The Obama administration has
accidentally revealed the name of the CIA's top official in Afghanistan in an
email to thousands of journalists.
The officer's name - identified as "chief of
station" in Kabul - was included by US embassy staff on a list of 15
senior American officials who met with President Obama during his surprise
Saturday visit to Bagram Air Field.
The list was sent to a Washington Post reporter who
was representing the news media, who then sent it out to the White House
"press pool" list, which contains as many as 6000 recipients.
The Associated Press is withholding the officer's name at
the request of the Obama administration, who said its publication could put his
life and those of his family members in danger.
A Google search appears to reveal the name of the officer's
wife and other personal details.
White House officials realised the error after the Post
reporter notified them, and sent out a new list without the station chief's
name.
Other major news organisations also agreed not to publish
the officer's name.
The reporter who distributes the pool report sends it to
the White House to be checked for factual accuracy and then forwarded to the
thousands of journalists on the email distribution list, so in this case the
White House failed on at least two occasions to recognise the official's name
was being revealed and circulated so broadly.
The intentional disclosure of the name of a
"covered" operative is a crime under the US Intelligence Identities
Protection Act.
A former CIA officer, John Kiriakou, was sentenced to 30
months in prison in January after pleading guilty to disclosing to a reporter
the name of an undercover agency officer.
AP
No comments:
Post a Comment