Richard Lee Armitage (born April 26,1945) is an American former diplomat and government official. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy,Armitage served as a U.S. Navy officer in three combat tours of duty in the Vietnam War as a riverine warfare advisor. After leaving active duty,he served in a number of civil-service roles under Republican administrations. He worked as an aide to SenatorBob Dole before serving in various posts in the Defense Department and State Department.[1]
During the Reagan administration,Armitage was deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia and Pacific affairs (1981–1983) and assistant secretary of defense for International security affairs (1983–1989). He served in the George H. W. Bush administration in various diplomatic posts,including presidential special negotiator for the Philippines Military Bases Agreement,special mediator for water in the Middle East,special emissary to King Hussein of Jordan during the Persian Gulf War,and director of U.S. aid to the post-Soviet states.[1] He then worked in the private sector before joining the George W. Bush administration as deputy secretary of state,[1] holding the post from March 2001 to February 2005.[2]
Armitage's tenure at the State Department under Secretary Colin Powell became overshadowed by the Plame affair. Armitage acknowledged in 2006 that he leaked Valerie Plame Wilson's identity as a CIA operative to columnist Robert Novak,who revealed her identity in a July 2003 column;Armitage claimed that the leak was inadvertent,said that this was a "terrible error on my part," and issued an apology.[3][4]
He served on a destroyer stationed off the coast of Vietnam during the Vietnam War before volunteering to serve what would eventually become three combat tours with the riverine/advisory forces for the Republic of Vietnam Navy.[5] According to Captain Kiem Do,a Republic of Vietnam Navy officer who served with him in Vietnam,Armitage "seemed drawn like a moth to flame to the hotspots of the naval war:bedding down on the ground with Vietnamese commandos,sharing their rations and hot sauce,telling jokes in flawless Vietnamese".[6] Instead of a Naval uniform,Armitage often dressed in native garb. He adopted a Vietnamese pseudonym,"Tran Phu",which loosely translated meant "rich Navy guy".[6]
Several associates who fought alongside Armitage and other politicians (including Ted Shackley)[7] have since claimed that Armitage was associated with the CIA's clandestine Phoenix Program.[7] Armitage has denied a role in Phoenix and has stated that at most,CIA officers would occasionally ask him for intelligence reports.[8]
In 1973,Armitage left active duty and joined the Defense AttachéOffice,Saigon. Immediately prior to the fall of Saigon,he organized and led the removal of South Vietnamese naval assets and personnel from the country and out of the hands of the approaching North Vietnamese. Armitage told South Vietnamese naval officers to take their ships to a designated place in the ocean where they would be rescued by U.S. forces and their ships destroyed. When Armitage arrived at the designated location he found 30 South Vietnamese Navy ships and dozens of fishing boats and cargo ships with as many as 30,000 Vietnamese refugees.[9][10] With transportation options limited for removing the floating city,Armitage,aboard the destroyer escort USS Kirk,personally decided to lead the flotilla of ships over 1000 miles to shelter in Subic Bay,Philippines. This went against the wishes of both the Philippine and American governments. Nevertheless,Armitage personally arranged for food and water to be delivered by the U.S. Defense Department before negotiating with both governments for permission to dock in Subic Bay.[5][9]
Armitage served as an aide to Republican SenatorBob Dole.[11] During the Reagan administration,he served from 1981 to 1983 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Security Affairs for East Asia and the Pacific and became Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs on June 9,1983,serving in that position for the next eight and a half years.[11][1] Armitage was nominated by President George H. W. Bush in April 1989 to serve as Secretary of the Army under Defense SecretaryDick Cheney,but the nomination was withdrawn the following month at Armitage's request,who cited a desire to spend more time with his large family.[11]
During the Persian Gulf War,Bush appointed Armitage as a special emissary to King Hussein of Jordan.[1] From March 1992 to May 1993,Armitage was posted to Europe to lead U.S. foreign aid efforts to the newly independent post-Soviet states,and held the personal rank of ambassador.[1]
After leaving the government,Armitage joined the private sector as director of US data aggregation firm ChoicePoint.
Christic Institute and Khun Sa allegations
In 1986,Armitage was named in an affidavit filed in a civil lawsuit by the Christic Institute as part of a conspiracy responsible for the La Penca bombing,and a number of other covert operations.[12] The affidavit,by Christic's lead attorney Daniel Sheehan,alleged that Armitage was involved with heroin smuggling from southeast Asia to fund covert activities in South America. He and Ted Shackley were reported to be directly responsible for the Iran Contra Scandal.[13]
Similar charges were made in a 1987 letter from the Burmese warlord Khun Sa to the U.S. Justice Department. The letter,which was transmitted by James "Bo" Gritz,accused Armitage of organizing heroin smuggling from the Golden Triangle in the 1960s and 70s. Upon returning to the United States with this information,a key witness was held by the CIA in Oklahoma for a period of time.[14]
Armitage rebutted the charges from Sheehan and Khun Sa,observing that at dates he was said to be in Thailand,he was living in Washington D.C.,working as an assistant to Senator Robert Dole.[13]
In 1998,Armitage signed a letter to PresidentBill Clinton urging Clinton to target the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime from power in Iraq. It stated that Saddam's massive violations of the cease-fire that had ended the First Gulf War has caused erosion of the Gulf War Coalition's containment policy. It also raised the possibility that Iraq,emboldened by Western inaction,might re-develop weapons of mass destruction.[citation needed]
Armitage tendered his resignation on November 16,2004 to accompany Powell,who announced his resignation as Secretary of State the day before. He left the post on February 22,2005,when Robert Zoellick succeeded to the office.
Role in Plame affair
The Plame affair was a political scandal concerning the outing of Valerie Plame as a covert intelligence operative during the administration of President George W. Bush in 2003. An American syndicated columnist,Robert Novak,had learned of her employment by the CIA from Armitage,who was then working for the State Department,and Novak had publicly identified her as the source of a recommendation given to the President in the course of her duties. Plame had to resign from the CIA because her identity was no longer secret. A criminal investigation into the revelation produced no charges against Armitage but several charges against Scooter Libby,an assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney,for lying to the investigators about the matter. Libby was convicted but his jail sentence was ultimately commuted by Bush,and he was subsequently pardoned by President Donald Trump on April 13,2018.[17]
Armitage's defense that he had inadvertently made an off-hand remark during a probing interview with Novak,coupled with his candor and cooperation,was accepted,although the decision not to prosecute was not made until 2006. Meanwhile,the long and slow investigation played out in the press as a scandal,"the Plame Affair" or "Plamegate".
On November 15,2005,journalist Bob Woodward of The Washington Post revealed in an article that "a government official with no axe to grind" leaked to him the identity of outed CIA officer Valerie Plame in mid-June 2003. According to an April 2006 Vanity Fair article (published March 14,2006),former Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee said in an interview "that Armitage is the likely source is a fair assumption",though Bradlee later told the Post that he "[did] not recall making that precise statement" in the interview.[18] The following year,on March 2,2006,bloggers discovered that "Richard Armitage" fit the spacing on a redacted court document,suggesting he was a source for the Plame leak.[19] In August 2006,the Associated Press published a story that revealed Armitage met with Bob Woodward in mid-June 2003. The information came from official State Department calendars provided to the Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act.[20]
Robert Novak,in an August 27,2006 appearance on Meet the Press,stated that although he still would not release the name of his source,he felt it was long overdue that the source reveal himself.[21] He had reason to think that the source might do that. Armitage had reportedly been a cooperative and key witness in the investigation.[22] According to The Washington Note,Armitage had testified before the grand jury three times.[23]
Press reports continued to mount and pressure to build. On August 29,2006,Neil A. Lewis of The New York Times reported that Armitage was the "initial and primary source" for columnist Robert Novak's July 14,2003 article,which named Plame as a CIA "operative" and which triggered the CIA leak investigation.[24] On August 30,2006,CNN reported that Armitage had been confirmed "by sources" as leaking Wilson's CIA role in a "casual conversation" with Robert Novak.[25]The New York Times,quoting "people familiar with his actions",reported that Armitage was unaware of Wilson's undercover status when he spoke to Novak.[26] In the September 4,2006 issue of Newsweek magazine,in an article titled "The Man Who Said Too Much",journalist Michael Isikoff,quoting a source "directly familiar with the conversation who asked not to be identified because of legal sensitivities",reported that Armitage was the "primary" source for Novak's piece outing Plame. Armitage allegedly mentioned Wilson's CIA role to Novak in a July 8,2003 interview after learning about her status from a State Department memo which made no reference to her undercover status.[27] Isikoff also reported that Armitage had also told Bob Woodward of Plame's identity in June 2003,and that special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald investigated Armitage's role "aggressively",but did not charge Armitage with a crime because he "found no evidence that Armitage knew of Plame's covert CIA status when he talked to Novak and Woodward".
On September 7,2006,Armitage admitted to being the source in the CIA leak. Armitage claims that Fitzgerald had originally asked him not to discuss publicly his role in the matter,but that on September 5 Armitage asked Fitzgerald if he could reveal his role to the public,and Fitzgerald consented.[3] The Times claims that White House CounselAlberto Gonzales was informed that Armitage was involved on October 2,2003,but asked not to be told details. Fitzgerald began his grand jury investigation three months later knowing Armitage was a leaker (as did Attorney General John Ashcroft before turning over the investigation).
On March 6,2007,a jury convicted Lewis "Scooter" Libby,Chief of Staff to Vice PresidentDick Cheney,of "obstruction of justice,giving false statements to the FBI and perjuring himself,charges embodied in four of the five counts of the indictment".[28] On July 2,2007,President Bush issued a grant of executive clemency that commuted the prison term imposed on Lewis Libby.[29] In a review of Hubris:The Inside Story of Spin,Scandal,and the Selling of the Iraq War,by Michael Isikoff and David Corn,which hit bookstores in early September 2006,Novak wrote:"I don't know precisely how Isikoff flushed out Armitage [as Novak's original source],but Hubris clearly points to two sources:Washington lobbyistKenneth Duberstein,Armitage's political adviser,and William Taft IV,who was the State Department legal adviser when Armitage was deputy secretary".[30]
Pakistan and the fight against terrorism
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf,in an interview with CBS News60 Minutes on September 21,2006,[31] alleged that Armitage called an Inter-Services Intelligence general immediately after the September 11,2001 attacks and threatened to "bomb the country [Pakistan] back to the Stone Age" unless they supported the U.S.-led fight against Islamic terrorism. Presently,Musharraf has refused to provide details,commenting that he is unable to provide details due to restrictions by the publisher (Simon &Schuster) of his book In the Line of Fire:A Memoir.[citation needed]President Bush,on the other hand,has mentioned that he only became aware of these comments as late as September 2006,when he read them in the newspapers. Armitage confirmed he had held a conversation with the Pakistani general to whom Musharraf had sourced the comments,but stated he had not used a threat of military action couched in such terms,as he was not authorized to do so.[32]
Armitage stated in the letter that he wished the Taiwan government would reconsider the purchase from Lockheed Martin,the dealer the United States government had designated. Instead,he hoped that the right to negotiate the purchase should be made through an open and fair bidding process.[33] The letter was made public by PFP Legislators on October 24,2006,in a Legislative Yuan session discussing the military purchases.[34]
In a 2009 interview,Armitage said that waterboarding,a tactic used by the CIA during the George W. Bush administration on suspected terrorists in 2002 and 2003,was torture,but that he did not believe CIA officials should be prosecuted for ordering its use. Armitage said that he did not know about the CIA torture program while he was Deputy Secretary of State,and that "I hope,had I known about it at the time I was serving,I would've had the courage to resign."[35][36]
Armitage has served on a number of boards for corporations and nonprofits. Since January 1,2010,Armitage has been a Member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the American-Turkish Council,a Washington-based association dedicated to the promotion of business,military and foreign policy relationship between Turkey and the United States.[37] Armitage was a member of the America Abroad Media advisory board until 2014,[38] and the board of ConocoPhillips until May 2018. He also was the chairman of the Project 2049 Institute until January 2020.[39]
In 2020,Armitage,along with over 130 other former Republican national security officials,signed a statement that asserted that President Trump was unfit to serve another term,and "To that end,we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States,and we will vote for him."[42]
Australia:Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) (July 1,2010). The citation for the honor reads as follows:"for eminent service to strengthening the Australia-United States bilateral relationship".
New Zealand:Honorary Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) (June 6,2011). He was appointed in recognition of his services to New Zealand–U.S. relations.
Armitage received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2013.[44]
Armitage received an Honorary Doctorate from Keio University in 2017. The program is the Richard Lee Armitage Commemorative Program:Building New Foundations for the Robust Japan-United States Relationship.[45]
Personal life
Armitage and his wife Laura have eight children. He is fluent in Vietnamese and well versed in many other languages. He is an avid powerlifter and loves to play basketball.[46] He was also a footballlinebacker at the United States Naval Academy and a teammate of Roger Staubach. He graduated in 1967. His grandson is actor Iain Armitage,from his daughter Lee.
Related Research Articles
Lawrence Ari Fleischer is an American media consultant and political aide who served as the 23rd White House Press Secretary,for President George W. Bush,from January 2001 to July 2003.
Valerie Elise Plame is an American writer,spy novelist,and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. As the subject of the 2003 Plame affair,also known as the CIA leak scandal,Plame's identity as a CIA officer was leaked to and subsequently published by Robert Novak of The Washington Post. She described this period and the media firestorm that ensued as "mortifying,and I think I was in shock for a couple years".
Judith Miller is an American journalist and commentator who covered Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) program both before and after the 2003 invasion,which was later discovered to have been based on inaccurate information from the intelligence community. She worked in The New York Times' Washington bureau before joining Fox News in 2008.
Joseph Charles Wilson IV was an American diplomat who was best known for his 2002 trip to Niger to investigate allegations that Saddam Hussein was attempting to purchase yellowcake uranium;his New York Times op-ed piece,"What I Didn't Find in Africa";and the subsequent leaking by the Bush/Cheney administration of information pertaining to the identity of his wife Valerie Plame as a CIA officer. He also served as the CEO of a consulting firm he founded,JC Wilson International Ventures,and as the vice chairman of Jarch Capital,LLC.
Patrick J. Fitzgerald is an American lawyer and partner at the law firm of Skadden,Arps,Slate,Meagher &Flom since October 2012.
William Howard Taft IV is an American diplomat and attorney who has served in the United States government under several Republican administrations. He is a son of William Howard Taft III and a great-grandson of President William Howard Taft.
Brewster Jennings &Associates was a front company set up in 1994 by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as a cover for its officers. The most famous is Valerie Plame,a "covert employee of the CIA" whose then-classified status was published in a syndicated newspaper column by Robert Novak on July 14,2003. Novak later said that his initial primary source was then-United States Deputy Secretary of State (2001–2005) Richard Armitage,though Armitage disagreed with Novak as to the extent of his role.
David Corn is an American political journalist and author. He is the Washington,D.C. bureau chief for Mother Jones and is best known as a cable television commentator. Corn worked at The Nation from 1987 to 2007,where he served as Washington editor.
Stephen John Hadley is an American attorney and senior government official who served as the 20th United States National Security Advisor from 2005 to 2009. He served under President George W. Bush during the second term of his administration. Hadley was Deputy National Security Advisor during Bush's first term.
The Plame affair erupted in July 2003,when journalist Robert Novak revealed that Valerie Plame worked as covert employee of the Central Intelligence Agency,although the seeds of the scandal had been laid during 2001 and 2002 as the Bush administration investigated allegations that Iraq had purchased Nigerien uranium.
The Plame affair was a political scandal that revolved around journalist Robert Novak's public identification of Valerie Plame as a covert Central Intelligence Agency officer in 2003.
The CIA leak grand jury investigation was a federal inquiry "into the alleged unauthorized disclosure of a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee's identity",a possible violation of criminal statutes,including the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982,and Title 18,United States Code,Section 793.
United States v. Libby was the federal trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby,a former high-ranking official in the George W. Bush administration,for interfering with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's criminal investigation of the Plame affair.
Robert L. Grenier is an American former Central Intelligence Agency officer,who served as the agency’s top counter-terrorism official from 2004 to 2006. After retiring,he became the chairman of a financial and strategic advisory firm
John Deacon Bates is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He was appointed by President George W. Bush in December 2001,and has adjudicated several cases directly affecting the office of the President. Bates served as Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts,from July 1,2013 to January 5,2015,after which he returned to full-time service as a District Judge.
Wilson v. Libby,498 F. Supp. 2d 74,affirmed,535 F.3d 697,was a civil lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on 13 July,2006,by Valerie Plame and her husband,former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson,IV,against Richard Armitage (individually) for allegedly revealing her identity and thus irresponsibly infringing upon her Constitutional rights and against Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney,Lewis Libby,Karl Rove,and the unnamed others (together) because the latter,in addition,allegedly "illegally conspired to reveal her identity." The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed.
The Plame affair was a dispute stemming from allegations that one or more White House officials revealed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent Valerie Plame Wilson's undercover status. An investigation,led by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald,was started,concerning the possibility that one or more crimes may have been committed. The initial focus was on Scooter Libby;however,he was not the primary source of the leak.
Irve Lewis "Scooter" Libby is an American lawyer and former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney known for his high-profile indictment and clemency.
Fair Game:My Life as a Spy,My Betrayal by the White House is a memoir by Valerie Plame Wilson. Wilson is the former covert CIA officer whose then-classified non-official cover (NOC) identity as "Valerie Plame" was leaked to the press in July 2003,after her husband,former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson,IV,had criticized the George W. Bush administration's rationale for the Iraq War. The outing made her the center of the American political scandal known as the Plame affair. Her public outing led to her decision to resign from the CIA in December 2005,when she attempted to retire early at the age of 42. Being told that she could not collect her pension until the age of 56,she determined to write this book both as a means of telling her own story in her own words and as a means of earning income to replace her deferred retirement annuity. She encountered resistance from the CIA in the course of chronicling her work with the organization.
Fair Game is a 2010 biographical political drama film directed by Doug Liman and starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. It is based on Valerie Plame's 2007 memoir Fair Game and Joseph C. Wilson's 2004 memoir The Politics of Truth.
1 2 Church, George J.; Beaty, Jonathan; van Voorst, Bruce (4 May 1987). "Perot's Private Probes A billionaire pursues his own Iran and MIA trail". Time. Vol.129, no.18. p.18. ISSN0040-781X.
↑ Isikoff, Michael (4 September 2006). "The Man Who Said Too Much". Newsweek National News. MSNBC.com. Archived from the original on 13 November 2006. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
United States 
United States Navy 
