posted April 11, 2005 10:24 PM            

WASHINGTON -- Mr. Smith came to Washington again Monday, as an alias for a Central Intelligence Agency officer who works covertly. Senators, however, may have blown his cover.

During questioning on John R. Bolton's nomination to be President Bush's ambassador to the United Nations, Bolton and members of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee referred to "Mr. Smith" as one official among several who were involved in a dispute over what Democrats asserted was Bolton's inappropriate treatment of an intelligence analyst who disagreed with him.

"We referred to this other analyst at the CIA, whom I'll try and call Mr. Smith here, I hope I can keep that straight," Bolton said at one point.

Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., both mentioned a name, Fulton Armstrong, that had not previously come up in public accounts of the intelligence flap.

It is not clear whether Armstrong is the undercover officer, but an exchange between Kerry and Bolton suggests that he may be.

In questioning Bolton, Kerry read from a transcript of closed-door interviews that committee staffers conducted with State Department officials prior to Monday's hearing.

"Did Otto Reich share his belief that Fulton Armstrong should be removed from his position? The answer is yes," Kerry said, characterizing one interview. "Did John Bolton share that view?" Kerry said, and then said the answer again was yes.

"As I said, I had lost confidence in Mr. Smith, and I conveyed that," Bolton replied evenly. "I thought that was the honest thing to do."

posted April 11, 2005 10:50 PM              

******

March 14, 2003
THE AMERICAS
Why Can't the CIA Tell Us More About Hugo's Plotting?
By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY/Editor The Americas

Wall Street Journal

The U.S. national intelligence officer for Latin America, Fulton T. Armstrong was called to testify before the House's International Relations Committee on Feb. 27. The HIRC invitation asked for an overview of "political and economic trends in the Western Hemisphere." Mr. Armstrong declined, according to the committee, on the grounds that he did not want to speak in an open, unclassified format.

When I called Mr. Armstrong's office on Wednesday to ask for a fuller explanation of this, I was told he was out on "personal travel" and not available to elaborate. Sources familiar with his views suggest he was probably reluctant to expose the nonchalance his reports reflect to committee criticism.

posted April 11, 2005 11:25 PM              

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats sought to block President Bush's pick for U.N. ambassador at a confirmation hearing on Monday that focused on allegations the nominee tried to have intelligence analysts removed from their posts after disagreeing with him.
Bolton, a hard-line favorite with Bush's conservative base, said the same accusations had already been investigated and dismissed by a congressional intelligence committee.

"There is -- to state this bluntly Mr. Bolton -- a concern that your ideological predisposition relating to some of these issues have clouded your judgment. That is what we're talking about," said Joseph Biden of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

posted April 11, 2005 11:26 PM            

He also continued to refer to Armstrong as Smith when he answered Kerry's question about the same person even though Kerry was naming him as Armstrong.

We will see where this goes, but it's curious.

posted April 14, 2005 12:24 PM            

Senators may have blown the cover of a covert CIA officer yesterday.

During a hearing on John R. Bolton's nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations, Bolton and members of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee referred to the analyst as "Mr. Smith." They were discussing one of the officials involved in a dispute over what Democrats said was Bolton's inappropriate treatment of an intelligence analyst who disagreed with him.

"We referred to this other analyst at the CIA, whom I'll try and call Mr. Smith here," Bolton said at one point.

But the committee chairman, Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), and Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) mentioned a name that had not previously come up in public accounts of the intelligence flap.

In questioning Bolton, Kerry read from a transcript of closed-door interviews that committee staffers conducted with State Department officials before yesterday's hearing.

"Did Otto Reich share his belief that [the person in question] should be removed from his position? The answer is yes," Kerry said, characterizing one interview. "Did John Bolton share that view?" Kerry asked. Again, he said the answer was yes.

"As I said, I had lost confidence in Mr. Smith, and I conveyed that," Bolton replied. "I thought that was the honest thing to do."

posted April 14, 2005 07:12 PM              

You heard how Senators Kerry and Lugar outed a CIA agent at the Bolton hearings yesterday, used his real name, big scandal? No. It turns out the agent had already been publicly identified as an agent at least 10 time in newspapers, congressional committees, and by a private speaker‘s bureau.

It seemed to me a big political (UNINTELLIGIBLE), maybe even a big political scandal. Two senators, one from each party, blowing the cover of a CIA agent by inadvertently using his real name instead of his unimaginative cover, Mr. Smith, during the confirmation hearings for U.N. ambassador-designate John Bolton. You know, Mr. Smith goes to Washington and gets screwed.

The Associated Press reported the story. The infamous Internet gossip Matt Drudge reported the story. And oh, by the way, Grudge blamed Democrat John Kerry while leaving out Republican Richard Lugar.