Political Review – realoutlook.com

Consider, if you will, the political fallout from the outing of Valerie Plame. Unless you’re a regular attendee at Georgetown cocktail parties you may not have known that this compelling blond was once a covert CIA agent. If not, the January 2004 cover photo on Vanity Fair with husband Joe Wilson in a Jaguar convertible could have given you a clue. Hard to identify with those shades though. Since Ms. Plame hasn’t been part of any mission within a time frame that would qualify her as outed by the story Jim Novak released no one was really subject to prosecution. Scooter Libby’s sentence, after all, was the result of his questionable testimony. As Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald described it Libby “told a dumb lie and got caught.” But a special prosecutor had been appointed none the less and someone had to hang. (more…)

A classified report , known as the Joint Inquiry Report (JI), from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on the agency’s accountability leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks was made public on Tuesday. Blame for the Agency’s shortcomings is placed squarely on the shoulders of CIA director George Tenet. The declassification was brought about when congress passed a bill last month implementing elements of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations despite of the objections of current CIA Director Michael V. Hayden. Though limited in it’s scope the report paints a disturbing picture of a massive bureaucracy unable to identify and complete objectives necessary to secure the nation. What’s more disturbing is the report, produced pursuant to congressional request, comes up short when identifying the political culture developing within the agency in the years leading up to Tenet’s tenure as CIA chief. (more…)