CIA Censors My Book: Personal Payback or Protecting National Security?

What a whirlwind! After a short and fitful night's sleep, I started the book tour with the Today show, quickly followed by radio interviews for NPR's Fresh Air and All Things Considered, and then The Times of London for openers. I really enjoyed the longer format allowed by the radio interviews rather than trying to cram everything I want and need to say into a 10 second sound bite for TV. My story is, in some ways, a complicated one with many different aspects and seems to lend itself best to longer, thoughtful answers. I have just finished blogging on FireDogLake, the web site that covered the Libby trial live. I learn something every day from the vast blogging community which has followed this case so closely. And I have to say, after the onslaught of attacks over the last 4 years, being among friends in the blogosphere feels good. It was pretty lonely out there sometimes. This evening, I'll be on Larry King Live, along with Joe (via a feed from Santa Fe. Hey, someone has to stay home and watch the kids). I enjoy doing events with my husband which thus far have been only private fundraisers because we have lived through the same story but have very different perspectives and reactions to all that has happened.

Most of the questions have been as I expected: Why did I join the CIA? What did it feel like when I saw my name in Novak's column the first time? Didn't I expect some terrible consequence to befall me when Joe published his 1,500 word op ed piece in The New York Times? What about the charges of nepotism that have been alleged against me? All of these I have tried to answer as fully and honestly as I could, keeping in mind, of course, my legal constraints. What hasn't been discussed in any depth yet is the full story of how the CIA fought to censor large portions of my book by maintaining that I can not acknowledge my Agency affiliation prior to January 2002, although so much about my career is already in the public domain. I believe that this decision by the Agency has nothing to do with protecting national security, and everything to do with further punitive action against me and a way to demean or diminish me and my responsibilities at the CIA. For those who wish to know more about the ongoing court battle with CIA over this issue of how long I may say I served my country and accompanying censorship issues, please visit a website set up by my lawyers for that purpose: www.fairgameplame.com. It is a very user-friendly site with all the information necessary to have a better understanding of the First Amendment fight behind this book. I'll hope you'll take the time to look at the site because this legal battle helps to illuminate a larger pattern of extra-Constitutional behavior by this administration.

I just learned the other day that my scheduled Tuesday appearance on the Charlie Rose show has been canceled. The show's producer said it was because Charlie Rose wanted to prepare for an appearance next week by CIA Director General Michael Hayden. How ironic is that? I could have told Mr. Rose a few things about General Hayden, but I'm sure he'll do a fine job with his interview questions without me.

Comments

[fogcutter]

I submit that the decision of UN-inviting Ms Plane when something like this:

"if you invite Plane, you don't get the CIA head next week"

So, what's a high profile "repeater" like Rose to do?

Simple. Bow to his servant and lie to the people.

[midnight04]

I watch Charlie Rose to see him suck up to people.

Go for Moyers.

Karen

[MillerTSmith]

Why did you allow your husband to write an oped for the NYT about the trip to Niger?

Were you at any time aware that the oped would bring attention to you?

Considering yur position, was the oped a very good idea for someonw like you who needed to be kept out of the spotlight?

If you were secret and your husband writes about the CIA trip he was sent on by the CIA in the most public newspaper on the face of the earth, just how did you think you were going to keep your secret? Didn't you discuss this issue with him?

[GhostTurdOf America]

She answered that question on 60 Minutes.

[kevenseven]

The first half of your ignorant diatriabe is analogous to "she was dressed provacatively, so it was not rape".

The Admin had an absolute responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of Plame's relationship with CIA. The requirement to keep a secret does not evaporate if the spouse of a spy speaks publicly.

Wilson had both the right and duty to tell America that the 16 words were a lie, and the WH subsequently admitted that they were a lie.

Wilson is a fully qualified commenter on the subject, having served in all sorts of places in government pertaining directly to the issue of Iraq and uranium.

Plame had a perfect right to assume that the Admin would not violate the law and the rules regarding handling of secrets for the petty purpose of attacking Wilson's credibility. What proffesional in Govt would believe that Cheney would order the identity of a spy revealed?

As to how she thought she was going to keep her secret, well, as I write, by trusting the integrity and discretion of the Admin, that is how. If Wilson and Plame were fools for believing that this admin could be trusted, then all the fools who voted for them were fools to vote for them, if you see what I mean.

So if you want to argue that women who get raped while dressed provacatively had it coming, just get back to me on that, would you?

[TLV]

Read the book. Valerie Plame was a covert operative...not her husband who had, as she said, plenty of bonafides from both Republican and Democratic administrations. In fact, Joe Wilson was highly regarded by George H.W. Bush, ya doofus.

[westwind]

I wouldn't be too upset about being bumped from the Charlie Rose show. I used to think he was a voice of quiet reason, getting to the bottom of things in a quiet, deliberative manner, but he really is just another of the enablers to this anti-constitutional monarchy-in-the-making. He talks as earnestly with (probable) war criminals like Henry Kissinger as he does with people who actually have values. He has no baseline moral or constitutional line when he performs his nightly whitewashes - everyone he has on is treated as if their viewpoint, no matter how outrageous, is worthy of his hushed tones and pseudo gravitas. You're better off without him. Choosing Hayden over Plame speaks for itself.

[emerywood]

When Vladimir Putin saw what happened to you in America, he had no qualm sending out his Polonium squad to London. It is realy sad !

[VictorLudorum]

yea incentive! the Russians then played it safe to test it on a russian spy?

ms plame..the stuff about covert service is also giving the cia a licence to ban your book that is coming out because covert action was banned by director webster and it was considered a serious move towards world peace.......

[Chris]

Ms. Plame i saw the interivew you did on 60 minutes. The one thing that has stuck out from this interview as well as the many public comments that you and your husband have made is that I have yet to hear either you mention that Richard Armitage from the State department was Novak's source.

Why do you and your husband seem to have little animosity toward that man?

[kevenseven]

Hey, Mr. Wizzard:

Armatige was added to Wilson & Plame's civil suit shortly after his involvement was made public.

Perhaps W & P focus on Cheney, Libby and Rove because they clearly conspired criminally to out Plame.

And I draw your attention to Cheney's hand writting on a copy of Wilson's OpEd.

[IanStuart]

Mrs. Plame,

You and your husband will win the long fight. Rove and his team were highly effective in their demonization of you early on, but their failure is now a forgone conclusion. This book of yours is vital in establishing the true record of what they did and the consequences of it.

This incident will be remembered and discussed far into the future, and the verdict will be of an administration that did not tolerate dissent, and would attack those dissenters with all possible means, national security be damned.

I wish you the best in this new chapter in your life. Watch your back and know that you have millions of friends.

[DontSpin]

Valerie, Thank you for your service. I was very disappointed to see that Larry King cut your interview short to twenty minutes so he can cover the California fires. I have been waiting to hear from you for 4.5 years. I really hope you ask Larry King to redo the interview and give you a full hour.

[constitutionalive]

Well, Valerie, you know what people do when their country censors publishing ...

[kevenseven]

Plame has signed a contract with CIA and by extension America to not reveal whatever CIA tells her to not reveal.

Hence she could not go to, say Spain, and read to a reporter there the redacted material.

That would be a crime the same as having it published here in the states.

And Plame is a patriot first, so she will never tell what is in that material until permitted by higher Govt authority.

[rras]

You were great on Larry King as you should be on any show, but there are a few shows that I'd stay away from simply because they tend to set the pace and never allow anyone to make a point.
Wolf Blitzer's show is one of them.
Lou Dobbs seems to be a fair person.
The major network TV, I'd stay clear off.
In radio, there are few choices but I'd sure put Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller and Randi Rhodes on my list.
Be sure to let us know where you on.

[morneblade]

Ms. Plame,
Please keep up the pressure. These scoundrels will stop at nothing to smear you and your husband, as they and the right can't allow the truth of what really happened to come out. It would prove that Bushco have duped us in the past, now , and will undoubtedly do so at every turn to protect their criminal actions.
Keep up the fight, and know that there are still Americans who can see the truth, even if we can't get the Con-gress to do anything about it.

[lthuedk]

Odd about the Rose Show cancellation. It's as if Hayden's people got to them preemptively out of worry over you and what you might say.

I don't trust Hayden, as a militarist in place of a civilian director does not give a sense of security. That he was summarily walked through confirmation by anxious senators like Dianne Feinstein, a heavily milcorp-invested politician, is troubling.

On the outing: As I see it, there are two CIA's, one patriotic and the other very un-patriotic...the shadow CIA. They are more or less gangsters working for the globalist fascist coup. It is they who audaciously cover up for Cheney's overreaches and conceal his crimes. It is they who should consider turning on the criminal at the top.

Allow me to clarify:

http://www.light-to-dark.com/a_retrospective.html

The full sense of Bushist-CIA treason cannot be realized in the present environment only because betrayer agents work not for the people and the United States, but globalist interests working on bigger A.E.I. projects, like the PNAC. They are enemies of our nation as surely as Benedict Arnold was.

http://www.light-to-dark.com/benedick_bush.html

In the end, it is the patriotic leakers who will out the subversion in progress.

http://www.light-to-dark.com/deep_patriot_act.html

Treason is being committed by Cheney, Addington, and their enablers all the way down neo con food chain and it is dubious that help is provided by moles in the MSM. Their only option-the only way they can avoid prosectution for treason-is to bring the coup to fruition.

It is in the interest of this nation that fascists within and without the Agency be the one's who are outed. My advice applies equally to the F.B.I.

Yes, I'd love to get more information on General Michael Hayden and what he is determined to do for the military industrial complex at the further expense of our freedoms.

Stay strong, Valerie.

[The Impartial]

Mike Hayden is just another "Yes Sir! general" in Bush's services, not the U.S. people's services.

[MissingAmerica]

This is sad. She is another one of the victims of this administration. Too many lives have been blown apart by this corrupt administration. She deserves to be paid plenty for her suffering at the hands of Bush, Cheney and their ilk. I would like to see her win a massive lawsuit, and have the money ordered to come directly from Bush, Cheney and those such as Rove who participated in putting not only her life at risk, but the lives of all those with whom she worked.

[Axolotl]

Valerie,

I sympathize greatly with you (and Joe's) travail and thank you both for your service.

However, this question has to be asked. The way the non-Tenant-originated info--all of it--from almost any source reads: the CIA and IC at large totally blew the WMD analysis and recommendation to policymakers.

What was your Ops division's role in this fiasco and debacle? If you are not permitted to say, that's no less troublesome than some of the things you fault the CIA for being silent on. I'm neutral, but I'd like to hear what you can illuminate on this subject.

[kevenseven]

1) Ms. plame can tell you almost nothing of her division's work beyond what is printed in her autobiography.

2) CIA and IC in no way blew the analyisis of the WMDs. Their work was co-opeted and poisened by Bush's lackeys.

[BeamMeUpScotty]

You can bet Cheney is behind your troubles. Even though many in this administration are vindictive and heartless, you would think there would be someone at CIA who would care enough about the truth and all the dead soldiers to speak out. But, just like the caskets that are sneaked in under the cover of darkness, this administration is gutless, heartless and has no shame.

I believe that because of what we have started in Iraq and Iran that there are truly dark days ahead for the U.S. This may be just the tip of the iceberg.

All for oil.

[Harrier]

She is very pretty. She has been screwed over. So has her husband. What has not been told are the many people who have been killed and lost their jobs because they were associated with her and their cover were also blown

[The Impartial]

You forgot the destruction of the whole Iraq which was better off under the dictator Sadam.