The CIA revolt against the White House

Former intelligence official Larry C. Johnson blasts the Bush administration's "outright pattern of bullying."

By Mark Follman

Jan. 23, 2004 | In President Bush's State of the Union address, national security was a core theme, and with good reason: Recent polls show Bush enjoys far more popular support for his aggressive foreign policy and terror-fighting tactics than on domestic issues. Undoubtedly, the president's reelection campaign will tout two swift, decisive military victories in Afghanistan and Iraq, and argue the homeland is more secure since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

But for almost a year, the White House has been quietly fighting a contentious battle at home on the national security front -- against the U.S. intelligence community itself. Vocal retired intelligence officials, and anonymous active ones, have protested repeatedly that the White House has coerced intelligence agencies to rig findings and analysis to suit administration aims. An egregious example: The long-held goal of removing Saddam Hussein from power, by unilateral war if necessary. The consequences of such White House intimidation could be disastrous, the intelligence veterans say, with the integrity of their work -- and national security -- put at grave risk.

The latest salvo was launched this week when a group of respected former CIA officials, led by decorated analyst Larry C. Johnson, sent a letter to Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert demanding that Congress hold the White House accountable for deliberately revealing the identity of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame. Johnson, who also served as deputy director for the State Department's Office of Counter Terrorism, says the administration's political tactics are clear. "With this White House, I see an outright pattern of bullying," he told Salon in an interview Thursday. "We've seen it across different agencies, a pattern of going after anybody who's a critic. When people raise legitimate issues that may not be consistent with existing administration policy, those people are attacked and their character is impugned."

Indeed, the clash between an increasingly vocal faction of veteran spooks and a heavy-handed Bush administration exploded into unprecedented open revolt in July of last year, after former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson exposed the administration's flagrant misuse of intelligence to promote the invasion of Iraq. In a seemingly vindictive reprisal, the administration leaked the identity of Plame, Wilson's wife, to conservative columnist Robert Novak and other journalists.

Perhaps indicative of just how deep the conflict runs, Johnson has particularly harsh words for a normally tough-talking president who stands by while "the most sensitive security assets of the United States" are compromised. Such behavior, he says, ultimately amounts to treason. "When you expose clandestine human intelligence sources," he fumes, "you aid and abet terrorists." Johnson speaks out not as a partisan opponent to the president, but as a registered Republican who has given money to Bush in the past.

Salon reached Johnson, who now runs a private consulting firm, by phone at his office in Washington.

The investigation into the Valerie Plame case has been ongoing since late July. Why are you sending this letter to the Congress now, and what's your central concern?

Our central concern is this: If the attention is left focused exclusively on the Department of Justice investigation, the White House and everyone else is missing the point. I think the FBI is doing a good job, but they're looking for evidence of a criminal activity. What we know happened is that there was a deliberate compromise of a clandestine officer's identity. What needs to happen, and what we've asked for to happen in the letter, is that there be a bipartisan investigation into this matter, and a bipartisan call for appropriate action to be taken.

We don't say this in the letter, but what would be ideal is for President Bush to call his senior staff in and ask for the resignation of the person who did this, and have that person apologize. At the end of the day I think it's going to be very difficult to get a conviction, or even an indictment, because the nature of the law is such that you have to demonstrate knowledge and intent [to willfully expose an undercover CIA operative]. That's going to be difficult to do.

Instead of getting people bent around arcane legal arguments, we need to focus on the actual act -- exactly what happened and how. So far we've only seen inaction at the White House on this.

How are congressional leaders responding to your letter, and how will it affect the ongoing struggle between the intelligence community and the Bush White House?

I've been told that even a number of Republican members want to sign on to the efforts launched by Rep. Rush Holt [D-N.J.], who's a former intelligence analyst at the State Department -- but they're saying "If we do, Dennis Hastert is going to have our ass." So, clearly the intimidation and the fear factor continues.

I believe there are some Republicans out there who recognize that this is wrong, who recognize they need to take a stand against it. To allow the partisanship to go on ... you know, sometimes it's like dealing with a bunch of 3-year-old kids: Everyone's arguing over who hit who last. This investigation gives the Democrats a great chance to take the high road -- though they've played the partisan card in the past, too. But both parties should get over it and do the right thing. They should stop worrying about whether they're Republican or Democrat, and start worrying about what's best for America.

What does the Valerie Plame leak say about the Bush administration's paradigm for national security policy?

You know, President Bush has often emphasized security his most important issue. But when you have people in your administration who compromise the most sensitive security assets of the United States, that makes the administration's agenda look pretty ridiculous in my view. And I say that as a registered Republican, and as someone who's given Bush money in the past.

Secondly, the Bush administration puts a lot of emphasis on fighting terrorism as a war, not as a criminal act, therefore the idea is you fight the war on terrorism without having to worry about criminal statutes. Well, that seems to apply as long as it doesn't affect someone in their own administration.

In my view, this administration is actually involved with aiding and abetting terrorists -- because when you expose clandestine human intelligence sources, you aid and abet terrorists.

Since Attorney General John Ashcroft has recused himself from the Plame investigation, are you comfortable that the Department of Justice is doing an adequate job with the case?

It's only one part of the puzzle. I think that for its part the Department of Justice is probably on target, particularly with Ashcroft stepping aside. But what I fear here is that they'll come back and say, "We couldn't find evidence of a crime, and therefore no crime was committed." But it's not the legal statute that should be the standard here -- it's the moral statute that should be the standard, because it's U.S. national security and the lives of intelligence personnel that are at risk.

Next page: Political pressure on intelligence is as bad now as under LBJ