Plame’s “outing” was the result of either CIA incompetence or an effort to undermine the White House.

[Via OpinionJournal.com]

Shortly after the Libby indictments I started to wonder about Valerie Plame and the CIA’s responsibility in this affair. I was tempted to write a piece titled, “Who is Valerie Plame sleeping with?”, but ultimately decided against it. Did she know that her husband’s action were ending her career at the CIA? My fascination with this subject goes directly to the point all married men eventually confront, “What is the responsibility of the husband to his wife’s career?” Should a husband or wife sacrifice their spouse’s career for their own gain? Assuming that Valerie is no dummy I have to conclude she must of have been okay with the idea that her husband’s action would do bring attention to himself and exposing her employment at the CIA.

I guess I should write this off as a presidential political shenanigan. What reeks is that the CIA was overtly participating in presidential politics and they were so sloppy at it. I guess the TV and movies raised my expectations that the folks at the CIA are a lot smarter and sophisticated than the average folks. I did not expect them to demonstrate such incompetence managing a simple intelligence operation. Now I am reading about top secret prisons being exposed in the press. I am concerned about possibly illegal torture of prisoners but I am actually more alarmed that the CIA cannot keep a secret. It is easy to see that the CIA was and still is seriously dysfunctional. Loyalty, morale, and operational effectiveness must be at an all time low. With as many foreign threats as there are, we need the CIA to operating at 100%. Unfortunately the bad news will continue to come. I am afraid that the Libby trial will focus a lot more attention on the CIA’s internal problems.