Having worked closely with Phil Agee in London in the mid-1970s, I seriously doubt Baer's accusations, for which he offers no evidence other than hearsay. Even at the time, I knew that Phil had lived several months in Cuba, where he talked to the Cuban security services. But my impression from other sources was that neither the Cubans nor the Russians felt they could trust him. I also came to know Phil's "Russian contact" Edgar Cheporov, who worked in London as correspondent for the Novosti News Agency. I assumed Edgar was KGB and was reporting back to Moscow on what we were doing, but he never gave us any information or guidance that I saw. I must admit, I found Edgar extremely good company, and my wife Anna and I often went to London jazz clubs with him. Alas, we always split the check.
Even more to the point, Phil did not provide the original impetus for others of us to out CIA officers. That came from a former State Department officer named John Marks, who wrote an instructive article in the Washington Monthly, "How to Spot a Spook." As silly as it sounds, CIA officers working under diplomatic cover in American embassies always showed the same tell-tale career patterns. All we needed to spot them were the State Department's Biographic Registers and Foreign Service Lists, which we readily found in the library of the British Museum.
In the end, I don't really care whether Phil ever dined out on Havana or Moscow gold. Everything I saw him write or say about the CIA was true, as some of the agency's defenders had to admit. And, in telling the truth, he alerted millions of people to the threat the CIA's covert actions continue to pose, as much to the United States as to other countries.
As Baer's current attack suggests, these covert actions now threaten Edward Snowden and anyone else who reveals what our surveillance state is doing behind our backs without Constitutional authority. Hopefully, we have all learned from the individual courage of Daniel Ellsberg, Bradley Manning, Philip Agee, and now Edward Snowden that it is possible to fight back, especially if we find nonviolent ways for massive numbers of us willing to stand up with them against Big Brother.
We are beyond bearing witness or "talking truth to power." The time has come to show the too-often-hidden strength of popular outrage and to bring millions of others -- right, left, and center -- along with us.
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A veteran of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement and the New Left monthly Ramparts, Steve Weissman lived for many years in London, working as a magazine writer and television producer. He now lives and works in France, where he is researching a new book, "Big Money: How Global Banks, Corporations, and Speculators Rule and How To Break Their Hold."
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