Former CIA officer Jim Marcinkowski spoke to students Wednesday about the detrimental effects an intelligence leak can have on the nation.
These remarks came on the heels of the recent indictment of Lewis Libby, chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, for releasing information about Valerie Plame, a CIA officer then under cover.
Marcinkowski’s comments were especially personal as he trained with Plame when they were new recruits during the Reagan administration. He has also recently testified before a Joint House Senate Committee on the matter.
The Hillsdale College Classical Liberals and the College Democrats co-hosted Marcinkowski as a knowledgeable resource who would be able to speak on the issue of CIA leaks in a palatable manner for Hillsdale students, senior Dave Frank said.
“The Republicans in the White House really fumbled this one,” Frank, president of the College Classical Liberals, said. “Marcinkowski is able to explain this sensitive situation and is the best person to critique the Bush administration in a sensitive way.”
Marcinkowski focused his talk on the damage the United States government has brought upon itself by first leaking the information and secondly refusing to take responsibility for it.
“The fact that the White House itself was responsible for leaking the information has caused irreparable damage,” he said. “How can a case officer make confident assurances to foreign nationals [potential agents] when the U.S. can’t even ensure the safety of its own officers – its own home team?”
Speaking from his own experience as an operations officer in Central America, Marcinkowski argued that the proper response to the leak would have been the immediate removal of all government officials even tangentially related to the leak.
When this did not happen, he said, the government lost all foreign and domestic trust in our ability to protect our own intelligence officers.
He concluded his speech by commenting on the war in Iraq and argued that the presence of the military is causing much of the harm.
“The fighters [terrorists] are from all over the world,” he said. “This was something we learned years ago and somehow forgot. The presence of our troops is bringing those fighters forward and causing bigger problems. The bigger the footprint, the bigger the problem.”
He also argued that many of the Sept. 11 attackers were of Saudi Arabian, not Iraqi nationality, and that the U.S. has historical precedent for dealing with regime changes in less volatile manners, such as economic aid and incentives.
He proposed that American troops leave Iraq quickly, but in a manner that would not result in complete chaos and civil war, which at this point, Marcinkowski said is inevitable.
Many students said they were happy to hear a different view and were excited to learn some of the background information about CIA operations.
“He explained himself very well and was able to back up all the points he made,” junior Lizzie Fitch, a member of College Republicans, said. “He gave good factual information and when people challenged him, he was able to back up his answers.”
Both the College Classical Liberals and the College Democrats are hoping to bring an anti-war speaker to Hillsdale next.