Would the CIA refer the case if Plame was just an 'analyst?'

[ShaneGR]

Serious question, I seem to remember reading they wouldn't have. But I can't remember where.

[Cush]

1. No

CNN's Senior National Security Reporter said that if she were just an analyst, they wouldn't have referred it to the Justice Dept.

[Wonk]

2. Right. mp3 of that here

2 M

"As one official put it, If she were only an analyst, not an operative, we would not have filed a crimes report."

[Skittles]

3. Joe Wilson woudn't be going gangbusters

if his wife was "just an analyst".

[Brucey]

4. Yes, CIA employees are absolutely in agreement

that an analyst can become an operative and vice versa. The names must not be revealed because it endangers them and anyone they've had contact with. If you say someone was just an "analyst," will people in power in foreign countries take you at your word? Or will they be safe and arrest everyone you had contact with? The CIA still would have asked for an investigation; that, or the morale would have hit rock bottom and recruiting much more difficult.