Anyone know if this is for real?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Ross Stapleton-Gray <ross () stapleton-gray com>
Date: July 20, 2005 5:00:17 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Anyone know if this is for real?


At 12:19 PM 7/20/2005, David Farber wrote:

> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Anyone know if this is for real?
>
> CIA Agents Letter to US Senate and House
>
> 18 July 2005
>
> AN OPEN STATEMENT TO THE LEADERS OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF
> REPRESENTATIVES AND THE SENATE.
...

I would lay odds on it being real; the attributed authors are in many  
cases well-known and outspoken former intelligence officers.  And the  
substance absolutely rings true with my own experience.

People should recognize that cover is a rather blurry thing, though  
the letter is exactly to the point that any action taken to  
compromise it is of concern.  It's not like a balloon, where a single  
prick (no pun intended) destroys it, but it can be quite useful even  
if only a tattered source for plausible deniability.

If I recall correctly, the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) has  
statutory authority to disavow CIA employment of any of his people,  
whether under cover or not; when I was there, it was always a bit of  
an exercise to declare one's employment.  In 1993, Rick Gates (the  
Internet Hunt) and I pulled something of a radical stunt, when I let  
him use my name for the June Internet Hunt (Google on "stapleton" and  
"internet hunt" for the amusing, if somewhat administratively  
inconveniencing to me, results).  But things did loosen a lot over  
the period I was there; when the Agency was actively looking to  
downsize through attrition and early retirement in 1994, it became  
vastly easier to publish resumes (essentially they were made the  
employee's responsibility, without necessarily requiring review)... I  
served from 1988-94, and did depart as a part of that "early out" wave.

There was no need for any White House staffer to mention Plame,  
whether by name, or through (gotta believe any professional  
journalist could follow that trail) oblique reference to her spouse;  
the only appropriate answer to a journalist's query or assertion that  
she worked at the CIA would be, "I don't know anything on that, and  
couldn't say anything if I did, as you can well appreciate."

Ross


-----

Ross Stapleton-Gray, Ph.D.
Stapleton-Gray & Associates, Inc.
http://www.stapleton-gray.com




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