May 23, 2013
The father of slain CIA agent and Alabama native Johnny "Mike" Spann said Thursday he believes an independent counsel should probe the alleged exposure of a CIA agent's identity by someone in the Bush administration, calling such an act "treason."
Spann was the first American killed in Afghanistan, slain during a prison uprising. His father, also named Johnny Spann, said he is still angry that his son's identity and hometown were revealed before he feels the agent's wife, who also worked for the CIA, and his family could be adequately protected.
Spann, of Winfield, Alabama, hopes the allegations that government officials knowingly "burned" a CIA agent in July to punish her spouse are not true.
Spann told the Associated Press if someone in the Bush administration leaked this, they need to be punished, and they need to be made an example of, because that's not just a leak, he says, "that's treason."
Spann favors appointment of an independent counsel to investigate so the American people can be sure.
Spann also criticized Democrats in Washington for leaping on the issue, while ignoring what he says was an equally serious concern when his son's fate first came into doubt during the prison uprising in Mazar-e-Sharif.
Valerie Plame was exposed as a CIA operative after her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence to exaggerate the threat posed by Iraq.
