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Exposure of CIA Station Chief Spotlights Administration’s Immaturity
PJ Media ^ | May 27, 2014 | Andrew C. McCarthy

Posted on 05/27/2014 3:24:10 PM PDT by jazusamo

Anybody can make a mistake, and that certainly appears to be what led to the Obama White House’s exposure of the top CIA official in Afghanistan this weekend. Unfortunately, as Roger Kimball details , this is not an isolated incident. In year six of the Obama administration, it speaks volumes about not just incompetence but immaturity and the skewed priorities that come with it.

Exactly because anyone can make a mistake, large organizations — presidential administrations included — build layers of vetting into the disclosure of information to the public. In this instance, because the commander-in-chief made a surprise visit to Afghanistan over Memorial Day weekend, the White House put out a list of government officials the president met with. Somehow, that list included the intelligence official’s name with the designation “chief of station.”

This error is so basic that it grabbed the attention of Scott Wilson of the Washington Post, the “pool reporter” who received the list. Regrettably, he’d already sent out the pool report by the time he noticed the station chief designation and thought to ask whether the White House press office had really intended to put out that information.

That’s how the administration learned about what it had done — from a reporter. Think about that. In the composition and disclosure of this list, many people on both the military end and White House end have to have known that such information should never be circulated. That’s not only true as a matter of principle and common sense; it’s empirically true: Fox News reports that this administration has already had to remove a CIA station chief in Pakistan (in 2010) because of an exposure incident. It is astonishing that such an obvious error was not caught.

It is, moreover, tough to be sympathetic because Democrats never are when the shoe is on the other foot. When Valerie Plame was outed as a CIA operative — apparently inadvertently, by senior State Department official Richard Armitage — Democrats turned the error into a major controversy that damaged the Bush administration. Ms. Plame had a desk job at Langley and there are no indications that her exposure caused much harm. (There were reports at the time suggesting that she had been exposed long before through a bureaucratic screw-up.) By contrast, the official just exposed by the White House is the current top CIA official in a war zone that presents tremendous challenges to the United States, one where intelligence gathering is at a premium. The gravity of this error thus appears far more serious than the one over which Democrats spent years demanding a Bush administration scalp.

Finally, to take a longer view, consider (a) the way the Obama administration elevated politics over national security in leaking classified information after the bin Laden raid; (b) the administration’s failure to provide adequate security for American personnel in Benghazi, four of whom were eventually killed; and (c) the irresponsible rules of engagement imposed on our troops in Afghanistan — hampering their ability to conduct operations and defend themselves while under attack. A pattern emerges. This administration is cavalier when it comes to the security of people who put their lives on the line in order to serve our country. It is also cavalier when it comes to intelligence, which is exposed when politically expedient — whether to depict the president as a brilliant commander-in-chief, to satisfy the demands of Obama’s base, or to address other transient needs. Indeed, while I would not criticize a commander-in-chief for spending time with American troops overseas, it is impossible not to notice that this trip to Afghanistan was undertaken while the president is dogged by the VA scandal.

The administration did not mean to expose the CIA station chief in Afghanistan, potentially endangering the officer, his colleagues, and others who cooperated with them. But these errors happen for a reason. Some administrations make it a major priority to protect American personnel and intelligence assets. In this administration, these matters are less of a priority, and we cannot be surprised when errors caused by inattention to detail happen.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; andymccarthy; bho44; bhocia; bhogwot; cia; obama; obamatrip; oef
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0bama's number one priority is 0bama, not the welfare of Americans or the country.
1 posted on 05/27/2014 3:24:10 PM PDT by jazusamo
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To: jazusamo

Photo to follow?


2 posted on 05/27/2014 3:27:27 PM PDT by S.O.S121.500 (Had ENOUGH Yet ? ........................ Enforce the Bill of Rights ......... It's the LAW !!!)
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: jazusamo

That is true.


4 posted on 05/27/2014 3:28:11 PM PDT by PghBaldy (12/14 - 930am -rampage begins... 12/15 - 1030am - Obama's advance team scouts photo-op locations.)
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To: jazusamo
Exposure of CIA Station Chief Spotlights Administration’s Immaturity.

well, that's the understatement of the year!

Immaturity?

Ha!

How about stupidity?

Incompetence?

Ineptness?

This administration sets the record for pure dumbassedness.

And I thought that Carter bunch was stupid.

5 posted on 05/27/2014 3:28:43 PM PDT by OldSmaj (I am an avowed enemy of islam and obama is a damned fool and traitor. Questions?)
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To: S.O.S121.500

Time to move around some incompetent staff or find one that’s retiring soon


6 posted on 05/27/2014 3:29:14 PM PDT by molson209 (Blank)
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To: OldSmaj

Amen...I’ll go with stupid, incompetent and inept.

BTW Did you see that Jimmah Carter came out and called 0bama incompetent over this fiasco?


7 posted on 05/27/2014 3:32:59 PM PDT by jazusamo (Sometimes I think that this is an era when sanity has become controversial: Thomas Sowell)
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To: OldSmaj

Another possibility: Treason


8 posted on 05/27/2014 3:33:36 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

Probability, I’d say.


9 posted on 05/27/2014 3:34:06 PM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: All
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10 posted on 05/27/2014 3:34:32 PM PDT by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
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To: jazusamo

This leak makes me physically ill. All the harm that will now be visited not only upon the CIA operation in Afghanistan, but anyone connected with it in any way. It will take a good long while to reestablish what this Chief (and his predecessors) had achieved in the world of intelligence. WHO is going to trust the USA after bodies and body parts are found? I really could just throw up.


11 posted on 05/27/2014 3:36:53 PM PDT by EDINVA
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To: jazusamo

SOUNDS NUTS, BUT:

Maybe this is cover for Bengazi?

Maybe they’re now trying to make these “huge embarrassing slip-ups” in order to convince us that a lllllllllll the Bengazi cr*p was all UNINTENTIONAL…?

Maybe this is smart scandal camouflage?


12 posted on 05/27/2014 3:37:02 PM PDT by gaijin
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To: jazusamo

Someone getting the Scooter Libby memorial cell? /s
Bet no one gets any legal trouble over this.


13 posted on 05/27/2014 3:37:12 PM PDT by Vinnie
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To: gaijin

I don’t know that it does sound so nuts.

0bama and his thugs have stooped awful low in the past to cover their rears, he and his thugs are capable of most anything.


14 posted on 05/27/2014 3:42:30 PM PDT by jazusamo (Sometimes I think that this is an era when sanity has become controversial: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

I won’t hold my breath waiting for the appointment of a Special Prosecutor.


15 posted on 05/27/2014 3:47:30 PM PDT by originalbuckeye (Moderation in temper is always a virtue; moderation in principle is always a vice. Paine)
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Please bump the Freepathon or click above to donate or become a monthly donor!

16 posted on 05/27/2014 3:47:48 PM PDT by jazusamo (Sometimes I think that this is an era when sanity has become controversial: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo
The administration did not mean to expose the CIA station chief in Afghanistan, potentially endangering the officer, his colleagues, and others who cooperated with them.

The author must have just been reading Miss Manners.

1. Another article posted yesterday indicates this was the 4th such incident, and this article itself gives details about one of those other instances.

2. Democrats were absolutely convinced (and their media attack dogs) that Pres. Bush absolutely had nefarious reasons for outing Plame, and that to get even with her husband for some uranium yellow cake report he wrote.

Let's suggest that it's entirely possible the Obama did this to wag the news away from something he thought worse.

Since he thinks politically, it could be that the democrats in the house voted today in favor of killing veterans.

17 posted on 05/27/2014 4:01:00 PM PDT by xzins ( Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who truly support our troops pray for victory!)
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To: jazusamo
BTW Did you see that Jimmah Carter came out and called 0bama incompetent over this fiasco?

Yeah, I did see that.

And I was gonna say something about the pot calling the kettle black, but I figured I'd get accused of making a racist remark and have to give up my basketball team.

Or something.

18 posted on 05/27/2014 4:01:33 PM PDT by OldSmaj (I am an avowed enemy of islam and obama is a damned fool and traitor. Questions?)
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To: OldSmaj

“......Spotlights Administration’s Immaturity”.

Not to mention their STUPIDITY! That was like putting out a “hit” on the man.


19 posted on 05/27/2014 4:02:46 PM PDT by DaveA37
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To: jazusamo

Immaturity? Try criminal. And intentional.


20 posted on 05/27/2014 4:02:59 PM PDT by petitfour
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