What’s in a Name?
Willa ~ Former CIA Operations Officer

Dear Readers,

Since this is my first article, let me explain that my name is not really Willa. That’s my pseudonym (pseudo), well, part of it anyway. The rest remains classified. During my thirty-plus years as an operations officer in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations (DO), I used a pseudo for everything I wrote. The pseudo is not a name you say aloud to someone, rather it is a name that is used in all communications. The purpose is to protect the identity of the case officer who is writing or being written about.
Most pseudos are decidedly unromantic. Mine bore no resemblance to such glamorous names as “Alexis Carrington” or “Paris Hilton.” No, mine was more in the line of Hazel Q. Zygoteendorfster, a name you would never see anywhere. But it served its purpose. It protected my true identity from anyone (a spy) who might try to intercept our communications and see my real name.
I also had an alias, well more than one actually. An alias is an entirely different matter. Aliases are used when you are involved in an operation, meeting an agent, doing clandestine work. Unlike a pseudo, with an alias, you have a name and a history (legend) that goes with that name, such as Jane Doe, sales representative with ABC Corporation. The depth of the alias identity depends on the complexity of the operation being undertaken. If you are using the alias for a single meeting which does not have ramifications, you will not need a long “legend.” But if you are using an alias in a continuing operational relationship with a potential agent, you will need to have an entire background story, namely a legend, with name, history, backstopping, and knowledge of the field you claim to be working in.
Working in an alias identity can be exciting but you always have to remember to stay in character, just as in the theater, except in this case there is no margin for error, for missing a line or forgetting your character. Lives really can be at stake.
Pseudos and aliases are but two of the devices used to protect intelligence officers and agents from identification in the complex and compartmented world of espionage.
Stay tuned for upcoming insights into the world of espionage...

Willa .

Valerie Plame, Mrs. Joseph Wilson, Ms Wilson? The woman at the center of the Novak-Rove news story about who revealed the name of a deep cover CIA officer is all the same woman. Valerie Plame. Mrs. Joseph Wilson and Ms. Wilson are not aliases. They are her real name, her true identity. Reference to any of those names reveals her identity. As a retired CIA operations officer (within the Directorate of Operations) of over three decades, let me say that when you have a clearance you are obligated to protect classified information. This is the information to which you have access as a result of your work, and includes any information cleared colleagues provide you. You sign a secrecy agreement which requires that this information be held as classified. Breach of that commitment means loss of your clearance and/or career termination. It is, and should be, taken very seriously by anyone who has the privilege of holding a clearance. The identity of a deep cover officer is classified information, even if that officer resides in the Washington, D.C. area and even if he or she is married to a well-known person. Revealing it with intent under the 1982 law is a felony. Revealing and/or confirming it is a breach of your security agreement. Why does it matter? Basically, whoever Ms Plame met clandestinely in any operational assignment overseas is now identified as potential CIA. Suppose Ms Plame had been working on the terrorist target and had developed contact with someone who had access to a terrorist cell, such as an Al Qaeda operative? Revealing Ms Plame’s identity, particularly in the media, would have ended that access instantly and may well have led to the elimination or execution of that agent by his own people. Why would a potential agent trust a case officer if there was any possibility that his or her identity would be made known to the public? If the CIA cannot protect the identities of its officers, and thus of their agents, how can we possibly convince foreign agents to work for us? One of the most basic promises we make to a potential agent or asset is that we will protect their identity from public exposure. For them, this can be a matter of life or death. That’s why the principal of protecting identities of clandestine CIA operations officers is so critical, and that’s why it is a national security concern. Finally, why has it taken so long for the powers in Washington to identify the sources of the revelation of Ms. Plame’s identity? How difficult can that be? Basically just getting a sense of who Robert Novak routinely contacts—an assessment even of the types of people he may contact narrows the group. If the powers in Washington cannot find Source One of Robert Novak’s renowned column, how will we ever find Osama bin Laden in the back country of Pakistan, Iran or Southern China? Why doesn’t Mr. Novak’s Source One step forward and put a lot of people out of their misery, starting with Judith Miller?