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NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in PlameGate

By Jeralyn, Section Valerie Plame Leak Case
Posted on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 10:07:24 AM EST
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Here is the declassified June 9 INR Memo (pdf) on Joseph Wilson and his trip to Niger. It discusses the February 19, 2002 meeting "convened by Valerie Wilson, a CIA WMD manager."

The Sun's headline is that the memo does not say Plame's status was secret, meaning classified or covert. Wilson says the memo's account of the meeting is inaccurate:

Mr. Wilson told the Sun yesterday that the State Department's account of how his trip was arranged was "absolutely inaccurate." The meeting was not convened by my wife," the former ambassador said. "She had, as it now turns out, the misfortune of having escorted me into the building. ... She left before the meeting started." He also said that the subject of his going to Niger did not arise until halfway through the session.

Mr. Wilson acknowledged that his wife drafted a memo describing his previous involvement with Niger, but he said she did so at the request of her supervisor. A Senate Intelligence Committee report issued in July 2004 said Ms. Plame "suggested his name for the trip."

An attachment to the memo (not published) is the CIA debriefing of Wilson after his trip carries the descriptive label, WP/Nuclear Weapons: Nigerian Denial of Uranium Yellowcake Sales to Rogue States.

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    • NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in PlameGate | 14 comments (14 topical)
    Re: NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in Plam (none / 0) (#1)
    by squeaky on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 10:28:33 AM EST
    Well now we have to wait until the March 23, 2002 writeup on Wilson's Feb 19 debreifing is declassified, so we can compare the two. I am not holding my breath.

    Re: NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in Plam (none / 0) (#2)
    by swingvote on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 10:28:50 AM EST
    More grist for the mill. I wonderif Joe has any evidence to back up his claim that this memo is "absolutely inaccurate".

    Re: NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in Plam (none / 0) (#3)
    by Patriot Daily on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 10:59:29 AM EST
    Article concludes classified memo did not indicate Plame's CIA role was covert or classified using rather twisted logic that if there are many items in a memo stamped "secret," rather than just the section discussing Plame, there is no reason for reader to think the "secret" classification is based on Plame's status. Bottom line is that the only information in the Plame section that is not discussed in other parts of memo is the fact that "Valerie Wilson" was a "CIA WMD manager" and so obviously it was her CIA status that merited the secret stamp.

    Re: NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in Plam (none / 0) (#4)
    by squeaky on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 11:06:01 AM EST
    PD-
    Article concludes classified memo did not indicate Plame's CIA role was covert....
    That detail is only relevant for those hacks that still want to make a case that Plame was not covert. The fact that the memo was secret and leaked is a crime.

    Re: NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in Plam (none / 0) (#5)
    by Patriot Daily on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 11:16:48 AM EST
    Squeaky: True, but my point is the articles twisted logic that no reader of the memo could have been expected to have reason to suspect that Plame was covert because so many paragraphs were stamped secret. Therefore, this logic says that there was no red flag to warn the reader to not leak Plame to the media. However, the only information in the Plame section that is not discussed elsewhere in the memo or that could be the reason for the secret designation for the Plame paragraph is her name and function of WMD weapons work. Therefore, there was some reason that her name and her work deserved a "secret" stamp, and therefore there was notice to the reader. i just disagree with the author of that article and his conclusions.

    Re: NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in Plam (none / 0) (#6)
    by swingvote on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 11:26:47 AM EST
    PD, Is that really how that works? I would have thought the sections which have been deleted in this copy are the ones that were classified. Thanks

    Re: NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in Plam (none / 0) (#7)
    by squeaky on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 11:35:52 AM EST
    PD-
    i just disagree with the author of that article and his conclusions.
    They are a great example of the 'liberal media'. Not so curious that they would be the ones reporting the big new declassification. Must be a Barbara Comstock special.

    Re: NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in Plam (none / 0) (#8)
    by Patriot Daily on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 11:41:27 AM EST
    justpaul: I am not an expert in classification systems. But, the entire memo was classified until now. What was released was declassified and the remaining sections that were redacted are still classified. The point of the article was that the paragraph on Plame did not state that she was covert CIA operative. But that position is a straw dog because I do not recall blogs or media in the past stating that the memo ID Plame as covert, just that the paragraph about Plame was marked "secret" indicating it was information that ranked higher in the government classification system than your typical classified information. In other words, the whole memo was classified, which means the information can not be disclosed to public. But, when a paragraph in a classified memo has the additional notation of "secret" then the information in the paragraph is higer in the ranking of top secret information.

    Re: NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in Plam (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 11:42:28 AM EST
    Posted by justpaul April 17, 2006 11:28 AM
    More grist for the mill. I wonderif Joe has any evidence to back up his claim that this memo is "absolutely inaccurate".
    Well, we can be as sure as death and taxes you don't, jp, but, hey, why quit when you're losin'.

    Re: NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in Plam (none / 0) (#10)
    by Patriot Daily on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 11:43:50 AM EST
    Squeaky: Great point! Another fine example of this "liberal media" that just takes a position to slam Bush.

    Re: NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in Plam (none / 0) (#11)
    by squeaky on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 12:44:34 PM EST
    PD-Just was over at TPM muckraker and it turns out that Gerstein did not call Ford. Most likely it was pumped through by Comstock directly to The Sun. Obviously pure spin by Team Libby and The libby Defense fund. From Jason Rood at TPM:
    Carl Ford, the former chief of State's intelligence bureau, wrote the document, and it turns out he's still kicking around Washington. I gave him a ring. Ford didn't want to comment on the matter -- although he did tell me that Gerstein had not contacted him to ask about the document, or what he was thinking.
    TPM Muckraker

    Re: NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in Plam (none / 0) (#12)
    by Patriot Daily on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 01:30:02 PM EST
    Great catch Squeaky! There is also a good post on this issue i think by steven d at booman and daily kos. sorry no time for links now, on my way out.

    Re: NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in Plam (none / 0) (#13)
    by squeaky on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 04:05:04 PM EST
    Thanks for the tips PD, good reads. There were two memos. One written for Grossman on June 9 or 10 and one written on July 7. There were virtually the same save for two differences. The dates were different and the name Valerie Wilson was changed to Valerie Plame in the July 7 version. Valerie Plame was her NOC name. Grossman may have inadvertently started the whole outing of Plame. He was filling in for Powell and wanted to brush up on the Niger/Wilson trip for a (WHIG) meeting? Things were heating up with reports of Wilson's trip in the media and he did not know much about the event. So he requested the report from Carl Ford. Ergo the June 9 version. What must have happened during the the time span between the two versions of the memo was that someone from WHIG (Bolton) did a run up on Valerie Wilson and discovered that she was NOC under the name Valerie Plame. When the second version (July 7) was requested for the Africa trip her name was changed in the memo from Valerie Wilson to Valerie Plame. The only reason for that would be to intentionally blow her cover. I could almost hear Cheney saying 'out the fu*king bit*h'. Supposedly, the version that was declassified for the Sun Article is the second version. It is dated July 7. I am dubious because the name Valerie Plame appears nowhere in the Sun version. Either it was redacted or they switched the date and this is the June version. Since the only point of this new declassification is to spin, they decided to leave the name Plame out of it. Hoping to make the case that this outing business is all hogwash. The pattern is the same here as in the release of the NIE. With the NIE report the lies were declassified and the truth remained redacted. Here the key name Valerie Plame is left out. It is either redacted or this is the first version from June 10, and the date was changed to match the release of the second version. Not so odd when you think about why this memo has coincidentily just been partially declassified. It was certainly not done for the public interest. To present a half truths with the key points occluded along with the Sun's bogus narration does nothing for the public interest. It is pure spin. What does it add up to: Nothing. It only speaks to the dishonest way this administration functions. Lies are routine and to be expected.

    Re: NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in Plam (none / 0) (#14)
    by Sailor on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 05:14:50 PM EST
    this memo was just part of the coordinated pushback.

    NY Sun Publishes Declassified INR Memo in PlameGate | 14 comments (14 topical)