He's actually attacking, grilling Plame. Clearly, when it comes to the GOP's ethic of "personal responsibility," Tom Davis has bought into the whole blame the victim (or your chief of staff) mantra.
2 Great examples, paraphrasing here:
DAVIS: Isn't it the CIA's fault your identity was released?
PLAME: I would have thought that White House employees could figure out that CIA employees could be working undercover.
DAVIS: Didn't you still get offers to work in the CIA and did this prevent you from becoming a GS-15?
PLAME: I did get offers but they were in different career tracks, and while I could still be promoted to GS-15, I was trained specifically for a career role that was no longer available after being publicly outed.
Possibly Tom Davis will understand the pain of having your chosen career path blocked. I'm sure that instead of becoming a US Senator, maybe he could work for the Capitol Hill police. I mean, by his logic, both work for the government, in the same building. So what's the harm if he get's a promotion (from GOP leadership lapdog to respectful, honorable public service) that just doesn't happen to be the one he's wanted all his life.
It should have said on the end, "unless you're Rudy Giuliani"
Even more shocking to me, though, is Davis's obvious implication that he or anyone else with a security clearance doesn't know that the specific nature of any CIA employee's job functions is classified, regardless of whether they are a covert operations officer or not. The same goes for all the many White House staffers as well as the President himself. As Plame-Wilson said, everyone one of us with a security clearance signed a document stating that we would protect all classified information from unauthorized (illegal)disclosure, and probably even more importantly, to immediately report to our respective agency's security officer any such illegal disclosure. Failure to knowingly report unauthorized disclosure is itself a violation of security reguations which are all based on law - NOT based on just a Presidential-level Executive Order. The original National Security Law and its subsequent amendments that form the basis of the determing the level of classification to be applied to sensitive information and implementing regulations has always applied whether or not it rises to the level of also requiring aplication of intelligence classification.
In order to obtain an intelligence security clearance a person must also obtain a Top Secret clearance. Criminal penalties apply to holders of either Top Secret or Top Secret and the applicable level of intelligence clearance.
Likewise, all Congressional staffers and members of Congress who have access to classified information must have a security clearance comensurate with the level of security applied to the material that their job requires, Therefore they have all signed statements that they have read and fully understand the applicable regs. and that they will protect classified information, and that violation of any part of those regs. is punishible by law, up to and including imprisonment and fine.
Contrary to his remarks, Davis absolutely knows that any Congressional staff member who illegally discloses such information has violated criminal law. His gratuitous comment that such disclosure does happen and his implication that there's no reason to report the violation is disgusting at best and ... well you can decide what the "at worst" should be.
There is another vitally important element of the security classification regs. that has been ignored: Regardless of the level of a person's security clearance, compliance with the "need to know" requirement is mandatory. That is, the person in possesion of classified information is strictly forbidden from disclosing that information to anyone whose specific documented job functions do not require them to gain access to the information, and that determination of "need to know" is normally done on a case-by-case basis according to the specific information to be disclosed.
Clearly, then, whoever illeglly authorized or ordered the disclosure of such information to a reporter who could not possibly have a legal "need to know" since his/her job has no such requirement has knowingly committed a serious criminal violation of National Security Laws. It makes no difference whether the illegal disclosure was for political purposes or not; the law and regs. still apply and the available criminal penalties are the same. In this case, though, we know that the disclosure was for solely political purpose.
My opinion is that this cavalier attitude toward National security and illegal disclosure of highly clasified information on the part of Mr. Davis toward is more than sufficient cause for his permanent removal from office.
All may rest assured that I will do everything in my power - and that power is considerable, as most of you know from the energizing power I gained by working for Jim Webb - to remove him no matter if he runs again for the House or runs for the Senate in 2008.
I am mad at hell at Tom Davis, and I'm damn well not going to take it anymore.
Angry voters and angry volunteers are the most dangerous for politicians, and Davis must know this after the Maccaca event, although he sms to be having a memory lapse. Starting after the 2007 elections, since he has such a short memory Mr. Davis will receive a refresher lesson that he will never forget.
T.C.
Davis' coverup machine (The Government Reform Committee)
During the tenure of Tom Davis as chair of the House Government Reform Committee many whistleblowers requested hearing with his committee. They were denied access. In particular, Sibel Edmonds, a well known whistleblower who was a translator for the FBI had some very interesting things to say about covert drug smuggling and issues related to the events prior to 9/11.
A friend who is a local reporter referred me to her and another member of the NSWBC when he found out I was working to help defeat Tom Davis' re-election bid. I met with Sibel Edmonds and Mike Springmann at a local coffee shop to discuss their experience trying to access Tom Davis and his committee.Both Sibel and Mike had lost their jobs for trying to reveal wrongdoing in their agencies, wrongdoing which threatened the security of the United States.
The cooalition gave me a CD with scores of letters to Tom Davis on behalf of Edmonds and other national security whistleblowers asking Tom to have them testifiy before his committee. Letters were sent to Tom Davis from high ranking officials in the military and heads of civilian agencies. If I remember correctly I even saw a letter from the head of the FAA.
Sibel was never able to testify before Davis' committee. She took her case to the supreme court where the court issued a gag order to keep her quiet.
Sibel is just one of a list of people who should have been allowed to testify before Davis' committee. Last march Sibel was awarded the PEN/Newman's Own 1st Amendment Award. French filmmakers have made a movie about her called "Kill the Messenger". You can read more about Sibel and this movie here:
Some of this is in French, but if you go to the bottom of the page you can read the speech she gave when she accepted the above award. Among other things she says in her speech:
"Standing up to despotism and tyranny has always been considered illegal by those in power, and dangerous to those who would expose them. Today we are facing despots who use `national security' to push everything under a blanket of secrecy; to gag and call it a privilege; to detain without having to show a cause; and to torture yet believe it's fully justified.
We must be vigilant & fight back, for our freedom is under assault - not from terrorists - for they only attack us, not our freedom, and they can never prevail. No, the attacks on our freedom are from within, from our very own government; and unless we recognize these attacks for what they are, and stand up, and speak out - no shout out - against those in government who are attempting to silence the brave few who are warning us; then we are doomed to wake up one sad morning and wonder when and where our freedom died."
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Tom's shocked -- shocked! -- to find out that the CIA hasn't been reporting to Congress as required by law on the efforts it takes to maintain the secrecy of the identities of its undercover operatives! Why, it's almost as if there has been no oversight of the CIA by Congress for the past six years! Someone ought to run the former Chairman of the Government Oversight Committee out of town on a rail for not doing anything about that! Anybody have any idea who that former chairman was? Lord have mercy! It was Tom Davis! Sakes alive!
Interestingly, Sibel Edmonds was onto the same racket and that's apparently why she was fired from her job and gagged by the Supreme Court.
The memo used to leak her is clearly CLASSIFIED. This version has been redacted and is unclassified but you can see the SECRET designation for the original on the bottom here.
He had the nerve to accuse the CIA of not classifying her clearly, but the paper doesn't lie.
Davis said, "No process can be adopted to protect classified information that no one knows is classified. This looks to me more like a CIA problem than a White House problem."
Tim Russert figured it out. Judith Miller figured it out. Scooter Libby figured it out. Her status was classified.
Not only have foreign sources who met with "Brewster Jennings" employees been dangerously exposed and even "disappeared," but Valerie Plame, as a beautiful diplomat's wife, had great access to heads of state. I heard a top CIA official tell NPR that many ambassador's wives who were once rich resources are now not only unable to get anyone to talk to them, but they are also in jeopardy.