Senator Roberts "Fiddling" While the Intelligence Community is "Burning"
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
News from the DNC:
Washington - Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) won't allow the Senate Intelligence Committee to investigate how Karl Rove, Lewis "Scooter" Libby and possibly other White House officials improperly revealed the identity of an undercover CIA operative for partisan gain. Instead, he has decided to convene hearings about whether CIA agents decide to use covert identities.
"Senator Roberts is fiddling around with labels, while the intelligence community is burning with anger about President Bush's refusal to punish top aides who dangerously revealed the identity of an undercover CIA operative," said DNC spokesman Josh Earnest. "It's time for the Republicans in Washington, DC to stop playing politics with our national security. As Chairman of the Senate Intel Committee, Senator Roberts has a responsibility to hold the White House accountable on intelligence matters, not aid and abet the improper and possibly illegal activity of Republican political operatives."
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) To Conduct Hearings On CIA's Use Of Cover To Protect Intelligence Officers, Questioned Valerie Plame's Status as A Covert Agent. Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, said on the CNN program "Late Edition" that the Senate Intelligence committee was "going to go into quite a series of hearings in regard to cover." Valerie Wilson had worked undercover for the agency for 18 years before being publicly identified as a CIA operative in 2003. Roberts questioned the depth of Ms. Wilson's cover, because she had been based at the Virginia headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency at least since 1997. [New York Times, 7/25/05]
Republican Former CIA Analyst Larry Johnson Stunned, Said "We Must Put To Bed The Lie That She Was Not Undercover." Johnson, a registered Republican, said in the Democrats' weekly radio address, "I am stunned that government officials at the highest level have such ignorance about a matter so basic to the national security structure of this nation. Robert Novak's compromise of Valerie led to scrutiny of CIA officers that worked with her. This not only compromised her cover company, but potentially every individual overseas who had been in contact with that company or with her. We must put to bed the lie that she was not undercover. . . . Instead of a President concerned first and foremost with protecting this country and the intelligence officers who serve it, we are confronted with a President who is willing to sit by while political operatives savage the reputations of good Americans like Valerie and Joe Wilson. This is wrong and this is shameful." [Democratic Radio Address, 7/23/05]
Johnson Said Leaking An Operative's Identity Puts Lives On The Line. Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA analyst who organized the letter, said in an interview that "there are lives on the line" in the leak of an operative's identity, because foreigners known to have met with the operative may come under suspicion. [New York Times, 7/25/05]
News from the DNC:
Washington - Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) won't allow the Senate Intelligence Committee to investigate how Karl Rove, Lewis "Scooter" Libby and possibly other White House officials improperly revealed the identity of an undercover CIA operative for partisan gain. Instead, he has decided to convene hearings about whether CIA agents decide to use covert identities.
"Senator Roberts is fiddling around with labels, while the intelligence community is burning with anger about President Bush's refusal to punish top aides who dangerously revealed the identity of an undercover CIA operative," said DNC spokesman Josh Earnest. "It's time for the Republicans in Washington, DC to stop playing politics with our national security. As Chairman of the Senate Intel Committee, Senator Roberts has a responsibility to hold the White House accountable on intelligence matters, not aid and abet the improper and possibly illegal activity of Republican political operatives."
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) To Conduct Hearings On CIA's Use Of Cover To Protect Intelligence Officers, Questioned Valerie Plame's Status as A Covert Agent. Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, said on the CNN program "Late Edition" that the Senate Intelligence committee was "going to go into quite a series of hearings in regard to cover." Valerie Wilson had worked undercover for the agency for 18 years before being publicly identified as a CIA operative in 2003. Roberts questioned the depth of Ms. Wilson's cover, because she had been based at the Virginia headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency at least since 1997. [New York Times, 7/25/05]
Republican Former CIA Analyst Larry Johnson Stunned, Said "We Must Put To Bed The Lie That She Was Not Undercover." Johnson, a registered Republican, said in the Democrats' weekly radio address, "I am stunned that government officials at the highest level have such ignorance about a matter so basic to the national security structure of this nation. Robert Novak's compromise of Valerie led to scrutiny of CIA officers that worked with her. This not only compromised her cover company, but potentially every individual overseas who had been in contact with that company or with her. We must put to bed the lie that she was not undercover. . . . Instead of a President concerned first and foremost with protecting this country and the intelligence officers who serve it, we are confronted with a President who is willing to sit by while political operatives savage the reputations of good Americans like Valerie and Joe Wilson. This is wrong and this is shameful." [Democratic Radio Address, 7/23/05]
Johnson Said Leaking An Operative's Identity Puts Lives On The Line. Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA analyst who organized the letter, said in an interview that "there are lives on the line" in the leak of an operative's identity, because foreigners known to have met with the operative may come under suspicion. [New York Times, 7/25/05]
posted by Christy at 6:55 PM
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