Today, Wolf Blitzer promoted another falsehood, more serious than many, about Joe and Valerie Wilson. Blitzer floated the notion that two of Wilson’s own defenders in the intelligence community have said that, in posing for the Vanity Fair photo [LEFT], he and Valerie risked her former contacts.


Speaking to former Ambassador Joseph Wilson today on CNN’s Situation Room, Wolf Blitzer said:

BLITZER: [S]ome of your supporters were on this program last week — Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer; Pat Lang, a former DIA intelligence analyst [Blitzer assigned Lang the wrong job title; see correct info below fold].

BLITZER CONTINUES: They say your decision and your wife’s decision to let her be photographed represented a major mistake because, if there were people out there who may have been endangered by her name, certainly when people might have seen her picture, they could have been further endangered.


First, what did Larry and Pat actually say to Wolf? Second, by posing for the photo, did Valerie Plame endanger any of her contacts she’d met through the CIA front company, Brewster Jennings?


Larry Johnson was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on Oct. 26:

BLITZER: Were you surprised that, after her name was revealed, that she posed for pictures, that famous picture in “Vanity Fair,” that she posed for pictures elsewhere … a lot of people have suggested [that] this was no big deal…. [L]ook at her. She’s sort of flaunting it.


JOHNSON: Yes. With the benefit of hindsight, I don’t think Joe and Valerie would have done that again.


But they also recognized, at the time when they did it, her career had been completely destroyed. … (Crooks & Liars has the video.)


So, today, did Wolf convey what Johnson said to him last week? No.

And what did Pat Lang say on Oct. 27?

The chain of circumstances that led to that is an unfortunate thing. It in fact ruined the possibility of ever using her as a field operative again, that’s absolutely true. (Crooks & Liars video)

That’s all that Lang said about the photo. Not quite the same thing as saying she’d endangered her contacts, is it?

In that photo [UPPER LEFT], Valerie Wilson is sitting behind her husband, wearing large sunglasses and a scarf. And, as Wilson told Blitzer today, the real damage had already been done:

WILSON: Her contacts and her network was endangered the minute that Bob Novak wrote the article. The photograph of her did not identify her in any way anybody could identify.


Now you asked me this question — you’ve asked me this question three or four times…


BLITZER: About the photograph?


WILSON: About the photograph.


Now, I have never heard you ask the president about the layout in the Oval Office when they did the war layout. I’ve never heard you ask Mr. Wolfowitz about the layout in Vanity Fair. But you ask me all the time.


So let me just get this very clear: When one is faced with adversity, one of the ways one acts in the face of adversity is to try and bring a certain amount of humor to the situation. It’s called irony.


And if people have no sense of humor or no sense of perspective on that, my response is: It’s about time to get a life.


But in no way did that picture endanger anybody. What endangered people was the outing of her name –her maiden name — and, subsequently, the outing of the corporation that she worked for. … continued below:


I bet that Blitzer was channeling the scuttlebutt he’s heard around D.C. about the photo, and that he failed to recall — and failed to review — last week’s interviews before he talked to Wilson today. He misquoted both of his guests last week. He owes them an apology and, in my opinion, an opportunity to return to his show to correct his errors.

BLITZER: So you don’t have any regrets about the Vanity Fair picture?


WILSON: I think it’s a great picture. I think someday you will, too.


BLITZER: It’s a great picture. But I mean the fact that…


WILSON: I think someday it, too, will be in the International Spy Museum.


BLITZER: But you don’t think it was a mistake to do that?


WILSON: No.


BLITZER: OK.


Emphases mine.


Update [2005-11-1 9:53:5 by susanhu]: Here, Blitzer misidentifies Pat Lang’s actual position in the DIA — bumping him down the chain:

BLITZER: [S]ome of your supporters were on this program last week — Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer; Pat Lang, a former DIA intelligence analyst. They say your decision and your wife’s decision to let her be photographed represented a major mistake because, if there were people out there who may have been endangered by her name …


In fact, Lang ran all of DIA’s functions in the Middle East at for seven years and then was head of HUMINT collection world wide for another two years.


Here are Pat’s and Larry’s bios:


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Col. Patrick W. Lang (Ret.), a highly decorated retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces, served as “Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism” for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and was later the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. Col. Lang was the first Professor of the Arabic Language at the United States Military Academy at West Point. For his service in the DIA, he was awarded the “Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive.” He is a frequent commentator on television and radio, including PBS’s Newshour, and most recently on MSNBC’s Hardball and NPR’s “All Things Considered.”.


Personal Blog: Sic Semper Tyrannis 2005 || Bio || CV
Recommended Books || More BooTrib <a href="Posts

Novel: The Butcher’s Cleaver (download free by chapter, PDF format)


“Drinking the Kool-Aid,” Middle East Policy Council Journal, Vol. XI, Summer 2004, No. 2

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Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm that helps corporations and governments manage threats posed by terrorism and money laundering. Mr. Johnson, who worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism (as a Deputy Director), is a recognized expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio, ABC’s Nightline, NBC’s Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and aviation security around the world. Further bio details