Brewster Jennings & Associates
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brewster Jennings & Associates was a front company set up in the mid-1990s by the CIA for its agents, including Valerie Plame, a classified status employee for the Agency whose identity was revealed by Richard Armitage.
Contents |
[edit] Staff
Plame's CIA status was revealed by Robert Novak based on leaked information in a 2003 column.[1] In an interview on CNN, he said "Wilson's wife, the CIA employee, gave $1,000 to [Al] Gore and she listed herself as an employee of Brewster-Jennings & Associates. There is no such firm, I'm convinced." It later turned out that BJ&A did exist for all intents and purposes, listed on the Dun & Bradstreet database of company names.
The Boston Globe reported: "Former intelligence officials confirmed Plame's cover was an invention and that she used other false identities and affiliations when working overseas... 'When she was abroad she had a more viable cover.'"[2]. And Knight Ridder reported (October 19, 2003):
| “ | Compounding the damage, the front company, Brewster-Jennings & Associates, the name of which has been reported previously, apparently also was used by other CIA officers whose work now could be at risk, according to Vince Cannistraro, former CIA chief of counterterrorism operations and analysis. Now, Plame's career as a covert operations officer in the CIA's Directorate of Operations is over. Those she dealt with -- on business or not -- may be in danger. The directorate is conducting an extensive damage assessment. And Plame's exposure may make it harder for American spies to persuade foreigners to share important secrets with them, U.S. intelligence officials said. | ” |
[edit] D&B statements
A spokeswoman for Dun & Bradstreet, a New Jersey operator of commercial databases, said Brewster Jennings was first entered into its records on May 22, 1994, but wouldn't discuss the source of the filing. Its records list the company, at 101 Arch St., Boston, Massachusetts, as a "legal services office," which could mean a law firm, with annual sales of $60,000, one employee, and a chief executive identified as "Victor Brewster, Partner." [2]
[edit] Company name
The front company likely took its name from the late Brewster Jennings, a president and founder of the SOCONY-Vacuum company, which would later become Mobil Oil, and then merged to become part of Exxon-Mobil.
[edit] Physical address
101 Arch St. is a multi-tenant, class A, high rise, 21-story, 389,000 square foot (36,000 m²) office building located in the Boston financial district that houses a number of law firms, though there was no visual indication of Brewster Jennings being centered there. "All it was was a telephone and a post office box" a former intelligence official was quoted as saying,[2] although the company was listed in an online database of law firms. According to previous and current building managers of the location, they had never heard of the company's existence.[2]
[edit] See also
Related articles at:
[edit] References
- ^ Pincus, Walter, Allen, Mike. "Leak of Agent's Name Causes Exposure of CIA Front Firm", Washington Post, October 4, 2003. Retrieved on March 17, 2007.
- ^ a b c d Kerber, Ross, Bender, Bryan. "Apparent CIA front didn't offer much cover", Boston Globe, October 10, 2003. Retrieved on March 17, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Washington Post article, notes Novak's statement on CNN, and subsequent effects.
- Brewster Jennings Protects America, Game that merges "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" with Google Maps.
- FEC filing, of Mrs. Wilson's 1999 contribution to Al Gore, in which Mrs. Wilson lists her employer as "Brewster-Jennings & Assoc."
