Richard L. Armitage

Richard L. Armitage, Beginning March 2005, Richard L. Armitage became President of Armitage International.

Armitage served as Deputy Secretary of State during President George W. Bush's first term, has emerged as a key witness in the CIA leak probe," Kenneth R. Bazinet and James Gordon Meek reported in the May 20, 2006, New York Daily News.

"Armitage has been questioned several times, but is not expected to be indicted by the federal grand jury investigating who outed CIA spy Valerie Plame to journalists in 2003, sources said." However, Armitage's "testimony could hurt" I. Lewis Scooter Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's "indicted former chief aide," or Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's "political guru," Bazinet and Meek wrote. "Two sources familiar with the case said Armitage, Rove and Libby all had contacts with the press about Plame. Unlike Rove and Libby, Armitage appears to have tried to dissuade reporters from writing about her."

Trial of Scooter Libby
On February 12, 2007, Bob Woodward testified that "former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage disclosed the identity of a C.I.A. agent to him in June 2003, but that I. Lewis Libby Jr. said nothing about the agent when Mr. Woodward talked to him two weeks later," David Stout reported in the New York Times.

Also see:
 * emptywheel, "Libby Live: Woodward One," Firedoglake, February 12, 2007.
 * David Stout, "Woodward Says He Didn’t Discuss Agent With Libby," New York Times, February 12, 2007.
 * Matt Apuzzo, "Woodward Tapes Reveal Leak," Associated Press (San Francisco Chronicle), February 12, 2007.
 * "Libby jurors hear Armitage leak CIA agent's ID. Journalist Novak likely to testify Monday, NBC's Mitchell possible Tuesday," NBC News (MSNBC), February 12, 2007.

Profiles
Armitage, considered to be a conservative "neo con" (neo-conservative), is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is one of the signers of the January 26, 1998, Project for the New American Century PNAC letter to President William Jefferson Clinton. He is also a former board member for CACI International, the private military contractor, which "is being investigated by no less than 5 US agencies for possible contract violations" and "employed four interrogators at Abu Ghraib prison" in Iraq, one of whom was singled out by General Taguba in his report on abuses of Iraqi detainees at the prison.

"Most recently, Richard Armitage was the President of Armitage Associates. Previously, he served with the rank of Ambassador as the Coordinator for Technical and Humanitarian Assistance to the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. President George Herbert Walker Bush appointed him as a Presidential Special Negotiator for the Philippines Military Base Agreement, a Special Mediator for Water in the Middle East and as a Special Emissary to Jordan during the 1991 Gulf War. In addition, Richard served in the Pentagon as Assistant Secretary of Defense and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy and then completed four tours of duty in Vietnam."

"Richard Armitage, one of the Iran-Contra plotters, was a board member of Database Technologies (DBT)/ChoicePoint Inc before taking office under George Bush Jr. ... Choicepoint is a partner of data mining company SAIC whose web site proclaims it has "developed a strategic alliance with ChoicePoint Incorporated to provide our clients with quick and effortless information retrieval from public records data. ChoicePoint Incorporated maintains thousands of gigabytes of public records data.""

"In the 1980 Reagan campaign Mr. Armitage was senior advisor to the Interim Foreign Policy Advisory Board, which prepared the President-Elect for major international policy issues confronting the new administration. From 1981 until June 1983 Mr. Armitage was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia and Pacific Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense." 

"Armitage, who was denied a 1989 appointment as Assistant Secretary of State because of links to Iran-Contra and other scandals, served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Reagan years. U.S. Government stipulations in the Oliver North trial specifically named Armitage as one of the DoD officials responsible for illegal transfers of weapons to Iran and the Contras." 

Other Affiliations

 * Member of the Aspen Strategy Group.
 * Trustee, George C. Marshall Foundation
 * Leadership Group, U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project
 * Director, Center for a New American Security

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Abu Ghraib
 * ChoicePoint
 * Council on Foreign Relations
 * Defense contractors
 * George Herbert Walker Bush
 * George Walker Bush
 * Iran/Contra scandal
 * Private Military Corporations
 * Project for the New American Century
 * Ronald Reagan
 * Science Applications International Corporation
 * Treasongate: Beyond Karl Rove
 * Randy Schriver - former advisor