"This a matter of principle where she said my oath, my promise not to reveal secrets is superseded by my oath to defend the constitution of the U.S."
Posted on 04/23/2006 9:46:39 AM PDT by Sam Hill
On ABC's This Week With George Stephanopoulos, former fellow CIA analyst, Ray McGovern said:
"This a matter of principle where she said my oath, my promise not to reveal secrets is superseded by my oath to defend the constitution of the U.S."
This vouchsafing had been preceded by this article in the Washington Post:
CIA Officer’s Job Made Leak More Sensitive
Sunday, April 23, 2006
By R. Jeffrey Smith and Dafna LinzerLarry Johnson, a former State Department counterterrorism expert who worked briefly for McCarthy at the CIA in 1988, said Saturday that if McCarthy was really involved in leaks, she may have concluded that the investigation was “a whitewash, and why not tell the press? ... I am struck by the irony that Mary McCarthy may have been fired for blowing the whistle and ensuring the truth about an abuse was told to the American people.”
The Post article was cued when the mother ship of our one party media, the New York Times, posted this defense of Mary McCarthy:
Colleagues Say C.I.A. Analyst Played by the Rules
Larry Johnson, a former C.I.A. officer who worked for Ms. McCarthy in the agency's Latin America section, said, "It looks to me like Mary is being used as a sacrificial lamb."
But who are Ray McGovern and Larry Johnson?
For one thing, they are both members of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), whose purpose is to get current and former intelligence officers to break their oaths and the law, and to leak secrets to hurt our military and national security.
From the Associated Press:
Ex-CIA Accuse Bush of Manipulating Iraq Evidence
Monday, March 17, 2003
WASHINGTON — Invoking the name of a Pentagon whistle-blower, a small group of retired, anti-war CIA officers are accusing the Bush administration of manipulating evidence against Iraq in order to push war while burying evidence that could show Iraq's compliance with U.N demands for disarmament.
The 25-member group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, composed mostly of former CIA analysts along with a few operational agents, is urging employees inside the intelligence agency to break the law and leak any information they have that could show the Bush administration is engineering the release of evidence to match its penchant for war...
McGovern and Johnson also participate in Daniel Ellsberg's similar operation, the "Truth Telling Project":
A Call to Patriotic Whistleblowing
September 9, 2004 . Washington, DC
It is time for unauthorized truth-telling.
Citizens cannot make informed choices if they do not have the facts–for example, the facts that have been wrongly concealed about the ongoing war in Iraq: the real reasons behind it, the prospective costs in blood and treasure, and the setback it has dealt to efforts to stem terrorism. Administration deception and cover-up on these vital matters has so far been all too successful in misleading the public. Also See:
TruthTellingProject.org Many Americans are too young to remember Vietnam. Then, as now, senior government officials did not tell the American people the truth. Now, as then, insiders who know better have kept their silence, as the country was misled into the most serious foreign policy disaster since Vietnam.
Some of you have documentation of wrongly concealed facts and analyses that–if brought to light–would impact heavily on public debate regarding crucial matters of national security, both foreign and domestic. We urge you to provide that information now, both to Congress and, through the media, to the public.
Thanks to our First Amendment, there is in America no broad Officials Secrets Act, nor even a statutory basis for the classification system. Only very rarely would it be appropriate to reveal information of the three types whose disclosure has been expressly criminalized by Congress: communications intelligence, nuclear data, and the identity of US intelligence operatives. However, this administration has stretched existing criminal laws to cover other disclosures in ways never contemplated by Congress.
There is a growing network of support for whistleblowers. In particular, for anyone who wishes to know the legal implications of disclosures they may be contemplating, the ACLU stands ready to provide pro bono legal counsel, with lawyer-client privilege. The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) will offer advice on whistleblowing, dissemination and relations with the media.
Needless to say, any unauthorized disclosure that exposes your superiors to embarrassment entails personal risk. Should you be identified as the source, the price could be considerable, including loss of career and possibly even prosecution. Some of us know from experience how difficult it is to countenance such costs. But continued silence brings an even more terrible cost, as our leaders persist in a disastrous course and young Americans come home in coffins or with missing limbs.
This is precisely what happened at this comparable stage in the Vietnam War. Some of us live with profound regret that we did not at that point expose the administration’s dishonesty and perhaps prevent the needless slaughter of 50,000 more American troops and some 2 to 3 million Vietnamese over the next ten years. We know how misplaced loyalty to bosses, agencies, and careers can obscure the higher allegiance all government officials owe the Constitution, the sovereign public, and the young men and women put in harm’s way. We urge you to act on those higher loyalties.
A hundred forty thousand young Americans are risking their lives every day in Iraq for dubious purpose. Our country has urgent need of comparable moral courage from its public officials. Truth-telling is a patriotic and effective way to serve the nation. The time for speaking out is now.
SIGNATORIES
Edward Costello, Former Special Agent (Counterintelligence), Federal Bureau of Investigation
Sibel Edmonds, Former Language Specialist, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Daniel Ellsberg, Former official, U.S. Departments of Defense and State
John D. Heinberg, Former Economist, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor
Larry C. Johnson, Former Deputy Director for Anti-Terrorism Assistance, Transportation Security, and Special Operations, Department of
State, Office of the Coordinator for Counter TerrorismJohn Brady Kiesling, Former Political Counselor, U.S. Embassy, Athens, Department of State
David MacMichael, Former Senior Estimates Officer, National Intelligence Council, Central Intelligence Agency
Ray McGovern, Former Analyst, Central Intelligence Agency
Philip G. Vargas, Ph.D., J.D., Dir. Privacy & Confidentiality Study, Commission on Federal Paperwork (Author/Director: “The Vargas
Report on Government Secrecy”–CENSORED)Ann Wright, Retired U.S. Army Reserve Colonel and U.S. Foreign Service Officer
Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatowski, recently retired from service in the Pentagon’s Office of Near East planning
Ironically, these same gentlemen were the first up in arms (and in the mainstream media) about the "leaking" of Valerie Plame's (non-covert) status at the CIA.
Former Intelligence Officers Ask Bush to Suspend Security Clearance for Rove, Other Leakers
15 November 2005
President George W. Bush
Office of the President
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
Most respectfully, we, the undersigned, as former intelligence officers who have served this nation in a variety of capacities, both undercover and in the open, are writing to deplore the breach of trust between this Administration and members of the intelligence community that has resulted from the Valerie Plame case. Moreover, this nation’s clandestine intelligence service will be seriously undermined if those culpable of disclosing or discussing her identity are pardoned after being found guilty or allowed to continue holding security clearances.
Mr. President, you entered office with the promise to restore honor to the White House and in the spirit of that pledge later promised to hold accountable anyone on your staff implicated in the leak of Valerie Wilson’s classified identity. Mr. President, we are asking you to keep your promises.
As intelligence professionals our allegiance has been first and foremost to protecting the Constitutional government of the United States. This commitment supersedes partisan politics. We have worked undercover, out of the limelight, and employed clandestine methods to gather information about individuals and nations who have sought to harm the United States and its citizens. In carrying out these duties we rely on you and the members of your administration to protect our secrets and safeguard our identities.
Inexplicably, this bond of trust was shattered with the exposure in July 2003 of the identity of Valerie Wilson, a CIA case officer working under non-official cover. [This is a boldfaced lie.] It is clear that at least two members of your staff—I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby and Karl Rove—were implicated in this act. [Oops. That is no longer quite true.] Most of us are not lawyers and we make no claim as to whether any law was violated. However, the actions of these senior White House officials have compromised and destroyed valuable intelligence assets. It does not matter whether their disclosure of Valerie Wilson’s identity as a CIA officer was unwitting or intentional. Their actions destroyed both her career and her intelligence network, which was devoted to protecting this country from the threat of weapons of mass destruction.
Therefore, we are asking that you immediately suspend the clearances of all White House personnel who spoke to reporters about Mrs. Wilson’s affiliation with the CIA. They have mishandled classified information and no longer deserve the level of trust required to have access to this nation’s secrets.
We also ask that you make it clear that any individual, who is convicted of a crime stemming from the leak of the classified identity of Valerie Wilson, will not receive a pardon. The refusal, so far, of I. Lewis Libby to heed your call for full cooperation with the prosecutor raises the specter that he will try to stonewall the investigation in hopes of ultimately being pardoned by you.
We believe that the President, in his role as Commander-in-Chief, has a duty to demonstrate the highest standards when it comes to protecting our nation’s secrets. We are reminded that Vice President Cheney, when he was Secretary of Defense, dismissed the Air Force Chief of Staff for inadvertently disclosing classified information to the press. The Vice President recognized correctly that the mishandling of classified information, regardless of intent, must be punished.
If you take these steps you will be sending a clear message that your first priority is the nation’s security rather than your aides’ well being. You will demonstrate that you will not tolerate people in your Administration who mishandle our nation’s secrets and send an unambiguous message to the American people, as well as our enemies, that you are serious about protecting the security and safety of America.
Respectfully,
The undersigned current and former intelligence professionals— (listed alphabetically):
A. Dale Ackels, Col. USA (ret.)
Robert Baer, former Case Officer, Directorate of Operations, CIA
Vincent Cannistraro, former Case Officer, Directorate of Operations, CIA
Brent Cavan, former Analyst, Directorate of Intelligence, CIA
Philip Giraldi, former Case Officer, Directorate of Operations, CIA
Melvin A. Goodman, former Analyst, Directorate of Intelligence, CIA
Mike Grimaldi, former Analyst, Directorate of Intelligence, CIA
Karen Kwiatowski, political military staff analyst, retired Lt Col, USAF, Ph.D.
Larry C. Johnson, former Analyst, Directorate of Intelligence, CIA
W. Patrick Lang, Col. USA (ret), Chief of DIA Middle East Division, Director Defense Humint Services
Melissa Boyle Mahle, former Case Officer, Directorate of Operations, CIA
Jim Marcinkowski, former Case Officer, Directorate of Operations, CIA
John "Jack" McCavitt, former Case Officer, Directorate of Operations, CIA
Ray McGovern, former Analyst, Directorate of Intelligence, CIA
David Rupp, former Case Officer, Directorate of Operations, CIA
Bill Wagner, former Case Officer, Directorate of Operations, CIA
You see, you can only leak to help our enemies. Not to get the truth out about someone (Joe Wilson) who is lying to help our enemies.
Both Ray McGovern and Larry Johnson are practically psychotic in their hatred of the Bush administration. Even the Washington Post was shocked at the level of McGovern's anti-Semitism. And Johnson's isn't far behind.
Johnson is such an expert on all things involving intelligence, he famously reassured us from the editorial pages of the New York Times that we had nothing to fear from terrorism -- on July 10, 2001.
Johnson is such a partisan hack, the DNC had him give the Democrat response to President Bush's Saturday radio broadcast on July 23, 2005.
The media know who these people are, and what their politics are. And yet they are the go to guys for every story involving the CIA or leaks.
Why is that do you think?
Flashback: "Intelligence Analyst" Larry C. Johnson: "The Declining Terrorist Threat (July 10, 2001)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1447248/posts
'Terrorist Expert' Larry Johnson's Frontline Interview About Bin Ladin (2000)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1451559/posts
Ex CIA Larry Johnson: Terrorism Isn't A Threat, But Big Tobacco Is!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1448666/posts
Larry Johnson's Group (VIPS) Called On CIA Employees To Leak Secrets To Hurt Bush
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1450548/posts
Larry Johnson, Daniel Ellsberg & The Truth Telling Project --Pleading For Intel Leaks
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1451334/posts
Is Ex-CIA Agent Larry C. Johnson Threatening A Freeper?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1450846/posts
Deja vu ping.
Mary McCarthy’s Peculiar. Period. No additional words needed.
Ah, well then. I should have saved myself a lot of trouble.
How silly to be concerned with such niggling details.
The MSM , leftists and their syncophants/defenders have become so intent on subverting this nation and administration that they will stop at nothing.. nothing.
When will these acts of sedition and treachery be prosecuted, Mr. Gonzales, when?
Or is kiddy porn and the correct use of the internet really more important than the invasion of our nation's borders and undercutting of the very foundations of law this nation was founded upon?
Don't get me wrong folks, but if our leaders who have sworn oaths can't get their priorities straight, then what hope have we of surviving as a nation for much longer?
It surely would not have hurt!!
"Only very rarely would it be appropriate to reveal information of the three types whose disclosure has been expressly criminalized by Congress: communications intelligence, nuclear data, and the identity of US intelligence operatives. However, this administration has stretched existing criminal laws to cover other disclosures in ways never contemplated by Congress."
What is most interesting is how this bunch has identified those areas explicitly covered by Congress. By their thinking, Plame is covered, though only by willful non-disclosure of her actual status and a sole claim by the renown LIAR husband Joe Wilson.
So, anything the State Department, the Defense Department, the Commerce Department does cannot be "classified" because Congress did not make it explicit and 1st Amendment trumps State Secrets!
If the U.S. were Stalinist Russia, this bunch would be locked in psycho wards with real psychos! Probably a good fit!
Well, with that logic I guess you can justify the assassination of government officials (perhaps even entire political parties!) under the guise of "defending the Constitution of the US".....?
"hundred forty thousand young Americans are risking their lives every day in Iraq for dubious purpose. Our country has urgent need of comparable moral courage from its public officials. Truth-telling is a patriotic and effective way to serve the nation. The time for speaking out is now"
Now if doing a few bad things can help save American lives and prevent another 9/11, I say do whatever is necessary.
I know that a lot of these cabalists are Jewish but they hate Israel and they are pro-Muslim because they are anti-Christian, anti-American!!
Dana Priests husband is a Pol Pot apologist.....geesh American people WAKE UP TO THE COUP!!
McGovern is a sick bastard. He's part of VIPS and VIPS was out there publicaly encouraging CIA folks to leak.
bump
Bump for a closer read bump
From left to right, John Conyers (D-Al Qaeda), Admiral Joe Wilson, Mother Sheehan and Ray McGovern.
"McGovern is a sick bastard. He's part of VIPS and VIPS was out there publicaly encouraging CIA folks to leak."
As you probably know, his other gig is as a "street preacher."
There are even reports of him dressing up in women's clothes to somehow make his "street preacher" points.
Democrats Play House To Rally Against the WarThe session took an awkward turn when witness Ray McGovern, a former intelligence analyst, declared that the United States went to war in Iraq for oil, Israel and military bases craved by administration "neocons" so "the United States and Israel could dominate that part of the world."
He said that Israel should not be considered an ally and that Bush was doing the bidding of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "Israel is not allowed to be brought up in polite conversation," McGovern said. "The last time I did this, the previous director of Central Intelligence called me anti-Semitic."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/16/AR2005061601570.html
As I said, the Post knows that McGovern's an anti-Semitic crank. But they still trot him out when they need him for cover.
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