Daily Socotra

April 26, 2006

House Resolution

God Bless the Associated Press.

Whoever was working the night shift filed the story at 4:31 this morning, two hours after I awoke, dazed, with the clock radio blaring.

I don't know how that happened; the controls are all on top of the little contraption from Sony, and in pawing at it I might have changed something delicate.

By the time I realized my error, and sank back into an uneasy doze, the story was already coursing its way around the world.

The BBC has added to the opening line of the morning update. Dan Damon now tells me it is “Nine o'clock in London, and five o'clock on the eastern coast of the United States.”

I liked it better before. It was shorter and crisper, and harked back to the “London calling” of the shortwave broadcasts of yesteryear from the middle of the world.

Besides, I know what time it is here. Otherwise I wouldn't be awake, right? Everything is going electronic and on demand, even the grand institution at Bush House in London. I was muttering about that as the coffee brewed, and then my early peevishness turned to apprehension.

I had commanded my computer to deliver me the daily mail, and the AP story is what first got my attention. It was forwarded to me by an old buddy from The Business.

The news is the first minefield of the day. A story with your Boss's name in it meant you were not going to have an easy morning. God help you if the Post used your name.

Now that I am retired, that is increasingly unlikely but things still pop up. I was startled to find a few weeks ago that I- or at least my desk- had been nominated for sale to a foreign concern.

This story filled me with unease. There was no featured reporter, no prospective winner of a Pulitzer Star in the tagline. It was just labeled “Washington” and was a matter-of-fact about an authorization bill winding its way through the committee process on the Hill.

Congress is back after their Easter Break, and back to their mischief. The House Intelligence Committee is debating the annual budget for the spook community. They call it “House Resolution 5020,” if you are keeping score.

Among the usual provisions for satellites and rockets, it reportedly contains nearly $1 billion for the new Office of the Director of national intelligence, and a request for another 500-odd jobs. I blinked at that, since it is nearly a third of what my old agency spent back in the days before 9/11. And my Agency actually had a mission, which did not involve looking over someone else's shoulder to see how they were doing.

I used to know the numbers in the budget, since we got copies of all the other Agency submissions, except for the Covet Action accounts that were held in special regard. It is a relief not to know anything in particular anymore, particularly in light of what the Committee intends to do about people who leak classified information.

There is a provision in the bill that directs Ambassador Negroponte to conduct a study on whether it makes sense to revoke the pensions of intelligence officers who leak classified information.

That made me spurt coffee on the screen of my computer. I may not know anything anymore, but suppose someone accused me of knowing something? Betraying some secret about the Soviet Union?

The House is jumping on the Administration's campaign against leakers, whether they are talking to journalists or not. I heard yesterday about the Mary What if I made an inadvertent disclosure about the conduct of the Vietnam War, or a budget cycle before the fall of the Berlin Wall?

Mary O. McCarthy is going to be the poster child for the campaign. She was the senior CIA analyst who got fired last week. According to the press- honest, this is press stuff, I have no sources and I know nothing- she admitted to leaking classified information about secret detention centers, and other matters. She was reportedly on the polygraph box at the time, and swift action was taken.

But now that she is off the box, and the axe has fallen, her attorney says that she did no such thing. Since the results of the poly are not admissible in court, the Government will have to prove their case. Maybe they will send more reporters to jail.

The funny thing is that Mary is sixty-one years old, and was only ten days away from retirement. That doesn't excuse disclosure of classified information, but it certainly is something to think about.

The chilling thing about the House bill is that they could send the gumshoes over the line and come after us in our retirement homes. The thought made me shake. Suppose I had a flashback on the way downtown? Suppose I experienced a Tourettes Syndrome event, shouting once classified numbers at random?

Back in the days when we dealt with nuclear weapons, they used to insist that another cleared person had to be with you during medical procedures involving anesthetics. That was just in case you became garrulous in the twilight of consciousness.

Could they come after my modest pension and leave me with no recourse for warmth and shelter but a heating grate down off Constitution Avenue?

All the best ones were taken long ago.