Cover Story

In the 1975 movie, “Three Days of the Condor,” a senior CIA officer, reminiscing about the early days of the agency, is asked, “Do you miss that kind of action, sir?” and answers wistfully, “I miss that kind of clarity.”

It’s all gone postmodern. Today Valerie Plame is telling a Congressional committee, “My name and cover were carelessly and recklessly abused by senior officials in the White House and State Department” while Democrats and Republicans quibble over whether her status was “covert” or “classified.”

Will we ever get back to clarity?