Nick Kristof has a nice backgrounder on the Plame scandal in Saturdayâs Times. He gives the most extensive discussion Iâve seen so far of just what her role was at the CIA, and what the potential consequences of her exposure have and have not been.
One point of dissent: Kristof has a bit more of a âpox on both their housesâ attitude toward the Democrats and the Republicans on this than I think is warranted.
Some Democrats have hyped the potential danger to Plameâs personal well-being and/or that of her family. But this strikes me as a far more marginal exaggeration — one weakly stated and much less commonly heard — than that of Republicans who have tried to argue that the whole matter is one of little consequence. It also pales in comparison to the White Houseâs evident refusal to get to the bottom of what happened or discipline anyone involved.
But read the column and make your own judgments.
One new bit of news, or one now put in print for the first time: Plameâs relationship to the Aldrich Ames case.
Back on September 29th I wrote a post criticizing various points about an article by Cliff May in National Review Online, in which he suggested that the whole thing was a tempest in a teapot since Plameâs status as a CIA agent was already so widely known in Washington. Poor tradecraft, and so forth.
As I wrote on the 29th: âTo this I would only say, Cliff, pursuing this line of inquiry/argument could lead to some really awkward surprises. Just heads up.â
Well, this is what I was talking about.
Plame was one of a group of spies that the CIA suspected, but wasnât sure, might have been compromised by Aldrich Ames. Because of that, she was brought back stateside for her own protection, though she continued to work as a NOC.
So, yes, there were some potential problems with Plameâs cover: not because her status wasnât a serious matter or a closely guarded secret, but because it had quite possibly already been a casualty of Amesâ treason.
In other words, you might say that Plameâs cover has been under attack for more than a decade. Those two âsenior administration officialsâ just finished the job that Rick Ames — one of the arch-traitors of American history — started.
Nice company.
