Obama administration reveals CIA spy name in Afghanistan visit
The name of a high ranking CIA spy in Afghanistan was leaked by the Obama administration when they released their list of US officials participating in the President’s visit.
President Barack Obama meets with senior advisors in the Roosevelt Room. 2/16/09. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
The Washington Post reported the news Sunday noting that “The White House recognized the mistake and quickly issued a revised list that did not include the individual, who had been identified on the initial release as the “Chief of Station” in Kabul, a designation used by the CIA for its highest-ranking spy in a country.”
This error may have resulted in risk for the spy and their family as White House officials “warned that the officer and his family could be at risk if the name were published.” Both the CIA and the Obama White House refused to comment on the matter to the Post.
Like many other reporters, I do have the name of the “Chief of Station” on an email that’s sitting in my Inbox, tweeted Niels Lesniewski @nielslesniewski
The list was “distributed to a list of more than 6,000 recipients” as the Post noted “In this case, the pool report was filed by Washington Post White House bureau chief Scott Wilson. Wilson said he had copied the list from the e-mail provided by White House press officials. He sent his pool report to the press officials, who then distributed it to a list of more than 6,000 recipients.”
It was unclear how the officer’s name was included on a list of other officials meeting with Obama, including prominent ones such as National Security Adviser Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan James Cunningham, and the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan Gen. Joseph Dunford.
During the George W. Bush administration, the media was in a frenzy over the alleged “outing” of Valerie Plame, who many argue (including her own supervisor) was outed by her own husband, Joe Wilson.
I was there in bagram in the aircraft hangar where President Obama was, and when he said the name, no one reacted to it since 90% of people where to busy taking selfies and not paying attention to what he was saying. it stuck me When the name wAs said but at that point the system is so above me that I couldnt do anything but stand there and listen.