CIA officials and the disclosure of identity of one of their own

In my recent July 16 post I noted former CIA analyst, Larry Johnson's guest blogpost, going to bat for his former classmate Valerie Plame. Johnson, former analyst and case worker, Col. W. Patrick Lang (ret.), and Jim Marcinkowski, testified on Capitol Hill before a joint Senate and House committee, Friday, July 22, 2005, in Washington. The Democrats of the Senate Policy Committee and House Government Reform Committee held a hearing on the CIA leak and the national security implications of disclosing the identity of a covert intelligence officer.
In a related article, the AP reports on the MyWay site that,

"President Bush is jeopardizing national security by not disciplining Karl Rove for his role in leaking the name of a CIA officer, and has hampered efforts to recruit informants in the war on terror, former U.S. intelligence officers say."

But look at another view that is very far afield from this. This National Review article asserts that Valerie Plame's "outing" may have been an inside job done by the CIA itself. Note that this is a conservative publication. No kidding!

This whole thing looks like a spider web of secrets, unethical revelations and lies. And these are just a few of the strands that seem significant to me.

• "Still a secret" John Bolton may have been a key source for Judith Miller, NYT reporter, now in jail for refusing to reveal her source.
• "This was a secret that wasn't supposed to be revealed" The Downing Street Memos reveal the current administration's early plan to go to war with Iraq, when the intelligence was there to back it up.
• "The Vice President's office had its hand in who knows how many of the strands of this web." Mr. Cheney's Chief of Staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, is also one of the people testifying before the Grand Jury impaneled by Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald to investigate the White House leak.

So I guess this makes me one of those wild-eyed liberal conspiracy theorists. Perhaps. But, at the very least, I have a lot of my peace of mind riding on the outcome of Mr. Fitzgerald's investigation.
And our country has a lot riding on the principles embodied in this controversy: transparency of the people's business, confidentiality where professionally necessary, United States trustworthiness in the world, truthfulness from officials and the press, and three way accountability between the main branches of government.