No pictures. No names. No job descriptions. No Such Agency.
Last week we learned of 7 C.I.A. agents who were killed in Afghanistan in one of the remote camps. The agents were killed by a suicide bomber who apparently was working as a double agent. Today, the news showed the bomber’s wife on TV, bragging about her husband and saying he would never work for the Americans or help them. Yet, our people, trained in espionage, trusted this man and allowed him on base with few questions asked.
Furthermore, we really don’t know who these people were. The C.I.A. has not released their names. We know a few names only because their families have spoken to the press. The C.I.A. is known for being a tight knit community and for being very proprietary about their intelligence. Yet, somewhere in this mix we find out that there were 2 Blackwater (now known as Xe LLC) C.I.A. agents also killed. 2 of the C.I.A. agents were women. This too, is highly unusual.
Unfortunately, our glimpse into this tight-knit society is only because of their deaths. One of the women who was killed will probably never be known. The New York Times, after consulting with the C.I.A. has agreed to not release her name. This is serious stuff. The other woman’s name was released by her father.
Those of us who have been around Manassas for a long time know that ‘State Department’ is often code for C.I.A. ‘Department of the Army’ is also code for C.I.A. You also learn to not ask. There are some things that just aren’t talked about.
According the the New York Times:
In a message to the C.I.A. work force after the attack, President Obama told agency employees that “your triumphs and even your names may be unknown to your fellow Americans.” And indeed, some relatives and friends of the dead did not seem to know of their agency connections.
Much of the information was never written down. The intelligence was kept in their heads. The deaths of these individuals cannot be mourned. We will never know some of their names. Some of their families didn’t know the type of work they did. With their deaths goes much information needed for the war on terror. Much of what was in their brains was simply irrecoverable. RIP those who we will never know anything about.
What are Blackwater CIA agents? How can one be both? How do people just disappear and their families have no idea where they are? This seems like the stuff James Bond movies are made of. I expect some of our contributors can shed just a little light of a general nature on the mysteries surrounding these deaths. Are these agents considered combatants?
The sad thing is at the CIA there’s a wall that lists the names of all the CIA people killed in the line of duty. That’s usually the only way they are honored. Even their families may have no idea why they were killed, due to the highly classified nature of their work. They may not even have had any idea what their job was – other than they were stationed at some place in some foreign country.
I think Blackwater CIA agents are just Blackwater employees, hired by the CIA for overseas missions.
There’s getting to be a fuzzy line unfortunately between the CIA, and the employees of firms like Blackwater who they contract out for manpower. This is a real problem actually, and we all know that Blackwater has been in the news for doing some not so great things over in Iraq and Afghanistan.
That’s correct, about State Dept. being a code name for CIA employees. In fact, some of their families may even have been under the impression their husband/wife/mother/father worked for the State Dept. and had no idea instead they were a CIA agent.
I didn’t know Blackwater changed their name. Probably because there has been so much bad press on Blackwater, their “name brand” had been ruined!
I believe they have been blacklisted by the Iranian govt. That is one reason for the name change. I don’t understand the spook business. I also don’t understand why our CIA is hiring from Blackwater. I don’t totally understand if the 2 Blackwater people killed were part of the 7 or in addition to the 7. It is all very mysterious.
This is so sad and morale must be terrible at Langley now after the waterboarding scandal, then the underwear bomber and now this.
There might be a good reason for keeping some names secret. If it becomes known that the John or Jane Doe that was killed was with the CIA, then people with bad motives can go back through John and Jane’s known past associations, making more connections and it can lead to more “outings”. Everyone he or she “handled” or came into contact with would then be at risk. When you become an agent, you know that if you die, your family may not ever know what really happened or what you were doing. It is part of the job and they are brave for doing it.
Depending on what they were working on and what their cover was, some names will be released and some may not.
I don’t think a person can be Blackwater and CIA at the same time. They could be Blackwater people contracted by CIA or ex CIA agents now working for Blackwater under a CIA contract or a CIA agent whose cover is that they work for Blackwater. Even their own families may not know who they really work for.
That’s the way the C.I.A. operates. Always has, always will.
I think what you said above is correct. You can’t be both things. Now people may go from CIA to Blackwater or vice versa. You also may indeed be right about CIA agents as part of their cover being said to work for Blackwater. Not sure what the advantage would be there though. Usually the “cover job” is something not at all related to spycraft. “Economic advisor” to some foreign company (and even applied by that company) is an example of a possible more typical kind of cover. The foreign company the claimed employment was for would be some commercial company. of cousre the person really doesn’t have a job there but under some agreement if anyone enquired that company would vouch that he does.
Blackwater is too much like CIA – the difference beween the two has gotten so blurry, it doesn’t seem to be much of a cover. But i may be missing something, maybe there is a good reason for a CIA employee to say he works for Backwater and therefore really isn’t a US Gov’t employee.
I forgot that on the CIA memorial wall, there are some names that really are just represented by stars or something. Those are people killed in the line of duty that never were known to be CIA agents, even though they were.
As anona said – if it was revealed they worked for the CIA, someone could start looking at people they associated with, and figure out who their handlers were at the CIA, etc etc. Could have bad consequences, lives would be lost, etc.
It’s a very big issue when an undercover CIA agent (someone who publicly is NOT thought to be working at the CIA but has an entire cover job set up) to have his/her cover blown. Very bad, many lives can be put in jeopardy. So for some cases, even after death, it can never really be allowed to be known they were CIA. Their families will never know, and those are the ones who are represented by “stars” on the CIA memorial plaque in the lobby of the CIA.
I think for those people, there’s just a series of stars, and the date on which they were killed in action.
Funny how Valerie Plume’s status with the C.I.A. was minimized and downplayed. How convenient. That always bothered me. It also bothers me that Scooter Libby got to be the fall guy for the entire affair. That’s one reason I get so up in arms when people start calling for someone to be fired. It is never the person who is really at fault.
Yes, I read Valerie Plume’s book. Excellent reading by the way. She was in a situation where her cover job was as some high level international executive for some French company I think, and that’s why she had to travel so much, etc. etc. Indeed, the ramification of blowing her cover were huge, and who knows if any lives were lost. Her book is really worthwhile reading, and goes in detail about all of this. Also, her treatment at the CIA after her cover was blown was not good. Obviously she had to be reassigned to a non-cover type job, and that’s where the difficulties really began for her. She only stayed with the CIA for a year or two and then left. I don’t remember all the details, it’s been several years since I read the book.
The usual nay sayers conservatives who were vocal during the last administration acted like she was just being a ‘silly woman’ over the entire episode. It just made me sick. Her job, her security clearance, and her identity were just reduced to insignificance.
Thanks for the mini book review. Sounds interesting. She got totally screwed and the wrong person went to jail.
Well, Scooter Libby did break the law so I can’t say the wrong person went to jail, but Richard Armitage should have been prosecuted as well and gotten a longer sentence than Libby. Libby was guilty of obstructing the investigation, but at the end of the day Armitage was the one who leaked her name. I still don’t understand how he got clear. I can only assume because he let away from the Libby/Rove/Cheney hopes of the “Fitz-mas” crowd.
(I suppose I’m going to loose some of my Republican Operative cred with this post, aren’t I.)
Re-read para 2 of #4 and para 2 of #7. The answer is simple. Those two posters understand.
That sounds like a very good reason not to out Valerie Plume. It endangered her associates even if it didn’t endanger her.
Poor Old Scooter was probably promised a big reward if he would take the ‘hit’ for his country.
I might not understand all the CIA dealings but I do live in a post-Watergate era.
@GainesvilleResident
I walked by the wall at the main entrance of Langley every day (when I was not overseas) for a long time… there is a field of stars for the folks whose names are known to only a few. I understand there’s a book in the Director’s safe with the names and details. For people who are really interested, I suggest The Book of Honor – covert lives and classified deaths at the CIA by Ted Gup. The culture is that we don’t need to be on the front page… and our very best successes are never known by the American public.
OK, thanks Opinion. That’s what I thought – so thanks for confirming it. It stands to reason somewhere in a highly protected place there is a book that tells who those people were and the details of their sacrifice. Probably true heroes, who’s stories would be interesting to know, that only a select few will ever know.
I’ll have to look for that book – I’m always interested in reading good books about our intelligence operations.
Found it, and even better yet, there’s a Kindle edition of it for just $9.99. I’ll order it for my Kindle once I finish a couple of books I’m still reading on it. I’ve bought so many books for it I have a backlog of books to read on it. But, I’ll pick it up in the next month or two, looks good from the description over at Amazon.com. They also have it in paperback for $10.88, and of course have the hardcover edition too.
@Gainesville Resident
Charlie Wilson’s War is probably the best read (and a really good description of how the CIA does business). I recommend the book first followed by the movie (which is a hoot). Assume you’ve read George Tenent’s book. If you ever get to Langley, you’ll find lots of interesting and hard to find “special interest” reads in the gift shop.