18 thoughts on “Little “S” Memo”

  1. I guess you never held a security clearance.

    Any paragraph with an “(S)” means you can’t quote from that to somebody who isn’t cleared as such and doesn’t have a need to know.

    What was the need to know?

    Unless you can answer that, it looks a lot like “means” and “opportunity.”

  2. From the article in question: “Several commenters, with experience in handling classified documents (including the estimable Cecil Turner) assure me that (a) covert agents (“NOCs”) are not not bandied about casually as in this memo, at least not knowingly; and (b) a classified doc should have an explanatory sheet noting just what component of each sensitive paragraph is, in fact, sensitive. If her CIA role was not noted as sensitive, someone made a mistake.”

    We don’t know that anyone did quote from that paragraph, do we?

    Wilson lied about his mission, hoping that he’d never be found out because of secrecy rules he was abusing to cover his partisan ass. He was wrong.

  3. Richard, (a) we don’t know how “casually” the names of NOCs are “bandied about” in the memo, and (b) the stuff about an “explanatory sheet” is utter nonsense. They’re not needed because there are other documents that point to why certain information is classified as it is- which guide the writer in assigning a particular security classification to sections of the document.

    Your sources simply don’t know what they’re talking about.

  5. Wilson and Plame are both long-time Democratic Party contributors; that’s not classified information.

    BTW, does your support China’s fascist regime – the current ruling junta – indicate any partisanship on your part?

    And as a Buddhist and a Chicom supporter, how do you rationalize the Tibetan Holocaust? Does your belief in reincarnation make you insensitive to murder?

  6. Marking a paragraph “secret” doesn’t make it illegal to dicuss any statements in that paragraph that are already public knowledge, of course. In the case of Plame’s employment we know:

    …Plame was not given the “deep cover” required of a covert agent. … She worked at a desk job at CIA headquarters, where she could be seen traveling to and from, and active, at Langley. She had been residing in Washington — not stationed abroad for a number of years. … [T]he CIA failed to take even its usual steps to prevent publication of her name. – Amicus brief filed by news organizations in the Judith Miller case.

    You have nothing.

  7. “You have nothing.”

    But having nothing won’t keep the moonbats from yammering on and on about this. Drudge has a story about the Democrat leaders issuing talking points to their minions to keep yapping about Rove.

    The good news is that while the moonbats ride this Rove/(P)lame hobbyhorse to death, the rest of the country has gotten tired of hearing about it and moved on to other things.

    So to have Chi Com sympathizers whip themselves into a frenzy about this keeps them from doing things that could actually do the country damage.

    Think of it as being the moonbat equivalent of plopping a hyperactive child down in front of the TV for about 10 hours–at least they aren’t breaking the furniture for those 10 hours.

  9. Richard :

    Sorry, but those news orgs were just flat out wrong: which is why the judge simply ignored their brief.

    And yes, putting an (S) there does mean that factual content contained therein is secret, which you’d know if you actually had had a security clearance.

    Keep trying- it’s fun to see you try to spin this.

  10. I said: “Marking a paragraph “secret” doesn’t make it illegal to dicuss any statements in that paragraph that are already public knowledge.”

    The key concept here is “public knowledge.” Wilson’s woman worked at Langley and drove there every day. Anybody who was the least bit curious about her employment could have figured out she was CIA with no trouble and without breaking any laws.

    BTW, If the USA is granting security clearances to Maoists, we’re in serious trouble.

  11. And it wasn’t public knowledge until she was outed by Rove, Libby, Fleischer et al.

    Sorry, Richard, your boys’ are going down.

    And no amount of attempting a Chinese twist on Godwin’s Law is going to change that.

  12. It certainly was public knowledge to the thousands of motorists who saw her going to work every day, John.

    She wasn’t a covert agent, and your lying doesn’t alter the facts any more than your bloviating about a secret clearance does. The key here is a basic understanding of law, which you apparently lack.

  13. It certainly was public knowledge to the thousands of motorists who saw her going to work every day, John.

    LOL! That’s a knee-slapper.

  15. Cheesehead: Both sides have talking points, as you should well know. Checkout
    http://www.gop.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=5620 to see the GOP’s.
    My favorite one on that page is the one that reads “Joe Wilson: “What They Did, What The Office Of The Vice President Did, And, In Fact, I Believe Now From Mr. Libby’s Statement, It Was Probably The Vice President Himself …” (CNN’s “Late Edition,” 8/3/03)” THIS became the basis for the STILL REPEATED falsehood that Wilson claimed that the VP sent him to Niger.
    What he ACTUALLY said in the interview can be found on the CNN archives site:
    http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0308/03/le.00.html
    Here’s the good bit:
    WILSON: Well, look, it’s absolutely true that neither the vice president nor Dr. Rice nor even George Tenet knew that I was traveling to Niger. What they did, what the office of the vice president did, and, in fact, I believe now from Mr. Libby’s statement, it was probably the vice president himself…

    BLITZER: Scooter Libby is the chief of staff for the vice president.

    WILSON: Scooter Libby. They asked essentially that we follow up on this report — that the agency follow up on the report. So it was a question that went to the CIA briefer from the Office of the Vice President. The CIA, at the operational level, made a determination that the best way to answer this serious question was to send somebody out there who knew something about both the uranium business and those Niger officials that were in office at the time these reported documents were executed. ”

    And that’s it. That’s the evidence the GOP’s talking point relies upon to “prove” that Wilson is a liar.

    Intentional misrepresentation of the facts. The sad thing (for all of you bloggers) is that the facts are out there, the raw data is available for anybody who bothers to look for it.

  16. Yes, but Wilson is still a lying liar, which is why we call him Lyin’ Joe. In this instance he lied cleverly, juxtaposing Cheney’s request for info with his mission in such a way that one would reasonably conclude Cheney authorized the mission. Only after being caught in this lie of misdirection did he come clean and admit part of the truth.

    And yes, Saddam did try to buy uranium from Niger, it was in Wilson’s report.

  17. richard – your argument does not make any sense. In the interview I cited, Wilson specifically said that Cheney, Libby, and Tennent specifically DID NOT know that he was sent to Niger.

    Now, if you have some evidence that Wilson said that Cheney sent him to Niger, post it. Otherwise, you simply must stop calling him a liar. Just saying it is so does not make it so. The key to solving this mess is EVIDENCE, not accusation.

    Show us the lie

  18. That interview was very late in the process, and earlier Wilson had implied that Cheney sent him, or at least authorized his mission. That part is in the RNC talking points, apparently.

    Wilson is a skilled liar, not a clumsy hack who can easily be found out (like Al Franken).

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