Intelligence Identities Protection Act
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The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 (Pub.L. 97-200, ) is a United States federal law that makes it a federal crime to intentionally reveal the identity of an agent whom one knows to be in or recently in certain covert roles with a U.S. intelligence agency.
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[edit] History
The law was written, in part, as a response to several incidents where Central Intelligence Agency agents' identities were revealed. Under then existing law, such disclosures were legal when they did not involve the release of classified information. In 1975, CIA Athens station chief Richard Welch[1] was assassinated by the Greek terrorist group November 17 after his identity was revealed in several listings by a magazine called CounterSpy, edited by Timothy Butz. A local paper checked with CounterSpy to confirm his identity.[2]
Another major impetus to pass the legislation was the activities of ex-CIA agent Philip Agee during the 1960s and 70s. Agee's book CIA Diary and his publication of the Covert Action Information Bulletin (CAIB) blew the cover of many agents. Some commentators say the law was specifically targeted at his actions, and one Congressman, Bill Young, said during a House debate that "What we're after today are the Philip Agees of the world." [8]
The law passed the House by a vote of 315–32, with all opposing votes coming from Democrats. The law passed the Senate 81–4, with the opponents being Democratic Senators Joseph Biden, Gary Hart, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and Republican Senator Charles Mathias.
As of July 2005, there has only been one successful prosecution involving the statute. [1] In 1985, CIA agent Sharon Scranage was sentenced to five years, and served 8 months, for giving the names of other agents to her boyfriend in Ghana. [2]
[edit] Valerie Plame affair
There is an ongoing investigation being conducted by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald into whether this law and others were violated in the identification of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative in a 2003 newspaper column by Robert Novak. [3] As a result of the investigation, former Vice Presidential chief of staff I. Lewis Libby was convicted on two counts of perjury, one count of obstruction of justice and one count of making false statements to federal investigators[4] and sentenced to 30 months in jail. [5] In a court filing related to Libby's sentencing, the CIA stated that Plame was a covert agent at the time of the leak. [6] In addition, the leak enabled the identification of Plame as an employee of the CIA front company, Brewster Jennings & Associates, and in doing so enabled the identification of other CIA agents who were "employed" there. [7]
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- 1 Washington Post. Obituary: Richard S. Welch. 29 Dec. 1975, A16. ISSN 0190-8286 "The murder of Richard S. Welch, CIA station chief in Athens, was the entirely predictable result of the disclosure tactics chosen by certain American critics of the agency as part of their effort to destroy it." [3]
- 2 Morton H. Halperin and National Security Issues—A Partial Record, Congressional Record, United States Senate - July 15, 1994, pg. S9109.
- 3 Mission To Niger (Washington Post article by Robert Novak)
- 4 "Libby Found Guilty of Perjury, Obstruction" (CNN Newsroom 6 March 2007)
- 5 "Former White House Official Sentenced to Prison in CIA Leak Case" Voice of America 5 June 2007)
- 6 "Plame was ‘covert’ agent at time of name leak" (MSNBC 29 May 2007)
- 7 "Leak of Agent's Name Causes Exposure of CIA Front Firm" (Washington Post 4 October 2003)
- 8 "Agee's Revenge" (Reason 14 July 2005)
- C.I.A. Inquiry May Hinge on What the Leaker Knew (New York Times article)
- Plame Out. The ridiculous end to the scandal that distracted Washington (Slate article by Christopher Hitchens)
