Funny, you don't look like an ambassador.

• Author: Peters, Charles
• Position: Tilting at Windmills - Central Intelligence Agency's Reuel Marc Gerecht - Brief Article

I have tried to warn my fellow liberals that in their understandable zeal to get Libby, Rove, and Cheney, they don't swallow the CIA line that the covers it has used should be taken seriously. I now have support from Reuel Marc Gerecht, writing in The Wall Street Journal. Gerecht's views are sometimes too neocon, but he knows the CIA. Here's what he says:

"The vast majority of CIA officers overseas operate with little to no cover and have done so since the foundation of the post-World War II clandestine service in 1947. Most case officers posted abroad carry official cover, which usually means they serve as fake diplomats.

"Today, operational camouflage is usually shredded within weeks of a case officer's arrival at his station, since the manner, method and paperwork of operatives is just too different from real foreign-service officers.... Minimally competent foreign security services know a great deal of what occurs within US. embassies and consulates since these institutions are completely dependent on local employees--the...