Al Reid wrote:
wrote in message ups.com...


Al Reid wrote:
"John Emmons" wrote in message ...
What specific date and time was Ms. Plame brought in, so to speak, from
being a "covert" agent?

Seems that I've read and heard on various news shows that she may well have
been working on covert operations even while based at CIA headquarters.
Could it be that there is more to what she was doing than has been made
public as of yet? They aren't all running around like James Bond you know.

Of course I'm sure that a few folks here on usenet know more about her
status than the federal investigators do...

John Emmons


You are missing what "Covert Agent" means under the statute.

(4) The term "covert agent" means-
(A) a present or retired officer or employee of an intelligence agency or a present or retired member of the Armed Forces
assigned
to duty with an intelligence agency-
(i) whose identity as such an officer, employee, or member is classified information, *AND*
(ii) who is serving outside the United States or has within the last five years served outside the United States;


Oh, here it is:

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/h...6----000-.html

You omitted:

or

(B) a United States citizen whose intelligence relationship to the
United States is classified information, and-

(i) who resides and acts outside the United States as an agent of, or
informant or source of operational assistance to, an intelligence
agency, or

(ii) who is at the time of the disclosure acting as an agent of, or
informant to, the foreign counterintelligence or foreign
counterterrorism components of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; or

(C)...


You are correct that I omitted B and C. I did so because I don't think either applies. My reading of (B) covers US citizens who
are not CIA, FBI or other "agency" employess that are acting under cover. She is/was a CIA employee and falls into (A).

I could be wrong, but I don't think so.



(B) a United States citizen whose intelligence relationship to the
United States is classified information,

Valery Plame was (and is) a United States citizen whose intelligence
relationship to the United states was (and is) classified information.

That is a precise match to Valery Plame who was overtly employed by the

State Department.


To my knowledge, her relationship has NOT been officially declassified.
No newspaper is authorized to declassify classified information. The
fact that classified information has been published does not mean
that it is declassified that publication does not release parties
from their obligation to safeguard it. Probably they ARE allowed
and may even be REQUIRED to publicly lie about what they do or do
not know, don;t you think?

--

FF