I sit patiently staring at him while slugging down a bottle of Pepto Bismol and thinking about the dangers she faced traveling to unfriendly countries undercover in order to shield Americans from weapons of mass destruction.
Unlike Hollywood depictions, most overseas agents use State Department official cover -OC- and play the James Bond role, commonly seen wearing tuxedos at gambling tables and mingling with foreigners in embassy cocktail and dinner parties.
NOC's do not enjoy the protection of diplomatic immunity. If caught by foreign intelligence, they have no protection from prosecution under that country's laws. Before Karl Rove and Dick Cheney outed her, Valerie Plame didn't pretend to be a "fake" diplomat. She assumed deep cover and distanced herself from the luxurious State Department life that is complete with rich foods and top-flight martinis.
Using her cover, a vast mosaic of lies and props, she penetrated foreign organizations to detect and prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons and fissile material that could be used to make dirty bombs and be detonated inside America. Neither personal friends, family members nor her fiance knew she worked for the CIA's enigmatic Non-Proliferation Center in Langley, Va., a cadre of analysts, technical experts and former field operatives.
Using her cover, a vast mosaic of lies and props, she penetrated foreign organizations to detect and prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons and fissile material that could be used to make dirty bombs and be detonated inside America. Neither personal friends, family members nor her fiance knew she worked for the CIA's enigmatic Non-Proliferation Center in Langley, Va., a cadre of analysts, technical experts and former field operatives.
In case a suspicious foreign intelligence service conducted a background check, she masqueraded as an "analyst" for a fake legal services company called Brewster~Jennings and Associates. This CIA front company was listed on her Federal Election Commission forms when she made political contributions.
To add credibility to the deception, the business was registered on the Dun and Bradstreet database and her 1999 W-2 tax forms listed B~J and Associates as her employer. The workplace appeared above board, housed in a plush, 21-story office building in downtown Boston, complete with trendy restaurants.
The setting allowed her to blend in with everyday life or, if the need arose, to exit quickly into the swarms of commuters who passed by as they exited the Downtown Crossing subway station. Business cards, a phone number and post office box number complemented the subterfuge.
Like this post about
Rove and Cheney?
Tweet it to your Followers!
To add credibility to the deception, the business was registered on the Dun and Bradstreet database and her 1999 W-2 tax forms listed B~J and Associates as her employer. The workplace appeared above board, housed in a plush, 21-story office building in downtown Boston, complete with trendy restaurants.


Mason believes stronger criminal prosecution laws are needed for the news media and for columnists like the late Robert Novak, who disclose covert identities that harm America's national security and put the lives of intelligence agents at risk.
I agree wholeheartedly and remember praying that all CIA NOC's who assumed Plame's Brewster~Jennings Associates cover and who had no diplomatic immunity...retreated back home quickly, alive and well.
Robert
Morton, M.Ed., Ed.S. is a member of the Association Of Former Intelligence
Officers (AFIO) and writes the online Spy series "Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster." Check
out his latest spy thriller, Mission
of Vengeance.
No comments:
Post a Comment