[7thson]

I am glad I spotted your reply. Here is my question to you and to all other Freepers. I have heard from the media that it is against the law to knowingly tell anyone that someone is a CIA agent. Now, that seems to cover second and third parties. But what about the agent themselves? Are they allowed to tell that they are a agent? Does that break the law.

True story:

I was at a grandsons soccer game when one of the parents of a kid on his team informs not only me, but my wife, that he works for the CIA and has done work in Afghanistan. Not only that, but the grandsons parents knew he was CIA before we did. For all I knew at the time, every parent from the team knew this. Now, this guy is either blowing smoke or is telling the truth. If telling the truth, where does this fall into regarding the law?

[Howlin]

I have no idea what the exact laws are and/or who can say they work at the CIA and who can't.

It's just been my experience in the last two years that I have tried everything, up to and including asking point blank, and I never get a response. I'm not dumb enough to keep pushing it to put them into an awkward situation.

It's one of those situations where they know I'm pretty knowledgeable about who does what in the government, so we kind of dance around it. I do, however, get the impression that people who work in classified areas of the CIA don't go around telling it -- especially at places like soccer games. I'm positive that if they were in a position to tell me and were allowed to tell me, they would.

[Eva]

According to the WSJ, the law is that you cannot reveal the identity of an UNDERCOVER agent withing four years of their undercover work. Valerie Plame had not been undercover within the past four years when the leak occurred. No crime was committed.

[Eva]

My husband received a letter from a former employee, asking to be re-instated in his job because the man said that he was a former hit man for the CIA and that the job had been a cover and that he left to perform a service for the CIA. Now that he had quit working for the CIA, he decided that he liked his former cover job.

[Peach]

I know a retired agent, but he does not discuss what he did. I do not know whether it's against the rules but have to assume it is just something that is not done.

When our retired CIA friend was active, his cover was always as a State Department employee when overseas.