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He was many things, but in our world Philip Agee will be remembered for his associations with the Bush family.

President Bush senior shared the intelligence community view of Agee’s 70s actions in revealing CIA names and methods, largely from public records.

“In 1989, Vice President George H.W. Bush – a former CIA director – said he had “nothing but disdain” for Mr. Agee: “Those who go around publicizing the names of CIA people abroad are despicable.“

Agee’s acts, and the 1975 assassination of the Athens CIA Station Chief led to the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, an effort after the fact to criminalize what Agee did. The father’s quote later provided a useful club to beat George W. Bush during the investigation into the leaking of Valarie Plame’s name and status with the Agency.

Agee tangled with another Bush as well.

“Mr. Agee sued Bush’s wife, Barbara, over an allegation in her autobiography that Mr. Agee had exposed the CIA’s Greece station chief, Richard Welch, who was later killed by leftist terrorists…She settled the issue by dropping the reference to Mr. Agee, who had not mentioned Welch in his book. Instead, she blamed a magazine Mr. Agee worked for that also named alleged CIA agents. Mr. Agee’s defenders said that Welch’s identity was already known.“