bob novak

There was a time when Bob Novak was a decent journalist. But he died today discredited and shamed. His tawdry deed was his role in exposing the identity of a covert CIA officer, Valerie Plame Wilson. I knew Bob Novak on a personal basis. I appeared several times on CrossFire, the old CNN program that Novak co-hosted with Bill Press. I spoke at a DEA conference on drugs and terrorism in December 2001 that was chaired by Novak. The main panel of the symposium, chaired by media bigfoot Bob Novak, also included Ret. Gen.

Jose Rosso Serrano of the Colombian National Police, Larry Johnson of Berg Associates, a consulting groups whose web site lists its twin tasks as providing business security and fighting organized crime; Partnership for a Drug Free America (PDFA) president Stephen Pasierb and Brian Dyak of the Entertainment Industries council. Pasierb and the PDFA took the occasion to announce that, according to their polls, the drug-terror link would serve as a valuable tool in deterring drug use among young people.There was a time that I liked Novak but I came to despise him because he decided to play politics with the lives of intelligence officers and their assets. Novak knew better.

He was not some young cub reporter chasing a story. He had been in Washington long enough to understand how cover works. When Bill Harlow, chief of Public Affairs for CIA, pleaded with him not to publish Valerie’s name Novak decided to act stupidly and cowardly. He committed an act of treason in a time of war.Novak could have rectified this problem. A simple, sincere apology would have been a step in the right direction. There is no justification whatsoever for exposing the identity of an undercover CIA officer. But Novak was too proud to do that.