President Barack Obama, center, gets a briefing after arriving at Bagram Air Field for an unannounced visit. Evan Vucci/AP
White House Accidentally Blows Cover of CIA Station Chief in Kabul
The CIA officer was one of many senior U.S. officials identified as taking part in a military briefing for Obama.
President Obama's trip to Afghanistan wasn't the only surprise yesterday. During a routine press conference, the White House inadvertently sent out the name of the CIA Kabul Station Chief to a list of 6,000 reporters. As the Washington Post first reported:
The CIA officer was one of 15 senior U.S. officials identified as taking part in a military briefing for Obama at Bagram air base, a sprawling military compound north of Kabul. Others included U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan James B. Cunningham and Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., the commander of U.S. and coalition forces in the country.
Their names were included on a list of participants in the briefing provided by U.S. military officials to the White House press office.
The station chief's name was left out of subsequent reporting on the disclosure, but since country singer Brad Paisley accompanied President Obama on his trip to Afghanistan, there was fun to be had.
Pretty shocked that Brad Paisley was the CIA's Kabul station chief.
— Jesse Berney (@jesseberney) May 26, 2014Understandably, some did not find the incident funny:
Incompetence. "@adamgoldmanwp: WH inadvertently identifies CIA station chief in Kabul http://t.co/ww561Zzpr6 via @washingtonpost"
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) May 26, 2014There's no word about whether the station chief will be reassigned, although that's probably a safe bet.
#AFG WH mistakenly " outs" CIA station chief here in Kabul is now making headlines on major Afghan TV& radio stations in AFGHANISTAN.
— Bilal Sarwary (@bsarwary) May 26, 2014