[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 21, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E21-E22]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF RESOLUTION OF INQUIRY REGARDING DISCLOSURE OF IDENTITY 
           AND EMPLOYMENT OF COVERT U.S. INTELLIGENCE OFFICER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 21, 2004

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, six months after a syndicated columnist 
disclosed the identity of a CIA employee, calling her a CIA 
``operative,'' the White House and the Department of Justice have yet 
to find and hold accountable the person or persons who leaked her name 
to the press. Congress and the men and women

[[Page E22]]

of our intelligence community deserve answers.
  I am today introducing a privileged resolution of inquiry to request 
that President Bush, the U.S. Attorney General, and U.S. Secretaries of 
State and Defense provide this Congress with factual information in 
their possession relating to the disclosure of the identity and 
employment of Ms. Valerie Plame as a covert employee of the CIA. I am 
pleased to be joined by U.S. Representatives Eshoo, Reyes, Tauscher, 
Larson, Turner, Spratt, Moran, Waxman, Lantos, and Conyers as original 
cosponsors of this timely and important legislation.
  If passed, this resolution will provide Congress with the information 
it needs to determine independently the facts surrounding this breach 
of confidentiality, to assess its effects on U.S. national security and 
intelligence gathering, and to determine whether legislative action is 
needed to prevent leaks of this nature in the future.
  I submit that protecting our Nation's intelligence community, and all 
who serve in it, is vital to our national security and to the safety of 
all Americans. At this time, a resolution of inquiry is the best tool 
at the disposal of the House to determine how this leak occurred and 
who perpetrated it.
  I am disappointed by the absence of public outrage among senior 
officials in our intelligence community and in this administration. 
They should be standing in solidarity with Ms. Plame and the other 
Americans who serve in our intelligence community, and they should be 
speaking out against anyone who would presume to unilaterally decide 
whose identity should be made public. Their silence is deplorable.
  Protecting our country and the men and women who protect and defend 
us is not solely the responsibility of one branch of our Government. It 
is a shared responsibility under our system of checks and balances. Our 
Government--including both the Congress and the executive branch--has a 
duty to ensure that all who work within the U.S. intelligence community 
are not compromised and that all U.S. intelligence agencies are able to 
effectively do their jobs and protect the American people from more 
terrorist attacks and other threats. Some have used the weak excuses 
that this person's identity was already known by some people or that 
her work was not very important. These excuses are outrageous. Any 
unauthorized disclosure potentially puts our agents and our sources and 
their families at risk and thus weakens our ability to protect 
Americans.

  At the least, I hope that this resolution will exert pressure on the 
ongoing Department of Justice investigation. I fully support the 
investigation, but there is no reason why it should be taking so long 
to get any answers at all. This investigation should be among the 
Department's highest priorities.
  Over the longer term and after we have determined the origin of this 
leak, I believe that this Congress has an on-going responsibility to 
examine thoroughly and oversee how our intelligence community uses 
human sources, human case officers, and various kinds of cover, and how 
we go about protecting them. We simply cannot accept the public 
disclosure of an undercover intelligence operative. We must understand 
what happened and search for ways to prevent it from happening in the 
future. The effectiveness of our intelligence agencies demands nothing 
less.

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