Crying wolf and Leaking secrets

This is an abridged version of the “leak” scandal that we have seen so much and understood so little of these past several months. Scooter was told by Dick under the authority of George to leak Valerie’s name and her CIA credentials to Judith who gave the name to Robert. Robert published the information, which got the attention of Patrick who now wants to prosecute someone for making this whole affair such a complicated mess. Part of the problem of this story is that it is complicated. Our lives are complicated enough without spending excess amounts of time studying who said what to whom and when. The American public can handle complicated issues however, when it’s important and it captures our interest. Here lies the second problem with the Valerie Plame story. It’s not very exciting. There’s no sex or violence between the major players. Nothing jumps off the page in this story the same way as a “stained blue dress” or death toll might. The details are still important but without that tabloid hook to catch our interest we really are unlikely to take much time with the stories details or their implications. The Valerie Plame affair has all the complicated plot twists of a great spy novel without any of the heat and excitement. There is another story of politically motivated Whitehouse leaks that is not as much of a scandal but is simpler in detail and far more dramatic.
On July 13, 2004 Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan was arrested in Pakistan. He was a high level Al-Qeada computer expert who was in contact with several terrorist cells, including New York and London. After his arrest Khan agreed to work with investigators. He continued to contact his old terrorist allies and helped set up sting and surveillance operations around the world. We had our fist human resource double agent at a hub of the terrorist communications network. This source could have fed us information about Al-Qeada indefinitely, but then the Justice department leaked his name. Tom Ridge had raised the terror alert for the country 5 days after the Democratic National Convention. The justice department gave Khan’s name as the source of the information that led to the terror alert. They hoped that the added information would quell critics concerns that the warning was politically motivated. On August 2, Khan’s name was in the paper and his cover was blown. The terrorists break contact. British and Pakistani agents scrambled to arrest suspects they had been watching before they could flee into hiding. 12 were caught. At least 5 got away. In September Condoleezza Rice admits the name was leaked then later withdraws the comment made to Wolf Blitzer on CNN. Tom Ridge calls the leak a “regrettable exposure”. July 7, 2005: terrorist bombs hit London buses and the subway system. One of the perpetrators, a terror cell member once monitored by the British government with the help of Khan. Thanks to the leak, the cells activities were unknown until that terrible day in London. These stories are detail heavy and on the surface don’t seem to have an impact on our daily lives. As you look at these cases remember that the Valerie Plame affair helped give justification to the war in Iraq and the Khan leak has left us all the more blind to Al-Qeada’s next move. Within the high stakes of national security nothing could be closer to home.