Intelligence Identities Protection Act
From dKosopedia
The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 (PL97-200, 50 U.S. Code Secs. 421–426) is a United States law which makes it a federal crime to knowingly reveal the identity of a covert CIA agent. It was written after the 1975 assassination of Richard Welch by the Greek terrorist group November 17. He was was outed by a magazine called CounterSpy.
Another major impetus to pass the legislation was the activities of ex-CIA agent Philip Agee during the 1960s and 70s, whose book CIA Diary and publication Covert Action Information Bulletin blew many agents' cover. Some commentators, in fact, say the law was very specifically targeted at his actions.
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Text of the law
The text of the law can be found at Wikisource:Intelligence Identities Protection Act.
Prosecution history
As of July 2005, there has only been one successful prosecution involving the statute. [1] In 1985, CIA agent Sharon Scranage was sentenced to five years, and served 8 months, for giving the names of other agents to her boyfriend in Ghana. [2]
Valerie Plame affair
There is an ongoing investigation into whether this law was violated in the identification of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative in a newspaper column by Robert Novak. Other figures involved in the investigation include White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove and reporters Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper.
References
- This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Intelligence Identities Protection Act"
Sources
For assassination of Welch and magazine title
Related articles
External links
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