In the end it is petty. She should have been more forthcoming and should admit it. The climate just after 9/11 was such that to say anything which was anti-Bush administration was considered anti-US. As such it was a sad chapter in our history as so much rot was spread across the pages of our history under the banner of "you are either with us or you're an anti-American traitor." It doesn't excuse her actions but the climate at the time is a fact. I ought to know.

What has not been discussed much is something of equal if not much greater importance concerning US intelligence and national security. This past week it was revealed a former employee of the Defense Department was finally charged with passing classified information to an agent of a foreign government. The person in question had been on administrative leave since February of 2008 during the investigation. The details are troubling.

The charges state James Fondren Jr. was involved in a "false flag operation." This means he passed information to someone he believed was working for one government, but who was working for another. Fondren was passing information to a person named Tai Shen Kuo who told him he was passing the information to the government of Taiwan, but was passing it to the People's Republic of China. Their relationship lasted years.

Kuo had been given direct orders by an official from China's government to collect information from US Officials. In addition to Fondren, Kuo purchased information from another former government employee Gregg Bergersen. Bergersen is a former Weapons Policy Analyst for the Defense Department's Defense Security Cooperation Agency in Arlington, Va. Fondren retired from the U.S. Air Force in May of 1996 as a Lieutenant Colonel.

After working as a private consultant to Kuo for three years Fondren returned to work for the US government as a civilian employee of PACOM (U.S. Pacific Command) doing government work (much of which was classified) in August 2001. He stayed there over 6 years before getting caught.

Passing government documents to a foreign government is a serious offense. Some of the information Fondren passed was classified Top Secret. Fondren was paid between $350 and $800 apiece per document (the going rate for selling out one's country apparently). Although Fondren claimed to have been under the assumption he was passing information to the government of Taiwan he had been introduced to and corresponded with Kuo's Chinese handler.

Fondren had a Top Secret security clearance and kept classified and unclassified information at his government desk. Kuo had two companies based in Louisiana and another located in the People's Republic of China. Perhaps the most disturbing part is that after gaining employment with the US government he maintained a relationship with Kuo as a consultant.

In one conversation Fondren reportedly told Kuo a specific document was, "the report I didn't want you to talk about over the phone….Let people find out I did that, it will cost me my job." He is being represented by attorney and former Senator, Director of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Under Secretary for Border & Transportation Security at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Asa Hutchinson. How comforting.

The idea people can leave sensitive government positions to work in the private sector as consultants employing what they learned and then return to the government as civilians, contractors consultants or otherwise is frightening. The fact people are and have done so to be granted Top Secret clearance is even worse. The cheap poisoned cherry on top is the fact that some have been caught selling documents in exchange for gambling trips to Las Vegas, dinners, gifts, and straight cash payments.

Former employees of government agencies have warned about this trend. Estimates place the CIA's current workforce at a staggering 60 percent. This is said to be mostly due to a need to immediately fill positions after 9/11, although the trend was building well before that. It was also done so certain operations could be carried out with barriers to accountability and clues difficult to trace in case of inquiry. Most are former government employees who leave and work in the private sector then come back as consultants or contractor employees earning double the taxpayer dollars as before they left.

This is a dangerous trend which doesn't require a baking soda volcano scientist to sniff out. We depend on our intelligence services to keep us safe and realize much of the work they do is classified and secret. In exchange for their services we give them tax dollars and more importantly our trust. We don't need people trying to become wealthy as consultants creating obvious conflicts of interest.

In many ways they hold the keys to the many underground entrances and back doors through which our national security could be breached. We need better and deserve better and that's what the taxpayers want for their money. Nancy Pelosi's knowledge of waterboarding is a political football and a distraction. Foxes in the henhouse are a real problem.

To read about my inspiration for this article go to www.lawsuitagainstuconn.com.