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Mr. Carlson,
Are you serious? Are you really asking how this Plame matter could have damaged national security?
Please. We are of somewhat differing political opinion and belief, but I know you to be an intelligent man. This question is rather disingenuous of you, I am certain ... because I am sure what I am about to share with you is, as they say, "old news".
First, Plame was not well known as a NOC. (Non-official cover.) Were that the case, she could have not operated in her cover. That cover allowed her to coordinate a large network of avowed and unavowed contacts and sources.
Having some personal experience in this world, I can assure you that the Novak article basically sounded the dinner bell. People associated with Plame and her corporate cover became the objects of the hunt. Recent articles state that some 90 people have been assassinated, an estimate I find optimistically low. Unfortunately, we must expect that a high percentage of the murdered were indeed innocent bystanders ... people who were not associated with Plame's covert operation in any way but were merely suspected of being so.
Now, you ask, exactly how did this harm national security? Oh, come on, Tucker! Are you really such a piece of white bread you cannot logically connect the dots? Are you really that ignorant of the ways of the world? Has your life been so insulated from the living, the bleeding, and the dying?
Let us count the ways.
1) A large network of covert operatives (many of whom exist in that very gray world between laws, not entirely savory types but professionals nonetheless) were compromised. Some number of them died. Given the size of the operation and the scale of the disclosure I suspect without proof that recent estimates of 90 dead are low, but you must concede it is a moral certainty that some number have died.
2) This network, assembled over a period of years and at considerable expense to the taxpayer, was charged with the important task of tracking sale of materials by which WMD may be made. A difficult and dangerous task under the best of circumstances, you must concede. Clearly, that critical mission is seriously impaired. But the damage only begins there.
3) As you point out, at this point Plame is basically a "paper pusher", meaning she is near the top of the network. Suddenly, tracking associations becomes much, much easier for the bad guys. The entire network is compromised. The guys in the trenches begin to panic. Because their cover was blown by the White House to accomplish petty political revenge, we must presume many of these guys harbor some resentment. Deals will have been cut, deals involving sanctuary in exchange for vital information regarding contacts, methods, techniques, and the state of current investigations. Bear in mind many of these guys have probably worked in more than one covert op during their careers. Thus Plame's network may not be the only operation exposed in reaction, and probably isn't. At this point, the potential damage starts to rack up in a way that is difficult to quantify, and that degrades the confidence analysts may place in the results of "neighboring" operations. More damage to the intelligence apparatus
4) The word on the street is out. The White House will sacrifice you on a whim. This makes it difficult in the extreme to develop reliable new networks. The damage to the American intelligence community becomes now incalculable.
5) And here is just the way it is, Tucker. Someone's brother, kid, friend whatever got whacked as a result of this, and they are even now screwing together their plans to achieve revenge. And this someone knows how we work. This someone probably received advanced military training from us. This someone is feeling abused, betrayed, and very, very angry. This someone, and there are actually probably several someones, is also highly capable and by nature of their work "morally flexible".
Was as much damage done here as by, say "The Falcon and the Snowman" case or the Walker case? Probably not, possibly, more. We were not actually at war in either of those instances ... we had more time and options to deal with the consequences. But both of those cases revealed fundamental capabilities and technologies, which this case probably didn't.
Notice the phrase, "probably didn't". It is difficult to be sure. But one thing is certain: It is bad practice in the extreme to deliberately and needlessly sacrifice your own intelligence gather apparatus. The survivors of such a debacle are on average the tougher, smarter, more morally flexible ones ... and they are definitely not your friends.
It is inconceivable to me that one could work in the White House and be ignorant of these consequences. These guys may not be the sharpest tools in the box but they are not that stupid. They knew the consequences, and they flapped their jaws anyway. Thus, an act of treason was performed in order to achieve a political goal. Hate to tell ya, Tucker, but from the viewpoint of many of us who have been on the bleeding edge, there seems to be only one appropriate response from our Nation to those who participated in this act.
A blindfold, a cigarette, and twelve cheap bullets ...
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