil suit.

[Rose Siding]

43. Won't that be a career killer?

Now that he is more the story than anything he's "allowed" to say, who will listen to him?! Won't the first reaction to anything he writes be "oh, it's not about the story" as the reader stops reading?

[The Icon Painter]

35. Good for Them

John Dean recommended that they do so in his Salon article yesterday. He mentioned that it was a civil lawsuit that began the deluge which became Watergate.

[dArKeR]

7. Aren't all the people she came in contact with in danger of being killed?

Assassinated? No ones knows who she turned everyone she knew is at risk.

2. What China, Russia, Cuba has said all along, 'The US uses diplomatic passports to carry out covert operations...' And what the US denied is shown to the world as true by Novak and Bush.

How much more could Junior destroy the United States position in the world? Our trade with these countries will be hurt. But the Bush Crime Family won't be hurt, it's just us workers who will pay.

[berry]

31. And not just diplomatic passports for cover. Apparently, Plame's

cover was a company. So all American businessmen travelling overseas and working in possibly sensitive "national security"-related fields will be under suspicion. It's not just the actual CIA operatives who will be harmed. Just ordinary Americans travelling abroad will find it harder to gain trust of the people they meet.

Actually, though, I think people in many countries overseas (especially countries that have their own spy agencies--so they're attuned to the idea) have been suspicious for a long time. I think USAID is also widely assumed to be a common cover. Even Peace Corps Volunteers are mistrusted (though the official policy has been not to use Peace Corps--I think). But who knows?

And wasn't David Kay the one (if it WAS only one?) in the American team of inspectors in Iraq who was accused of being CIA? I noticed that the Kay Report was released on the CIA website (linked from the Washington Post)--so maybe he was/is CIA..., though he seems not to be on the same page as the analysts who doubted the WMD tales. Is there a schism at the CIA too?

[karlschneider]

59. Hm. I wonder if this might have ramifications for employees of KBR,

Halliburton & Bechtel...............

:eyes:

[soothsayer]

8. I guess contributing $1000 to gore's campaign

didn't help her win any favor with the criminals in the wh

[northzax]

53. course her husband

gave a grand to chimpy as well... you'd think that would help.

[Patriot_Spear]

9. Goddam it! WHEN is someone going to do something about this!?

What will it take to get some action on this treachery- a pile of dead agents?

[Spazito]

10. Whoa! This part sure explains why Novak "pled the fifth" today!

The name of the CIA front company was broadcast yesterday by Novak, the syndicated journalist who originally identified Plame. Novak, highlighting Wilson's ties to Democrats, said on CNN that Wilson's "wife, the CIA employee, gave $1,000 to Gore and she listed herself as an employee of Brewster-Jennings & Associates."

"There is no such firm, I'm convinced," he continued. "CIA people are not supposed to list themselves with fictitious firms if they're under a deep cover -- they're supposed to be real firms, or so I'm told. Sort of adds to the little mystery."

In fact, it appears the firm did exist, at least on paper. The Dun & Bradstreet database of company names lists a firm that is called both Brewster Jennings & Associates and Jennings Brewster & Associates.

[UpInArms]

13. someone needs to get Novak off the air

and out of print fast - this guy is a menace and his lips are sinking ships everywhere -

he is a loose canon and needs to be "out of commission" fast!

this is f***ing unbelievable. :mad:

[Tatiana]

15. Man....

Is Novakula digging himself a deeper hole or what?

What a disgusting individual. I hope the Wilsons name in as a co-defendent in a civil suit.

[T Bone]

25. Novak must be high on OxyContin

is all I can figure.

He is blabbering about like someone on a narcotic binge...

[drfemoe]

23. Yuh . so now Novak's an Expert on CIA 'rules'???

Oh the tangled web ...

I'll take your word on the D&B, nothing about that specific company on the internet I can find.

However "Brewster Jennings" is a big name in oil . ARAMCO

http://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22brewster+jennings%22+ARAMCO

If she was undercover in 'energy' or 'wmd', that name would probably carry a lot of weight for those affiliated with the oil industry, especially in Saudia Arabia.

I think Novak did it again by releasing that totally worthless bit of campaign contribution nonsense. These people are completely blind to their own 'evildoing'!

[Occulus]

29. DAMN Novak

damn him, damn him, DAMN HIM!!!!

This SOB obviously didn't alalyze his facts before he presented them. The dumbass reported her front company's name????

Ok, now he's endangered the lives of the people working there as wellas any covert agents associated civilly with the firm.

Damn him, damn him, DAMN HIM!!!!!!

This man is a traitor and should be prosecuted.

[northzax]

54. the minute her name was released

that company was compromised. It was a matter of public record (the FEC) that she worked there. if Bob Novak could figure this out, you have to know that any intelligence agency on the planet could as well. this did no more damage to security, just to Novak's reputation.

[annagull]

30. If Novak were a muslim, his ass would be in Gitmo

How can a guy who gave up a CIA operative and her company still be allowed on tv? Ask Cnn, I guess....

[teryang]

37. Outrageous!

Betraying the identity of an operative is ok if they are democratric! This is a new low.

[monobrau]

42. "I'm convinced"

Not that he actually researched it or anything, it's just that he's certain that Plame is the devil reincarnate.
I'm looking forward to the civil suit.

[Eloriel]

47. Hahaha -- and NOW we have a "pattern," don't we?

Well I guess his attorney told him to shut the hell up.

A little late, perhaps. Not that I'll be feeling any pity for the treasonous bastard.

Eloriel

[RedEarth]

11. These people need to do some serious time in prison!!!

Dirty tricks of the nixon admin are resurfacing in this admin. These people are ruthless and truly a threat to our country.

[hedda_foil]

14. Oh GEEEEEZ Novak stepped in it again !

He was telling Woodruff that Plame used the name of a phoney firm that didn't exist when she donated $1000 to Gore's campaign ... as if she had done something BAAAAD. Turns out it's a CIA front.

On edit: I thought I heard him say this today but it was obviously yesterday.

[AndyTiedye]

17. This Can't Be Mere Incompetence, or Even Petty Revenge

It is going too far for that.

I think that Bushco-PNAC-OSP are trying to LIHOP or MIHOP
and the CIA has been preventing them from doing so.

By now it is clear to everyone in the CIA that merely reporting
their intelligence to the regime doesn't work. They did that
before 9/11 and were ignored. They still got blamed for not
providing intelligence after 9/11. They will not allow that to happen
again, so if Bushco wants to do another MIHOP, he has to
neutralize those who could prevent or expose it.

[ILeft]

19. Nice analysis. I think that's getting close to what's happening.

Most, if not all, of the men and women at the Agency care about the United States of America. The Bush Regime is a cancer on Democracy and we need to work together to isolate it. This is about survival, and I believe the CIA is actually on the same side we are...

[0007]

57. Hmmm does that mean Kissinger

is in our corner? Now that is getting spooky, I'd say!

[expatriot]

16. wow, this is bizzarre... to think we are on the "side" of CIA front firms.

Bushco's motto "We promised to turn the world upside down and we have."

[smallprint]

21. If people on these boards knew

a tiny bit of all the horrible atrocities the CIA has committed around the world, they would not be saying the CIA is on "our side"...

People: the CIA is not on "our side". The CIA will never be on "our side". The only side the CIA is EVER on is the CIA's side. Do some research. Read some books.

here's a link for starters:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/

[The Magistrate]

26. We Know, Sir

Still, the principle of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" must apply. The C.I.A. is now clearly squared-off against the current administration, and for reasons that go well beyond this particular incident, which only made it "personal", as they say. For my part, whatever destroys the criminals of the '00 Coup is welcome.

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[bpilgrim]

41. ditto

:hi:

peace

[9215]

46. There are alot of good people

in the CIA and they are on the side of those trying to keep the US from degenerating into a banana republic. I don't paint the CIA with such a broad brush anymore.

[Eloriel]

48. I used to feel exactly that way, smallprint

And still do, in large part. BUT I've since learned there are really 2 CIAs -- the analysts and the operatives. That's probably too simplistic. Maybe the Good Guys and the Bad Guys (and some of them may not play the same role all the time).

And I agree with Magistrate. If the CIA can bring Bush down, more power to 'em.

Eloriel

[smallprint]

52. Don't get me wrong--

I'm glad to see them going after Bushco. But I'm not about to break out the pom-poms and cheer for them. While there may be "good" individuals in the organization (whatever that means), the CIA as a whole is responsible for an untold amount of murder, rape, assassinations, torture, child abuse and God knows what else around the globe. I am not going to apologize for them or try to ignore their crimes. Ever.

[NNN0LHI]

18. Novak brought this up today live on his show on CNN

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0310/03/lol.07.html

<snip>NOVAK: I don't -- I think it's interesting, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) important. But I deal in interesting things a lot. Joe Wilson, the -- everybody knows he has given campaign contributions in 2000 to both Ford -- I mean to both Gore and to Bush. He gave twice as much to Gore, $2,000, $1,000 over the limit. The government -- the campaign had to give him back $1,000. That very day, according to his records, his wife, the CIA employee gave $1,000 to Gore, and she listed herself as an employee of Bruster, Jennings and Associates (ph).

There is there no such firm, I'm convinced. CIA people are not supposed to list themselves with fictitious firms if they're a deep cover. They're supposed to be real firms, or so I'm told. So it adds to the little mystery.

WOODRUFF: All right.

Separately from all that, we know the Justice Department is expanding the investigation. New e-mails sent out to the White House employees today. Have you, Bob Novak been contacted yet?

NOVAK: I'm going to give you an answer I don't think I ever give in my life. On advice of counsel, I am asked not to answer that question.

WOODRUFF: So you cannot say whether you have been contacted by investigators?

NOVAK: On the advice of my counsel.

WOODRUFF: All right. We will leave it there and duly noted.

more

[alcuno]

20. The man is a zealot.

No caution to his words. Unbelievable.

[Kool Kitty]

28. "...there is no such firm, I'm convinced."

Oh, so this little troll is the final word on this? Didn't he say on Thursday that no one knows what her job was at the CIA? And wasn't that AFTER the memo had gone to the WH saying that she was a covert agent?

[w13rd0]

33. Was his saying Ford a strange slip...

...does this man think he's living in the Nixon administration, because I've news for him. No Bob, this isn't Nixon, this is FAR FAR worse...and you've helped, time and time again, you've assisted these fascists in the advancement of their agenda...

[Resistance Is Futile]

22. This smells

The only entity which stands to be damaged by the outing of a front organization is the CIA itself. Normal policy in these kinds of cases is to contain the damage by refusing comment rather than expand it by confirming leaked bits and pieces. The fact that yet another CIA cover operation is pretty clear evidence that elements of the White House are at war with the CIA and are aiming to cause the agency as much damage as possible, regardless of the cost to national security.

Worse still, it's unlikely Plame was the only 'employee' of "Brewster-Jennings and Associates." Setting up fronts takes considerable effort and it would be reasonable to assume that more than one CIA operative was 'employed' by the same company. It's anyone's guess how many other agents could be uncovered if one were to search through official records for employees of "Brewster-Jennings and Associates." The ultimate damage could be massive.

[Catherine Vincent]

24. I just read the WP article.

I can't believe what I was reading. What the hell is wrong with Novak? What kind of lawyer does he have?

Reading this article and watching Nightline tonight...I think this is just the beginning.

[Corgigal]

27. CNN Responsibility

If they keep give Novack airtime and he keeps running his mouth. Can't the CIA get some type of injunction to shut Novack off the air? I mean this idiot is just digging a hole for himself but that isn't the worst of things. He might be outing more and more people on a daily basis.

[IndianaGreen]

32. This also exposes all the other agents working at that front company!

This is getting to be a huge intelligence disclosure, with major consequences. Someone should go to jail!

[Spazito]

34. Kick

:kick:

[jamesinca]

36. This is very telling

<SNIP>

"For some officials, the task is a massive one. Some White House officials said they had numerous conversations with Wilson that had nothing to do with his wife, so the directive is seen as a heavy burden at a time when many of the president's aides already feel beleaguered."

<SNIP>

They tied up Clinton like this and an opportunity to take out bin-laden was missed. So the repugs came back and said that Clinton was not tough on terrorist. Yes I am being an opportunist, but when the opportuinty comes to take Bush out of office are you going to be an opportunist also?

[loudnclear]

38. Even more reason why Novak should go down with the folks who leaked

He knowingly releases this information. That is way outside of journalistic freedom. Why isn't the CIA calling for his head?

[w4rma]

56. Wilson … said … would be a violation … by the officials, not the columnist

CIA seeks probe of White House

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 — The CIA has asked the Justice Department to investigate allegations that the White House broke federal laws by revealing the identity of one of its undercover employees in retaliation against the woman’s husband, a former ambassador who publicly criticized President Bush’s since-discredited claim that Iraq had sought weapons-grade uranium from Africa, NBC News has learned.
…
http://www.msnbc.com/news/937524.asp?0cv=CB10
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=135657

Rice 'Knew Nothing' About CIA Agent Leak

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday she knew "nothing of any" White House effort to leak the identity of an undercover CIA officer in July, a charge now under review at the Justice Department.

On the "Fox News Sunday" program, the top aide to President Bush said, "This has been referred to the Justice Department. I think that is the appropriate place for it."

Rice said the White House would cooperate should the Justice Department, headed by Attorney General John Ashcroft, decide to proceed with a criminal investigation of the matter, which centers on the alleged public disclosure of the wife of former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

Wilson was sent by the CIA to Niger in 2002 to investigate a report that Iraq was trying to obtain uranium from Niger, but returned to say it was highly doubtful.
…
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030928/ts_nm/iraq_intelligence_probe_dc&cid=564&ncid=1480
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=136932

A White House smear

Did senior Bush officials blow the cover of a US intelligence officer working covertly in a field of vital importance to national security—and break the law—in order to strike at a Bush administration critic and intimidate others?

It sure looks that way, if conservative journalist Bob Novak can be trusted.
…
The sources for Novak’s assertion about Wilson’s wife appear to be “two senior administration officials.” If so, a pair of top Bush officials told a reporter the name of a CIA operative who apparently has worked under what’s known as “nonofficial cover” and who has had the dicey and difficult mission of tracking parties trying to buy or sell weapons of mass destruction or WMD material. If Wilson’s wife is such a person—and the CIA is unlikely to have many employees like her—her career has been destroyed by the Bush administration. (Assuming she did not tell friends and family about her real job, these Bush officials have also damaged her personal life.) Without acknowledging whether she is a deep-cover CIA employee, Wilson says, “Naming her this way would have compromised every operation, every relationship, every network with which she had been associated in her entire career. This is the stuff of Kim Philby and Aldrich Ames.” If she is not a CIA employee and Novak is reporting accurately, then the White House has wrongly branded a woman known to friends as an energy analyst for a private firm as a CIA officer. That would not likely do her much good.

This is not only a possible breach of national security; it is a potential violation of law. Under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, it is a crime for anyone who has access to classified information to disclose intentionally information identifying a covert agent. The punishment for such an offense is a fine of up to $50,000 and/or up to ten years in prison. Journalists are protected from prosecution, unless they engage in a “pattern of activities” to name agents in order to impair US intelligence activities. So Novak need not worry.

Novak tells me that he was indeed tipped off by government officials about Wilson’s wife and had no reluctance about naming her. “I figured if they gave it to me,” he says. “They’d give it to others....I’m a reporter. Somebody gives me information and it’s accurate. I generally use it.” And Wilson says Novak told him that his sources were administration officials.
…
http://thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=823
http://www.arbiteronline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/07/23/3f1f5fa79c206
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=18072&mesg_id=18072&page=
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=108&topic_id=5913&mesg_id=5913&page=

…
Novak, in an interview, said his sources had come to him with the information. “I didn't dig it out, it was given to me,” he said. “They thought it was significant, they gave me the name and I used it.”

Wilson and others said such a disclosure would be a violation of the law by the officials, not the columnist.

Novak reported that his “two senior administration officials” told him that it was Plame who suggested sending her husband, Wilson, to Niger.
…
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uscia0722,0,2346857.story?coll=ny-top-headlines
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=2326&mesg_id=2326&page=

A War on Wilson?
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,465270,00.html
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=18113&mesg_id=18113&page=

White House striking back?
http://www.msnbc.com/news/942095.asp?0cv=CA01

Schumer Urges FBI Probe Into Iraq Leaks
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030724/ap_on_go_ot/schumer_agent_1

Probes Expected in ID of CIA Officer
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uscia233384176jul23,0,5461415.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-print

The Bush Administration Adopts a Worse-than-Nixonian Tactic: The Deadly Serious Crime Of Naming CIA Operatives by John W. Dean
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030815.html

[kayell]

39. There must be laws against this that would bring more

than the 3 to 10 years that I've seen mentioned. This is leading to far, far more than the outing of a single agent. Does anyone know?

[loudsue]

40. Right wing extremists are just plain STUPID

If one needs anymore proof of it than this whole fiasco, it's because they're in total denial.

These (CNN-Novak-Limbaugh-ESPN-shrub) truly are Blinded by the Right. They're living in total darkness.

:kick:

[Blue_Roses]

44. I just wonder what the CIA is thinking

N/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

45. Who gave Novak Plame's W2!!!

Where did he get all these details? Not only, did he out Plame, but now he is outing her cover, even after he pleaded the 5th the day before?

BTW: The name of this firm has an interesting namesake. Brewster Jennings & Associates is named after a very prestigous oil family. B. Brewster Jennings (himself a major player in the oil industry) grandfather was Oliver Jennings, who founded Standard Oil with JD Rockerfeller. This is just some name this lady pulled out of a hat.

[Eloriel]

49. He got it from FEC records, publicly available

He didn't need her W-2.

Eloriel

[DoYouEverWonder]

50. The Washington Post is reporting

that the infomation was from her W-2? Would that info also be included in FEC records?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A40012-2003Oct3?language=printer

[northzax]

55. read the article

the Company is confirming that this is the name Plame used on her w-2's while undercover in 1999-2000. you know the CIA is pissed off when they start talking to reporters to fuck the white house.

[InkAddict]

61. Yup, see my link below for hanky-panky in the 50's re: Oh Canada

[Aidoneus]

51. two birds with one stone

it's a fine day when the CIA gets shit on, then some rightist(s) will get heat for it. :shrug:

[InkAddict]

58. Such a historical cover name for the spooks.....OMG

4. There is no doubt, however, that this is the course the State Department are, in fact, following. Hoover said that he had spoken to Brewster Jennings, President of Socony-Vacuum, and persuaded him to maintain his company's level of imports at approximately their 1954 level by cutting back imports from the Middle East, while maintaining the planned programme of increased imports from Canada. In the short run this decision would involve some financial sacrifice for Socony-Vacuum both because of the low cost of crude oil from the Middle East and the high profits to be gained from its exploitation. However, Hoover had found that Socony-Vacuum put such a high value for the future on their Canadian interests that Jennings did not need much persuasion to agree to the method of implementing the policy of voluntary restriction that Hoover had suggested.

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/department/history/dcer/details-en.asp?intRefid=1446

CAN YOU SAY - BIGGER THAN A BREADBOX! TREASON, TREASON, TREASON!

[sattahipdeep]

60. Interesting

I wonder if Korndoggie and Bu$h senior had
tea with Hoover when they were kids.

I can just see it, now pay attention boys...