NOC, NOC. Who's There? A Special Kind of Agent.

Item request has been placed! ×
Item request cannot be made. ×
loading   Processing Request
Read Online Read More Add to Saved list
  • Additional Information
    • Subject Terms:
      WILSON, Valerie Plame, 1963-; NATIONAL security; ESPIONAGE; UNITED States. Central Intelligence Agency; WHITE House (Washington, D.C.); WILSON, Joseph, 1949-2019; BUSH, George W. (George Walker), 1946-; MCCLELLAN, Scott; ROVE, Karl, 1950-; INTELLIGENCE service; WEAPONS of mass destruction; EMPLOYEES
    • Subject Terms:
      NIGERReport Available; IRAQReport Available; UNITED StatesReport Available
    • Abstract:
      The author discusses the potential damage to U.S. national security caused by the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame by an unknown member of the Bush Administration, and looks at her job as a spy with nonoffical cover (NOC). Security agencies all over the world are now quietly running Plame's name through their data banks, immigration records and computer hard drives as the White House leak scandal continues to percolate. Officials with two foreign governments told Time that their spy catchers are quietly checking on whether Plame had worked on their soil and, if so, what she had done there. Which means if one theme of the Administration leak scandal concerns political vengeance--did the White House reveal Plame's identity in order to punish Wilson for his public criticism of the case for war with Iraq?--another theme is about damage. Plame was outed as part of a longtime dispute between Bush moderates and hard-liners over the strengths and shortcomings of the agency's prewar intelligence on Saddam Hussein. Some Bush partisans have suggested that the outing of Plame is no big deal. But the facts tell otherwise. Plame was, for starters, a former NOC--that is, a spy with nonofficial cover who worked overseas as a private individual with no apparent connection to the U.S. government. NOCs are among the government's most closely guarded secrets, because they often work for real or fictive private companies overseas and are set loose to spy solo. Plame worked as a spy internationally in more than one role. Though Plame's cover is now blown, it probably began to unravel years ago when Wilson first asked her out.