Dorgan

Opening Statement
Senator Byron L. Dorgan
Chairman, Democratic Policy Committee

A Special Joint Oversight Hearing On
The National Security Consequences of
Disclosing the Identity of a Covert
Intelligence Officer

Friday, July 22, 2005

Today’s hearing will consider the life-and-death consequences of disclosing the identity of a covert CIA officer.

It is now clear that, two years ago, high-ranking officials in the White House discussed with reporters the identity of a particular covert CIA officer. Following those conversations, reporter Bob Novak published the name of that officer in his newspaper column.

What was especially damaging was that Administration officials leaked the name that the CIA officer had used in her overseas covert work.

The leak of the agent’s name disclosed not just her identity, but her front company, every other officer who used that front company, and every foreign national who ever assisted one of those officers.

So who was responsible for this leak? It has become apparent that the White House Deputy Chief of Staff and the Vice President’s Chief of Staff both had conversations with reporters regarding this particular covert officer.

But this hearing is not intended to answer the question of who was responsible for the leak. Rather, it is intended to examine the question of what the consequences of such a leak can be.

We will hear today from five retired intelligence officers and analysts, who will speak to the seriousness of this type of leak.

Colonel W. Patrick Lang is a retired senior officer of U.S. military intelligence and the U.S. Army Special Forces. He is a highly decorated veteran of several of America’s overseas conflicts, including the war in Vietnam. He was the first Professor of the Arabic language at West Point.

Larry Johnson is a decorated veteran of the CIA and the U.S. State Department’s Office of Counterterrorism. He is the CEO and co-founder of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business risk consulting firm.

James Marcinkowski is a former CIA operations officer, and also has worked for the U.S. Navy and the FBI. He is currently the Deputy City Attorney in Royal Oak, Michigan.

David MacMichael is a former U.S. Marine Corps officer and Department of Defense consultant who served as senior estimates officer with the National Intelligence Council.

Mel Goodman, our last witness, is a former CIA analyst.

I want to thank all of the witnesses for appearing here today, and for their service to our country.