Dateline - Thursday, July 14, 2005

John Kerry Outed Undercover CIA Agent

Sen. John Kerry, who called for Karl Rove to be fired over allegations
that he revealed the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame, outed a
genuine undercover CIA agent just this past April - even after the
agency asked that his identity be kept secret.

Kerry blew the cover of CIA secret operative Fulton Armstrong during
confirmation hearings for U.N. ambassador nominee John Bolton.
Questioning Bolton, Kerry asked: "Did Otto Reich share his belief that
Fulton Armstrong should be removed for his position?" - according to a
transcript excerpted by the New York Times.

"The answer is yes," the top Democrat continued. In his response to
Kerry, Mr. Bolton did his best to maintain the agent's confidentiality,
reverting to Armstrong's pseudonym. "As I said," he told Kerry, "I had
lost confidence in Mr. Smith, and I conveyed that."

Two years earlier, Armstrong had been identified in news reports on his
dispute with other officials over intelligence involving Cuba. But he
was operating in a different capacity and his identity wasn't secret at
the time.

"When the Bolton nomination resurrected the old accounts, however, the
CIA asked news organizations to withhold his name," the Times said.
Apparently the CIA directive wasn't good enough for Sen. Kerry - who
outed Armstrong anyway and later defended the move by saying his
Republican colleague, Senator Richard Lugar, had also mentioned the
name. And besides, said Kerry, the secret agent's name "had already been
in the press."

--
Skipper