A Democratic Policy hearing just concluded on C-Span 3. The purpose of this
hearing was to find out exactly the ramifications of the ousting of Valerie
Plame and other details surrounding the scandal. It was to say the least –
troubling. Former CIA agents and others from the intelligence community
testified about how serious this issue is.
Larry Johnson, a former agent, explained how the ousting of a CIA agent is a
breach of our national security and causes irreparable harm to our clandestine
operations in the future. He also said that when he went through his initial
training with Valerie Plame that they did not even know the last names of each
other. This is how seriously our CIA takes the process of protecting its agents.
The strongest point made is that the President should act now on the fact
that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby did contribute to the ousting of Valerie Plame.
It is the President’s responsibility under our law to ensure the protection of
secrets in the White House, and his failure to act is harming our national
security.
Rep. Louis Slaughter said that this case is far worse than even Watergate.
This has crossed over partisan lines and into the security of our nation.
The fact that the Republican’s on Capital Hill refuse to investigate this
issue brings to life a more frightening point. The members on the right will go
to illegal extents to protect their reputation and the President. It is time to
put the partisanship aside and address an issue important to everyone of us and
that is our national security. If you find the time, I implore you to check this
hearing out on C-Span. I will post a link to the video as soon as it becomes available.