Former American Spy Stresses Importance of Iran Contacts

As a new round of talks on Iran's nuclear program began in Geneva, a former CIA operative expressed optimism over recent contacts between leaders of the Islamic Republic and the United States.

"Iran has clearly been deeply hurt by the sanctions we have imposed on them. But they also want to rejoin the community of nations. I believe that," said Valerie Plame, who was a counter-proliferation agent for 20 years before she was outed in the media and forced to resign ten years ago.

Speaking during the question and answer session after her speech at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis last night, Palme said diplomacy was not just for talking with friendly countries. "I think the United States is great enough that we can speak to our enemies and friends alike," she said -- and was met by the audience's applause.

Palme is currently on a book tour to promote her novel, Blowback, which is partly about "a secret underground nuclear weapons facility in Iran," according to the publisher's note. She said she was "heartened" by recent contacts between Iran and the U.S. because they were the first on such a high level since the 1979 revolution. "That's huge."

Plame's talk at the church in Minneapolis was about privacy concerns following revelations of the NSA's vast data collection operations. She said the unlimited scale of NSA's telephone and internet surveillance programs was unnecessary and harmful to American democracy as the information could easily be abused by corrupt politicians.

I filmed her speech and highly recommend watching it. National Public Radio will broadcast it at noon today (Wednesday, Oct 16).

Plame on importance of talks with Iran:

Valerie Plame: Importance of talks with Iran from JJ On the Road on Vimeo.

Plame on privacy and the NSA:

Valerie Plame: National Security Agency from JJ On the Road on Vimeo.