Existing or operating in a way so as to ensure complete concealment and confidentiality: clandestine, cloak-and-dagger, covert, huggermugger, secret, sub rosa. Informalhush-hush. Idioms: under wraps. See show/hide.

Unless you are mentally disabled or have a serious reading disability it is beyond dispute that the term "covert" and "undercover" are interchangeable. They mean the same thing.

Why do you go undercover? Because you are trying to hide your true identity and convince the people you meet and work with that you are something you are not. Apparently this is a concept that many supporters of President Bush have trouble grasping.

Which brings me to CIA Director Hayden. Novak claims that Hayden told him at the Girdiron Dinner in late March that:

he had not authorized Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman to say Mrs. Wilson had been a "covert" CIA employee, as he claimed Hayden did, but only that she was "undercover."

If General Hayden is really that stupid we have bigger problems than clowns like Novak and Victoria Toensing not understanding the basics of cover. If the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency believes that there is a difference between being undercover and being covert then he should be fired immediately. The last thing a CIA officer needs is a boss who does not understand that an undercover officer's identity is classified information and that they are acting covertly. Folks confused about terms like "undercover" and "covert" should not be allowed anyway near the CIA.

I have a call in to Paul Gimigliano, who works in the press office at CIA, requesting a clarification on this issue. Maybe General Hayden was misquouted. I sure hope so.

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