White House MISTAKENLY Identifies CIA Chief In Afghanistan!!

a reply to: paxnatus

The problem is that the list was given also to foreign media. The press pool included foreign media, and then were told in no uncertain terms that this particular man on their list was the highest ranking CIA operative in Afghanistan.

His real name.

His entire family, even being inside this country, could very well be in danger now. It's his wife, his children more than it is him who has been put in danger.

THAT is messed up, and this is only the third time in history this has happened? In the history of the CIA how many times have we given up the names of our CIA operatives to foreign media?

They are openly betraying this country in so doing, not just messing up, they - the White House / this administration - are working in concert with the enemy to undermine the countries objectives overseas.

The list was circulated by e-mail to reporters who traveled to Afghanistan with Obama, and disseminated further when it was included in a “pool report,” or summary of the event meant to be shared with other news organizations, including foreign media, not taking part in the trip.

Link

I may not agree with everything we do overseas, but even I am very well against such a horrific act of betrayal. You do not just "accidentally" release classified information to foreign media and then follow that up with... hey... look at what information we just gave you!

“The government has a vital interest in protecting the identities of those involved in covert operations,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride. “Leaks of highly sensitive, closely held, and classified information compromise national security and can put individual lives in danger.”

“Disclosing classified information, including the names of CIA officers, to unauthorized individuals is a clear violation of the law,” said Assistant Director in Charge McJunkin.

Link

a reply to: Wrabbit2000

I beg to differ. That man's name was classified... you do NOT go through classified files in order to get names for your dignitary welcoming committee.

You just don't. This was intentional.

You have to have a certain level of security clearance in order to have access to this man's name. If your security clearance is that high, then you know exactly who is who and what they do, and what names to include or not. That is the entire reason for having a security clearance - so that information such as this is never inadvertently revealed.

And if by chance something does get revealed inadvertently, they would have sent a direct communication saying pack your # you have two minutes to get out before they realize what information they have. We will pick you up... now. Sorry we ruined your career, stop by for dinner when you get to DC.

You inform the asset that has been compromised not the people that you compromised them to - IF it was truly inadvertent. Apparently, this is not what happened in this case. Instead, they jumped up and down and pointed basically saying here he is, this is who you want before there was a chance to get him out.

a reply to: OpinionatedB

Okay, I'm missing the basis for a bunch of what you're saying there. You may very well have sources above and beyond the Washington Post, who was the organization handling Pool Coverage at the time and was directly handling this situation as a result, but the facts from them don't support some of the conclusions?

From the original OP source:

The CIA officer was one of 15 senior U.S. officials identified as taking part in a military briefing for Obama at Bagram air base, a sprawling military compound north of Kabul. Others included U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan James B. Cunningham and Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., the commander of U.S. and coalition forces in the country.

Their names were included on a list of participants in the briefing provided by U.S. military officials to the White House press office.

The military originated his name. Not the White House or State or any civilian, anywhere in the process. The US Military gave his name over for a specific briefing at Bagram Air Base and that is what was sent out to all the media to see.

The part that gets me, and the first part of the whole thing where the White House actually has a position of fault is when they were directly asked on THAT name, being circulated with all the rest. (After it had been made public of course)

Wilson said that after the report was distributed, he noticed the unusual reference to the station chief and asked White House press officials in Afghanistan whether they had intended to include that name.

Initially, the press office raised no objection, apparently because military officials had provided the list to distribute to news organizations. But senior White House officials realized the mistake and scrambled to issue an updated list without the CIA officer’s name. The mistake, however, already was being noted on Twitter, although without the station chief’s name.

Source: Washington Post / OP Link

To read it 'from the horses mouth' so to speak? It would appear to me that it was a tragic error, originated by some idiot in the Military, missed by all until a Journalist handling the pool coverage noticed it..and then initially missed (even then) by White House people until someone gave it a second thought to say 'Gee! I think maybe Station Chief is a bad one for a public list! Doh!'...resulting in a late but eventual correction.

Now two things piss me off about it at this point. One, the accident is being treated casually. This is NOT casual but a sign of bigger screw ups which have come to be accepted as 'gee.. mistakes happen!' and it encourages more of it, IMO. Second..

WHO in the Military (As in NAME..) generated this list and who put that name on it. Specifically, the individual..WHO? We are hearing lots of glee blaming the White House for something they didn't technically DO here..but no one seems to be pushing for who DID do it.

well here is a HYPOTHETICAL ..I believe another poster mentioned this earlier....but mine has a little twist...

What if this senior operative did not care too much for this administration and began saying so among powerful political
players from other countries? What if the bad mouthing of Obama and his looney goons was really hurting the president
and his future agenda? What would be the best way to stop the fall out.? What if you were the leader of the most powerful country on the planet? What if you could solve the problem and come out looking Snow..White?...What if someone else took the blame?.....what if that scapegoat was made to look weak? What if someone decided all by themselves to take the gloves off because loose lips sink ships? What if to weaken an appearance regardless of the grave consequences was the GOAL? What if that goal was accomplished? What if someone was playing you like a well oiled machine?? What if?

Just my hypothetical........involving a dangerous scenario and a treasonist act!!

Thanks for all the responses......

Pax

originally posted by: paxnatus
well here is a HYPOTHETICAL ..I believe another poster mentioned this earlier....but mine has a little twist...

What if this senior operative did not care too much for this administration and began saying so among powerful political
players from other countries? What if the bad mouthing of Obama and his looney goons was really hurting the president
and his future agenda? What would be the best way to stop the fall out.? What if you were the leader of the most powerful country on the planet? What if you could solve the problem and come out looking Snow..White?...What if someone else took the blame?.....what if that scapegoat was made to look weak? What if someone decided all by themselves to take the gloves off because loose lips sink ships? What if to weaken an appearance regardless of the grave consequences was the GOAL? What if that goal was accomplished? What if someone was playing you like a well oiled machine?? What if?

Just my hypothetical........involving a dangerous scenario and a treasonist act!!

Thanks for all the responses......

Pax

Conceivable never rule out politics with a politician. Will never know if it was intentional but we do know it shows incompetence in the white house meaning unqualified people are in positions.

a reply to: Wrabbit2000

The president gets a list of people who will be in attendance prior to any briefing such as this one. He never walks into a room blind - the military always tells him in advance who will be in attendance in briefings such as this one.

Second, if the president asks the military for a list of people he will be speaking to would the military give the president classified information due to the president's clearance level? Answer: Yes.

The military got played scape goat on this one plain and simple. I don't buy for a minute that the press office for the white house called up the military and said "we need a list of names to be released to the public that the president spoke to, can you give them to us? " That did not happen - they would have asked the president or his aids who he spoke to at the briefing - and they in turn appear to have given over the list originally generated by military personnel that was intended for the president's eyes.

Therefore, I would say the white house was truthful when they said the list was generated by the military, the president would have wanted to know who was going to be in the briefing before he went but they lied when they said the military generated the list for the press office to be released.

What happened is quite simple, the presidents aids just handed over a classified list to the press office - and in my opinion - VERY purposefully.

a reply to: OpinionatedB

Wait a sec.. You figure they lied about the military generating the list...but you think the President himself, personally, handled and worked with these lists and names?

I seriously doubt Barack Obama ever saw a name or list of any kind. I really doubt he ever gets involved or even heard about these details on any level unless there is a specific set of people he wants to insure are present at something or..are NOT present. Outside of that, he's running a nation and world wide U.S. presence, 24/7.

I know it's tempting to say Obama did it, to everything..but he's only one physical man with 24 clock hours in a day he sleeps a fair part of (I've never heard much about this one burning the midnight oil unless it was a star studded party being thrown). His people undoubtedly screwed up, if no other time? When they first verified all was well.


On another thing.. This wasn't an "operative", "agent" or "officer" of the Central Intelligence Agency. People keep referring to the guy like it's a case similar to others or he's a field officer.

This was the head of ALL United States CIA presence in Afghanistan and likely a wider area for actual decision making, IMO. However, in Afghanistan? Chief of Station/Kabul is likely to be the top dog in the nation for what he does. The name matched up with what they REALLY do in an Embassy may well be a tightly held secret..but who they are is a ridiculous open secret to all who care to know.

WASHINGTON — The CIA has pulled its top spy out of Pakistan after terrorists threatened to kill him, current and former U.S. officials said, an unusual move for the U.S. and a complication on the front lines of the fight against al-Qaida.
The CIA station chief was in transit Thursday after a Pakistani lawsuit earlier this month accused him by name of killing civilians in missile strikes. Msnbc.com and The Associated Press are not publishing the station chief's name because he remains undercover and his name is classified.

Source

They even get "outted" in things as simple as civil lawsuits in nations like Pakistan for how "secret" Station Chief actually is in practice, IMO. An open secret...kinda.

a reply to: Wrabbit2000

lol... you telling me you think the president goes into a briefing without a clue as to who is going to be in the room? That's some very funny, and very very naive thinking there.

And yes, my assertion, beyond any doubt in my mind, is that the president not only knew who was going to be in that room, but had a physical list of who was going to be there prior to this press fiasco. The press fiasco was to get rid of a problem, namely this station chief, who most likely pissed someone off in very high places, if not the president himself since the leak came from the white house.

But you can believe what you want.... you do really need to stop believing anything and everything the white house says. Start asking questions of people who used to work in the white house, as well as military, etc. You will see... this was no accident... not even a small one.

I wanna know the rest of the story..

Did the man get to safety before anyone went gunning for him? His name and picture are now splattered all over the place.. did the government move him to another job. How will they protect this guy now and in the future? Does he gat compensation for the government ruining his life as a top spy?

originally posted by: Wrabbit2000

WHO in the Military (As in NAME..) generated this list and who put that name on it. Specifically, the individual..WHO? We are hearing lots of glee blaming the White House for something they didn't technically DO here..but no one seems to be pushing for who DID do it.

As usual, your mind is both insightful and incisive, cutting straight to the chase. That sir, is a question that not only desperately needed to be asked, but it desperately needs a ANSWER as well.

Why, indeed, does the White House have an organizational scapegoat, while at the same time being entirely incapable of pointing to an individual that did the deed within that organization?

I believe it's because the military IS only a scapegoat in this situation, rather than a culprit. It's just a means of shifting apparent culpability away from the White House and on to someone else.

How long was it before Bradley Manning had the boom lowered on him, AS AN INDIVIDUAL, after compromising classified information? How long was it before Edward Snowden had the boom lowered on him, AS AN INDIVIDUAL, after compromising classified information?

Yet here, we have no individual to lay the blame on, nor even really something as broadly focused as an single entire branch of the service - we have only "the military" to scapegoat.

Yessir, it seems odd to me as well...

Let's assume for the moment that "the US military" is entirely incompetent, as would be required to believe that a service whose job is to protect US secrets and interests would just flagrantly give them away like that. Let's assume that the military is entirely incompetent, has no clue whatsoever as to how to safeguard or handle classified information, and simply writes down on a list whatever names comes into it's head, along with mundane job titles like "Station Chief".

So "the military" types out a list with classified info on it, folds it into an envelope and sticks a stamp on it, addresses it the the White House, and drops it in the corner mail box.

The White House receives the list, and instead of saying "You IDIOTS! We can't make this list public!" it proceeds to say "ok, let's tell everyone and his brother who is doing what in the intel community by giving this list to a press pool of around 6,000 - that ought to get it widely enough dispersed!" Then later, after the damage is done, says "the military did it! Look what they made us do!"

NO.

"The Military" didn't do it. They did not release the list to any press pool unredacted. They allegedly gave it to the White House, incompetent listing of classified info and all - in this "military incompetence" scenario.

The White House CANNOT proceed to widely disperse classified information in the clear, and then blame it on someone else, however incompetent that someone else may be. That someone else did NOT disseminate the information, the White House did.

Furthermore, I have NO doubt whatsoever that it was done intentionally, either to cure a problem thorn in their side, OR to assist enemy assets, OR both. Nothing like killing two birds with one stone... or several CIA assets and operations with one stone.

You cannot convince me, military incompetence or not, that some reporter can look at a list and say "oh #! They ought not to be giving out THAT information!", but no one in the White House knew what a CIA "Station Chief" was, and so didn't know to redact it before the list went out for world-wide distribution. Furthermore, I cannot be convinced that it was "damage control" to then release ANOTHER list without the name, thereby highlighting the name when one compares the two (remember, the first list is still "in the wild") to see what's NOT on the second list. That's the same as jumping up and down and pointing at it and saying "LOOK! LOOK!"

This finger-pointing and blame shifting on to ANYONE other than the White House are par for the course in the Obama Administration, as are some other VERY troubling (to me, anyhow) aspects of this case.

There is more to this than meets the eye. More has been compromised than merely a CIA Station Chief. It's just the latest in a LONG list of things the Obama Administration has done that even leaves Muslims scratching their heads and telling me "why on Earth is he doing those things, giving aid and comfort to the US's enemies?"

Maybe one day soon, if I'm feeling particularly brave on that day, I'll make a post containing what I believe has been compromised over and above a mere CIA Station Chief. Hint: it goes farther abroad than even just Afghanistan, and involves several ongoing covert ops. They may or may not have been blown out of the water, but they have certainly been hindered, much to the delight of certain wahabbist groups who shall remain nameless for the moment.

With a "president" like this, the US doesn't need any enemies. We have our own, in-house.

a reply to: OpinionatedB

If we're going to get personal about suggesting one another's sincere beliefs are naive...We'll agree to disagree.

On the topic of Presidents and meetings...do you think the President cares enough to bother asking who half the people are that ever spend time in the same meetings with him? He has hundreds of staff. Some of them are, no kidding, 100% and totally dedicated to nothing but his meetings, schedule and making sure they are filled with the right people at the right times. A President's life is far more scripted and beyond their personal control than I think they give off as an impression.

A good number of books have come out on that very subject, in fact. In terms of how structured and broken down to 15 minute increments the Presidents days often are. Hundreds of people in a day...and a President is so far above a mere Station Chief in overall pecking order..Yes.

I think Obama and his team could have overlooked and/or never even cared who CIA had in Kabul beyond knowing he wasn't screwing up somehow.

originally posted by: Wrabbit2000
a reply to: OpinionatedB

Wait a sec.. You figure they lied about the military generating the list...but you think the President himself, personally, handled and worked with these lists and names?

I seriously doubt Barack Obama ever saw a name or list of any kind. I really doubt he ever gets involved or even heard about these details on any level unless there is a specific set of people he wants to insure are present at something or..are NOT present. Outside of that, he's running a nation and world wide U.S. presence, 24/7.

I know it's tempting to say Obama did it, to everything..but he's only one physical man with 24 clock hours in a day he sleeps a fair part of (I've never heard much about this one burning the midnight oil unless it was a star studded party being thrown). His people undoubtedly screwed up, if no other time? When they first verified all was well.


On another thing.. This wasn't an "operative", "agent" or "officer" of the Central Intelligence Agency. People keep referring to the guy like it's a case similar to others or he's a field officer.

This was the head of ALL United States CIA presence in Afghanistan and likely a wider area for actual decision making, IMO. However, in Afghanistan? Chief of Station/Kabul is likely to be the top dog in the nation for what he does. The name matched up with what they REALLY do in an Embassy may well be a tightly held secret..but who they are is a ridiculous open secret to all who care to know.

WASHINGTON — The CIA has pulled its top spy out of Pakistan after terrorists threatened to kill him, current and former U.S. officials said, an unusual move for the U.S. and a complication on the front lines of the fight against al-Qaida.
The CIA station chief was in transit Thursday after a Pakistani lawsuit earlier this month accused him by name of killing civilians in missile strikes. Msnbc.com and The Associated Press are not publishing the station chief's name because he remains undercover and his name is classified.

Source

They even get "outted" in things as simple as civil lawsuits in nations like Pakistan for how "secret" Station Chief actually is in practice, IMO. An open secret...kinda.

Well in the military if the white house requested a list it would include everyone partly for secret service as well. Believe it or not they still check military personnel as well so if his name wasnt on the list he wouldnt have been able to attend. The trick was whoever received the list should have gave original copy to secret service and edited a fake copy for press.

Your right wasnt Obama however most likely his staff or someone in state department and there need to be some repercussions for this. You cant violate national security even accidentally in the military without consequences.

I think the bigger crime is even having CIA stations in other countries. How offensive and anti-social can you possibly get? The screaming about Benghazi here at the home front was how the admin was slow to respond or to stand down during the crisis. The real crisis was that the CIA had just overthrown the sovereign government of Libya and was funneling arms they stole from Libya to send to Syria to do the same thing. Are we tolerant of these activities? If so, I guess I need to make plans to move.

a reply to: lynxpilot

nice guitar

here ya go,

a reply to: lynxpilot

If YOU don't know the United States has secretly TOPPED the holocaust by I would guess about 2 times over maybe you better go. I think we have.


I'm waiting for them to try to take over so we can fix this. You go ahead. I'm staying some can't move and they will need help if it happens.

originally posted by: Wrabbit2000
a reply to: OpinionatedB


On the topic of Presidents and meetings...do you think the President cares enough to bother asking who half the people are that ever spend time in the same meetings with him? He has hundreds of staff. Some of them are, no kidding, 100% and totally dedicated to nothing but his meetings, schedule and making sure they are filled with the right people at the right times. A President's life is far more scripted and beyond their personal control than I think they give off as an impression.

your telling me you know the presidents day is scripted into 15 minute increments, and that everyone the president will be speaking to in each 15 minute increment is written down in an appointment book but that the president, his aids and the secret service did not have prior information of who was going to be in attendance during a particular briefing the president was attending?

your assumption does not make sense - to me anyway.

a reply to: OpinionatedB

I'm telling you I don't know how the President's days are pre-planned and pre-scripted. I know what I have read from the men and women who have written the scripts and stood the posts day and night to see it and then write about it later.

The idea that any one man can do as much as a U.S. President...ANY of them...and actually have the awareness or foreknowldge of detail the way you and I do is kinda silly. They are symbols as much as anything and they live a dual life as working official and living symbol. I'd recommend a book for a good deal of behind the scenes stuff on what most would find boring but it covers exactly this sort of mundane, routine stuff.

In the President's Service

Anyway... I'm just not taking a name lost into lists of 6,000 other names as a deliberate act. After all, as noted before, this wouldn't have been an act of 'Oops' or embarrassment. After William Buckley was murdered horribly in Lebanon by terrorists...very slow..and VERY hard...I think deliberately playing in this type of thing can be called attempted murder.

So, we have to assume someone wanted ..not 'a' CIA Station Chief to be murdered, but this very specific one...and we'd be suggesting Barack Obama decided or knew of it himself? Okay... We can entertain that for a moment. What connection is there between CIA's head of operations in Afghanistan and Obama? Why would he care, let alone want this specific man to die?

See how it kinda gets awkward to go further with...and this IS where logic must go if we say it was an act of malice and/or deliberate decision, IMO, to put a CIA Station Chief's name in the clear on an open press distribution.

To lighten the mood a bit, I recall hearing about this a little in the past, but not quite the time involved or degree of OOPS. Bill Clinton was many things, but bumbling idiot isn't one of them, IMO. He wasn't all that great a Governor for Arkansas and was a mixed President...tho that's as polarizing an opinion as anything these days. He REALLY screwed up a couple times tho, and they all do.

'Err, I seem to have misplaced them': New book reveals Bill Clinton lost top secret nuclear launch codes for MONTHS

I think the guys wayyy up at the top live in a bubble where reality isn't quite the same thing we know it to be in enough ways to make that accurate to say. Just my thoughts..

a reply to: Wrabbit2000

Well... think about it for a moment. There was a covert operation going on in Afghanistan, one which (someone - with powers greater than the head of the CIA, and ties to the White House) needed (or desperately wanted) stopped.

What do you think that might have been?

[should this have been purposeful of course]