Fulton Armstrong and Mr. Smith
At least one right wing blog is suggesting Sens. John Kerry and Richard Lugar blew the cover of a CIA operative referred to as "Mr. Smith" at today's Senate Hearing. The person they referred to was Fulton Armstrong.
Only Fulton Armstrong has been a publicly identified intellgence officer for years. He was the CIA's national intelligence officer for Latin America. Kerry didn't out anything. Even the story about him being forced out of the CIA has been in the media. From Salon:
Put it this way, with this White House, I see an outright pattern of bullying: Gen. Eric Shinseki, the former Army chief of staff, warned that the U.S. was going to need several hundred thousand troops in Iraq, and he's attacked for that, and basically told that he doesn't know what he's talking about -- and he's fired essentially a year before he's out of that job. When it's time for him to retire, not a single senior representative of the Department of Defense or White House leadership is there for his retirement. ... There was a senior CIA analyst by the name of Fulton Armstrong who was attacked, using leaks to the press, which alleged that he was disloyal and somehow under the influence of the Cuban government. There was a prosecutor [ousted from] the Department of Justice who had warned that John Walker Lindh's father had hired a lawyer and that [the DOJ] needed to consider the Miranda rights. [emphasis supplied]
Here's his official bio from 2003.
Fulton Armstrong
National Intelligence Officer for Latin AmericaFulton T. Armstrong was appointed National Intelligence Officer for Latin America on 1 June 2000. Previously Mr. Armstrong served as Chief of Staff of the DCI Crime and Narcotics Center (CNC). Prior to that, he served two terms as a Director for Inter-American Affairs at the National Security Council (1995-97 and 1998-99) and as Deputy NIO for Latin America (1997-98).
Mr. Armstrong began his government career in 1980 as Legislative Assistant and Press Secretary to US Representative Jim Leach. In 1984-95, he served as analyst, political-economic officer, and manager specializing in Latin America in the both the intelligence and policy communities.
Prior to joining government, Mr. Armstrong worked four years as a reporter, editor, and translator in Taiwan. He earned his B.S. in Linguistics and Spanish at Georgetown University in 1976. He is fluent in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.
Bio link via ArmsControWank.
Another bio from Who's on First's list of Bush appointees:
National Intelligence Officer for Latin America: Fulton Armstrong, previously Chief of Staff of the DCI Crime and Narcotics Center (CNC). Prior to that, he served two terms as a Director for Inter-American Affairs at the National Security Council (1995-97 and 1998-99) and as Deputy NIO for Latin America (1997-98). In 1980 he was Legislative Assistant and Press Secretary to US Rep. Jim Leach. In 1984-95, he served as analyst, political-economic officer, and manager specializing in Latin America in the both the intelligence and policy communities.
This is not an invitation to bash the right wing site in the comments here--criticize what they said, sure, but please refrain from name-calling and degrading insults.
Michelle Malkin deserves a credit point for debunking the meme before it gets very far.
Update: LGF has a new post saying I misrepresented its post in writing they suggested John Kerry blew a CIA agent's cover. Charles points out that he updated the post to say information about Mr. Armstrong is on the Internet. But the title to his original post still reads, "Kerry Blows CIA Agent's Cover" and putting the title together with the content of his post, I think it's fair to say he "suggested" Sens. John Kerry and Richard Lugar blew the cover of a CIA operative.
Charles disagrees with my interpretation and responds by e-mail:
Most people understand that when one writes “may have,” they are expressing a possibility, not a certainty. And the link, and quoted section of the article, make it very clear that I was not simply spouting an unsourced allegation as a fact. I still think you completely misrepresented me.
We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.
Update: World O'Crap has more.
Update: Charles has changed the title to his post to read "Kerry Blows CIA Agent's Cover- AP" which is what he should have done in the first place. That makes it clear it's a news report, not a fact.
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