What did Libby know?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Hitchens, Ralph" <Ralph.Hitchens () hq doe gov>
Date: April 14, 2006 10:23:11 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: What did Libby know?

Dave, for IP if you wish.

Re. this quote in Ronda's post:
"In that context, defendant proceeded to tell the FBI that he had  
merely passed information from one reporter (Russert) to other  
reporters while disclaiming any knowledge of whether the information  
he passed was true, and certainly unaware that he knew this  
classified information from government channels."
This is reaching back to basics with regard to this case.  As a card- 
carrying member of the Loyal Opposition I've certainly experienced  
schadenfreude over the legal troubles of high-level WH staffers, but  
I admit to "reasonable doubt" about whether Libby's disclaimer is  
indeed a falsehood.  I spent 20 years in the intelligence community,  
including a few years detailed to the Agency, and learned early on  
that there are two types of CIA employees:  those in cover status,  
and those not.  The former, including many who worked in "open," non- 
covert jobs like Ms. Plame's at WINPAC, were identified with an  
alphabetical suffix after their names in various internal documents  
-- rosters, lists of attendees at interagency meetings, and the  
like.  We all knew when we saw a specific letter after someone's name  
that his/her identity was to be protected.  But I don't have any idea  
how far such knowledge extended.  Since Joseph Wilson had worked at  
the NSC, there was undoubtedly an awareness among many people in and  
around the White House that his wife worked at CIA, but how many of  
these people would have known that she was in cover status?  And how  
likely is it that high-level intelligence "consumers" such as Libby  
and his boss would have known this fact?  The law in question only  
extends to people in cover status, I believe.  I have no qualms about  
mentioning to anyone the names of some CIA acquaintances, like my  
techno-visionary friend Carol Dumaine (star of a Washington Post op- 
ed piece not all that long ago) or ex-analyst turned sausage maker  
Stan Feder (recently profiled in the Food Section of the Post), but  
there are others I came to know whose names always appeared with that  
particular suffix and will therefore not be mentioned.  It's one  
thing to know the law, but another to know to whom the protection  
afforded by that law extends.

Ralph Hitchens

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