Valerie Plame

Infobox Writer
name = Valerie Plame Wilson
birthname = Valerie Elise Plame
birthdate = birth date and age|1963|4|19
birthplace = Anchorage, Alaska
deathdate =
deathplace =

---

image_size = upright
caption = Presenting a lecture on her book "", at Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island, on December 4, 2007.
occupation = CIA officer (1985–2005)
nationality = American
genre = Autobiography, Memoir, Political criticism
notableworks = ""
spouse = Joseph C. Wilson, IV (1998– )
Todd Sesler (1985–1986)
children = two (with Wilson)
website = http://wilsonsupport.org/

Valerie Elise Plame Wilson (born 19 April 1963), known as Valerie Plame, Valerie E. Wilson, and Valerie Plame Wilson, and the wife of former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, IV, is a former United States CIA Operations Officer, whose covert identity was
classified."".] Adam Liptak, [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/03/washington/03plame.html?_r=1&oref=login "Judge Backs C.I.A. in Suit On Memoir"] , "The New York Times" August 3, 2007, accessed March 23, 2008.] PDFlink| [http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/files/sentencing_memo_exhibits.pdf "Unclassified Summary of Valerie Wilson's CIA Employment and Cover History"] |2.63 MiB , "Exhibit A" in sentencing memorandum exhibits, United States v. Libby, online posting of public document, "The Next Hurrah" (blog), May 26, 2007: 2-3.] Cf. [http://www.salon.com/news/primary_sources/2007/05/30/plame/ "Valerie Plame, Covert After All"] ("Though some on the right have denied it, Plame was a covert CIA operative when she was exposed by Robert Novak. Read the document that proves It."), "Salon", May 30, 2007, accessed August 12, 2007. Includes screen shots of the PDF (three pages).] Richard Leiby, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102801172.html "Valerie Plame, the Spy Who Got Shoved Out into the Cold"] , "The Washington Post", October 29, 2005, accessed August 22, 2007.] After working for the CIA for twenty years, she retired in December 2005, as a result of the publication and compromising of her classified cover identity and that of her Agency front company, Brewster Jennings & Associates by an American journalist in the summer of 2003.John Solomon, [http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-07-15-rove-testimony_x.htm "Rove Learned CIA Agent's Name from Novak"] , "USA Today", July 15, 2005, accessed July 15, 2006.] Joel Seidman (Producer, NBC News), [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18924679/ "Plame Was 'covert' Agent at Time of Name Leak: Newly Released Unclassified Document Details CIA Employment"] , "MSNBC", May 29, 2007, accessed August 10, 2007.] Armitage disagrees with Novak about the extent of his role [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/13/AR2006091302066.html"Novak Accuses Plame Source Of Distortion; Armitage Minimizes Role In Leak; Columnist Differs, by R. Jeffrey Smith" ] , "The Washington Post", September 14, 2006: 1, accessed May 17, 2007.]

On 14 July 2003, Robert Novak identified "Wilson's wife" publicly as "an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction" named "Valerie Plame" in his syndicated column in "The Washington Post".Robert D. Novak, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/20/AR2005102000874.html "Mission to Niger"] , "The Washington Post", July 14, 2003, A21, accessed 8 July, 2007.] In that column Novak was responding to an op-ed entitled "What I Didn't Find in Africa," written by Wilson and published in the "New York Times" on July 6 2003, in which Wilson stated that the George W. Bush administration exaggerated unreliable claims that Iraq intended to purchase uranium yellowcake from Niger to support the administration's arguments that Iraq was proliferating weapons of mass destruction so as to justify its preemptive war in Iraq.Joseph C. Wilson, IV, [http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/opinion/06WILS.html?ei=5007&en=6c6aeb1ce960dec0&ex=1372824000&partner=permalink "What I Didn't Find in Africa"] , "The New York Times", July 6, 2003, accessed July 9, 2007; rpt. as [http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0706-02.htm "What I Didn't Find in Africa"] , "Common Dreams NewsCenter", July 6, 2002, accessed July 9, 2007.]

Novak's public disclosure of Mrs. Wilson's then-still-classified covert CIA identity as "Valerie Plame" precipitated what is known as the Plame affair, leading to the CIA leak grand jury investigation, which resulted in the indictment, conviction and commuted sentence by President Bush of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby in "United States v. Libby" on charges of perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to federal investigators.

Mrs. Wilson's memoir, "", was published on October 22, 2007.

Personal history

Early family life

Valerie Elise Plame was born on April 19, 1963, on Elmendorf Air Force Base, in Anchorage, Alaska, to Diane and Samuel Plame.Associated Press, [http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001392451 "The Real Valerie Plame"] , reposted in "Editor and Publisher", May 30, 2005, accessed August 12, 2007.] Plame's paternal great-grandfather was a Rabbi who immigrated from the Ukraine; the original family surname was "Plamevotski" (Wilson, "Fair Game" 173).

Growing up in "a military family ... imbued her with a sense of public duty"; her father was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force, who worked for the National Security Agency for three years, and, according to her "close friend Janet Angstadt," her parents "are the type who are still volunteering for the Red Cross and Meals on Wheels in the Philadelphia suburb where they live," having moved to that area while Plame was still in school. cite web | first = Vicky | last = Ward | url = http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2004/01/plame200401?printable=true&currentPage=all | title = Double Exposure | publisher = "Vanity Fair" | date = January 2004 | archiveurl = http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6240455_ITM | archivedate = 2004-01-01 ]

Education

She graduated in 1981 from Lower Moreland High School, in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania,Rachel Spivak, [http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2003/10/10-09-03tdc/10-09-03dnews-08.asp "CIA Agent Linked to Collegian"] , "The Daily Collegian Online", October 9, 2003, accessed December 11, 2007.] Christopher Goffard, [http://www.tampabay.com/SearchForwardServlet.do?articleId=258941 "Valerie Plame: Smart, Private, 'Waltons' Fan"] , "St. Petersburg Times", "tampabay.com", August 8, 2005, accessed June 8, 2008.] and attended Pennsylvania State University, graduating with a B.A. in advertising in 1985. While a student at Penn State, she was a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority. and worked for the business section of the "Daily Collegian" student newspaper.

By 1991, Plame earned two master's degrees, from the London School of Economics and Political Science and the College of Europe (Collège d'Europe), in Bruges, Belgium. In addition to English, she speaks French, German, and Greek.

Marriages and family

After graduating from Penn State in 1985, Plame was briefly married to Todd Sesler, her college boyfriend. In 1997, while she was working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Plame met former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, IV "at a reception in Washington ... at the residence of the Turkish Ambassador."Joseph C. Wilson, "The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed my Wife's CIA Identity: A Diplomat's Memoir" (2004; New York: Carroll & Graf, 2005) 240–42. (Additional page references appear within parentheses in the text.)] According to Wilson, because she was unable to reveal her CIA role to him on their first date, she told him that she was an energy trader in Brussels, and he thought at that time that she was "an up-and-coming international executive." After they began dating and became "close," Plame revealed her employment with the CIA to Wilson (Wilson, "Politics of Truth" 242). They were married on April 3, 1998, Plame's second marriage and Wilson's third (Wilson, "Politics of Truth" 273).

Professionally and socially, she has used variants of her name. Professionally, while a covert CIA officer, she used her given first name and her maiden surname, "Valerie Plame." Since leaving the CIA, as a speaker, she has used the name "Valerie Plame Wilson," and she is referred to by that name in the civil suit that the Wilsons brought against former and current government officials, "Plame v. Cheney". [http://www.greatertalent.com/speakers/speakers.php?speakerid=649 "Valerie Plame Wilson:] 'Outed' Former CIA Agent: Exclusive Representation by Greater Talent Network". Accessed July 10, 2007. (Official biography listed in Speaker's Bureau of [http://www.greatertalent.com/ Greater Talent Network Inc.] ).] Socially, and in public records of her political contributions, since her marriage in 1998, she has used the name "Valerie E. Wilson."

At the time that they met, Wilson relates in his memoir, he was separated from his second wife Jacqueline, a former French diplomat; they divorced after 12 years of marriage so that he could marry Plame. His divorce had been "delayed because I was never in one place long enough to complete the process," though he and she had already been living separate lives since the mid-90s. Plame and Wilson are the parents of twins, Trevor Rolph and Samantha Finnell Diana, born in January 2000. From his first marriage (1973-1986), to Susan Dale Otchis, Wilson is also the father of another set of twins (also a boy and a girl), Sabrina Cecile and Joseph Charles, who were born in 1975.

Prior to the disclosure of her classified CIA identity, Valerie and Joe Wilson and their twins lived in the Palisades, an affluent neighborhood of Washington, D.C., on the fringe of Georgetown. After she resigned from the CIA following the disclosure of her covert status, in January 2006, they moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico.Andrew Buncombe and Joe Wilson, [http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2368902.ece "The Valerie Plame Case: My Wife, the CIA Agent, by Joe Wilson"] , "The Independent", March 18, 2007, accessed August 7, 2007. (Interview.)]

Career

Once graduating from college, moving to Washington, D.C., and marrying Sesler, she worked at a clothing store while awaiting results of her application to the CIA. She was accepted into the 1985-86 CIA officer training class and began her training for what would become a twenty-year career with the Agency. Although the CIA will not release publicly the specific dates from 1985 to 2002 when she worked for it, due to security concerns,Adam Liptak, [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/washington/31cnd-plame.html "Valerie Wilson Sues CIA Over Memoir"] , "The New York Times", May 31, 2007, accessed June 10, 2007.] Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald affirmed that Plame "was a CIA officer from January 1st, 2002, forward" and that "her association with the CIA was classified at that time through July 2003. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102801340.html "Transcript of Special Counsel Fitzgerald's Press Conference"] , "Washington Post", October 28, 2005, accessed July 15, 2006.] Due to the nature of her clandestine work for the CIA, many details about Plame's professional career are still classified, but it is documented that she worked for the CIA in a clandestine capacity relating to counter-proliferation.Patrick Fitzgerald, [http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/libby-fitzgerald-affidavit-20060203.pdf "August 27, 2004 Affadavit of Patrick J. Fitzgerald] Placed in Public File Pursuant to Opinion Released February 3, 2006", online posting, "The Wall Street Journal", February 3, 2006: 28 n. 15, accessed August 7, 2007.]

Plame served the CIA as a non-official cover (or NOC), operating undercover in (at least) two positions in Athens and Brussels.Elisabeth Bumiller, " [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9806E7D8123CF936A35753C1A9659C8B63 Debating a Leak: The Director: C.I.A. Chief Is Caught in Middle by Leak Inquiry] ", "New York Times", October 5 2003.] While using her own name, "Valerie Plame," her assignments required posing in various professional roles in order to gather intelligence more effectively.Larry C. Johnson, [http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/7/13/04720/9340 "The Big Lie about Valerie Plame"] , "tpmcafe.com" (Special Guest blog), June 13, 2005, accessed July 15, 2006. (Johnson is "a former CIA analyst who was in Plame's officer training class in 1985-86" and Deputy Director for Special Operations, Transportation Security, and Anti-Terrorism Assistance in the U.S. State Department's Office of Counter Terrorism until October 1993.)] Michael Duffy and Timothy J. Burger, [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,524486-1,00.html "NOC, NOC. Who's There? A Special Kind of Agent"] , "Time", October 19, 2003, accessed September 25, 2006.] Richard Leiby and Dana Priest, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A58650-2003Oct7?language=printer "The Spy Next Door:] Valerie Wilson, Ideal Mom, Was Also the Ideal Cover", "Washington Post", October 8, 2003: A01, accessed October 31, 2006.] Two of her covers include serving as a junior consular officer in the early 1990s in Athens and then later an energy analyst for the private company (founded in 1994) "Brewster Jennings & Associates," which the CIA later acknowledged was a front company for certain investigations.Carolyn Kuhn, [http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/137645/index.php "Libby Trial: Plame, Brewster, Ellmann, Edwards, Dennehy, Jennings: Not Secret?"] , "dc.indymedia.org" (Washington, D.C. "newswire"), January 31, 2007, accessed May 5, 2007. ]

A former senior diplomat in Athens remembered Plame in her dual role and also recalled that she served as one of the 'control officers' coordinating the visit of President George H.W. Bush to Greece and Turkey in July 1991.John Crewdson, [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-060311plame-story,1,2504459.story? "Plame's identity, if truly a secret, was thinly veiled,"] "Chicago Tribune" March 11, 2006, accessed September 25, 2006.] After the Gulf War in 1991, the CIA sent her first to the London School of Economics and then the College of Europe, in Bruges, for Master's degrees. After earning the second one, she stayed on in Brussels, where she began her next assignment under cover as an "energy consultant" for Brewster-Jennings. Beginning in 1997, Plame's primary assignment was shifted to the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

She married Wilson in 1998 and gave birth to their twins in 2000,Mark Memmott, [http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-07-14-cia-wilson_x.htm "CIA 'outing' Might Fall Short of Crime"] , "USA Today", July 14, 2005, accessed September 25, 2006.] and resumed travel overseas in 2001, 2002, and 2003 as part of her cover job. She met with workers the nuclear industry, cultivated sources, and managed spies.Larry C. Johnson, [http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2005/11/ "Is Max Boot Using Oxycontin?"] "No Quarter" (blog), November 2, 2005, accessed July 15, 2006. See also Nicholas D. Kristof, [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E2D6153FF932A25753C1A9659C8B63 "Secrets of the Scandal"] , "New York Times" October 11, 2003.] Part of her work involved ensuring that Iran did not acquire nuclear weapons. [ Muriel Kane and Dave Edwards, " [http://rawstory.com/news/2007/CBS_confirms_2006_Raw_Story_scoop_1020.html CBS confirms 2006 Raw Story scoop: Plame's job was to keep nukes from Iran] ," "Raw Story" (20 October 2007).]

Part of her work during this time was concerned with determining the use of aluminum tubes purchased by Iraq.David Corn, [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060918/corn "What Valerie Plame Really Did at the CIA"] , "The Nation" (web only), September 6, 2006. citing information in the book "Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War", co-written by Corn and Michael Isikoff.] CIA analysts prior to the Iraq invasion were quoted by the White House as believing that Iraq was trying to acquire nuclear weapons and that these aluminum tubes could be used in a centrifuge for nuclear enrichment." [https://www.odci.gov/cia/reports/721_reports/july_dec2002.htm#4 Attachment A:] Unclassified Report to Congress on the Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions, 1 July Through 31 December 200 [2] ", Office of the Directorate of Central Intelligence (ODCI), CIA, Dec. 2002, accessed October 27, 2006.] " [https://www.odci.gov/cia/reports/721_reports/jan_jun2002.html Unclassified Report to Congress:] on the Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions, 1 January Through 30 June 2002", Office of the Directorate of Central Intelligence (ODCI), CIA, June 2002, accessed October 27, 2006.] However, David Corn and Michael Isikoff argued that the undercover work being done by Mrs. Wilson and her CIA colleagues in the Directorate of Central Intelligence Nonproliferation Center strongly contradicted such a claim.

"Plamegate"

Novak's disclosures in his column, which resulted in Plame's public outing on July 14, 2003, ended her career with the CIA, from which she later resigned in December 2005.

Although court affidavits of the Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald and exhibits pursuant to later U.S. Congressional investigations ascertain otherwise, some in the media (Jeff Gannon - White House reporter) questioned whether or not the CIA still considered Plame a covert officer — that is, the precise nature of her "classified" status or the type of "cover" that she had and whether or not it was "official" or "non-official" — at the time she was outed in the Novak column of July 14, 2003.Bill Gertz, [http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040722-115439-4033r.htm "CIA Officer Named Prior to Column"] , "Washington Times", July 22, 2004, accessed July 15, 2006.] But official legal documents published in the course of the CIA leak grand jury investigation, "United States v. Libby", and Congressional investigations fully establish her classified employment as a covert officer for the CIA at the time that Novak's column was published in July 2003. [http://oversight.house.gov/investigations.asp?Issue=Disclosure+of+CIA+Agent+Identity "Investigations: Disclosure of CIA Agent Identity"] and [http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1205 "Disclosure of CIA Agent Identity:] Hearing Examines Exposure of Covert CIA Agent Valerie Plame Wilson's Identity", U.S. House Committee on Government Reform (Oversight Committee), March 16, 2007, accessed July 10, 2007. (Hyperlinks in menu, including streaming video of hearing; box with "Documents and Links", featuring documents chart PDFlink| [http://oversight.house.gov/Documents/20070316173308-19288.pdf "Disclosures of Valerie Plame Wilson's Classified CIA Employment"] |35.9 KiB .)]

In his press conference of October 28, 2005, Fitzgerald explained in considerable detail the necessity of "secrecy" about his grand jury investigation that began in the fall of 2003 — "when it was clear that Valerie Wilson's cover had been blown" — and the background and consequences of the indictment of Lewis Libby as it pertains to Valerie E. Wilson.

Fitzgerald's subsequent replies to reporters' questions shed further light on the parameters of the "leak investigation" and what, as its lead prosecutor, bound by "the rules of grand jury secrecy," he could and could not reveal legally at the time. Official court documents released later, on April 5, 2006, reveal that Libby testified that "he was specifically authorized in advance" of his meeting with "New York Times" reporter Judith Miller to disclose the "key judgments" of the October 2002 classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE). According to Libby's testimony, "the Vice President later advised him that the President had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions of the NIE [to Judith Miller] ."PDFlink| [http://www.thesmokinggun.com/graphics/pdf/libbyplame.pdf "U.S. vs. I. Lewis Libby"] |200 KiB , as posted online in "The Smoking Gun" (blog), April 5, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006.] According to his testimony, the information that Libby was authorized to disclose to Miller "was intended to rebut the allegations of an administration critic, former ambassador Joseph Wilson." A couple of days after Libby's meeting with Miller, then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told reporters, "We don't want to try to get into kind of selective declassification" of the NIE, adding "We're looking at what can be made available."Michael Isikoff, [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12228726/site/newsweek/ "The Leaker in Chief?"] "Newsweek", April 4, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006.] A "sanitized version" of the NIE in question was officially declassified on July 18, 2003, ten days after Libby's contact with Miller, and was presented at a White House background briefing on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. [http://www.fas.org/irp/cia/product/iraq-wmd.html "Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction,"] "fas.org" (blog), accessed July 15, 2006.] The NIE contains no references to Valerie Plame or her CIA status, but the Special Counsel has suggested that White House actions were part of "a plan to discredit, punish or seek revenge against Mr. Wilson."David E. Sanger, [http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/04/11/MNG3NI70TI1.DTL "Special Prosecutor Links White House to CIA Leak"] , "San Francisco Gate" (blog), April 11, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006.] President Bush had previously indicated that he would fire whoever outed Plame.

A court filing by Libby's defense team argued that Plame was not foremost on the minds of administration officials as they sought to rebut charges made by her husband, that the White House manipulated intelligence to make a case for invasion. The filing indicated that Libby's lawyers did not intend to say he was told to reveal Plame's identity. [ [http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/62399.htm "'Scooter' Won't Play Plame Blame Game"] , "New York Post", April 14, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006.] The court filing also stated that "Mr. Libby plans to demonstrate that the indictment is wrong when it suggests that he and other government officials viewed Ms. Wilson's role in sending her husband to Africa as important," indicating that Libby's lawyers planned to call Karl Rove to the stand. According to Rove's lawyer, Fitzgerald has decided against pressing charges against Rove.John Solomon, [http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/06/13/D8I7C7N00.html "Rove Won't Be Charged in CIA Leak Case"] , "Newsweek, June 13, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006.]

The five-count indictment of Libby included perjury (two counts), obstruction of justice (one count), and making false statements to federal investigators (two counts).

Libby trial

On March 6, 2007, Libby was convicted of obstruction of justice, making false statements, and two counts of perjury. He was acquitted on one count of making false statements. He was not charged for revealing Wilson's CIA status. His sentence included a $250,000 fine, 30 months in prison and two years of probation. On July 2, 2007, President George W. Bush commuted Libby's sentence, removing the jail term but leaving in place the fine and probation, calling the sentence "excessive." [ [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070702-4.html Grant of Executive Clemency] ] [ [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070702-3.html Statement by the President on Executive Clemency for Lewis Libby] ] In a subsequent press conference, on July 12, 2007, Bush noted, "...the Scooter Libby decision was, I thought, a fair and balanced decision." [ [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070712-5.html Press Conference by the President] , July 12, 2007, accessed August 11, 2007.] The Wilsons responded to the commutation in statements posted by their legal counsel, Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and on their own legal support website.See also|Joseph C. Wilson#Wilson's reactions to the Libby trial and commutation

Wilson v. Cheney

On July 13, 2006, Joseph and Valerie Wilson filed a civil lawsuit against Rove, Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney, and other unnamed senior White House officials (among whom they later added Richard Armitage [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/13/politics/main2006236.shtml "Armitage Added to Plame Law Suit"] , "CBS News", September 13, 2006, accessed September 25, 2006; includes PDF. Cf. [http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/plame/wilsonlibby91306acmp.html Amended complaint] at "FindLaw.com".] ) for their alleged role in the public disclosure of Valerie Wilson's classified CIA status. [Proskauer Rose LLP, [http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060713/20060713005646.html?.v=1 "Valerie Plame Wilson and Ambassador Joseph Wilson Initiate a Civil Action] Against Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove, and Scooter Libby for Violations of their Constitutional and Other Legal Rights", "Yahoo Business Wire" (Press Release), July 13, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006; cf. PDFlink| [http://howappealing.law.com/PlameAddressOrder.pdf "Lame Plame Game Flames Out"] |41.8 KiB , rpt. in "How Appealing" (blog), July 13, 2006, accessed July 15. 2006.] Judge John D. Bates dismissed the Wilson's lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds on July 19, 2007;Associated Press, [http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-19-plame-lawsuit_N.htm "Valerie Plame's Lawsuit Dismissed"] , "USA Today", July 19, 2007, accessed 19 July, 2007.] [ [http://us.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/19/cia.leak/index.html "Judge Tosses Out Ex-Spy's Lawsuit Against Cheney in CIA Leak Case"] , "CNN.com", July 19, 2007, accessed July 19, 2007.] Carol D. Leonnig, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/19/AR2007071901395.html?hpid=topnews "Plame's Lawsuit Against Top Officials Dismissed"] , "The Washington Post", 20 July, 2007, accessed 20 July, 2007.] [https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2006cv1258-52 "Memorandum Opinion"] , in "Valerie Wilson, et al., Plaintiffs, v. I. Lewis Libby, Jr., et al., Defendants", "Civil Action No. 06-1258 (JDB)", "United States District Court for the District of Columbia", 19 July, 2007, accessed 20 July, 2007.] the Wilsons appealed. On August 12, 2008, in a 2-1 decision, the three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the dismissal.Susan Decker and Cary O'Reilly, [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a.vwH.xyBcpY&refer=home# "Cheney, Rove, Libby Win Plame Suit Dismissal Appeal (Update2)"] , "Bloomberg.com", August 12, 2008, accessed August 13, 2008.] [http://caselaw.findlaw.com/data2/circs/dc/075257p.pdf "DC Circuit Court Opinion"] at "Findlaw.com", August 12, 2008, accessed August 13, 2008.] Melanie Sloan, of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which represents the Wilsons, "said the group is considering asking the full D.C. Circuit to review the case and an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court." [http://www.wilsonsupport.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=38 "Wilson's (sic) Response to D.C. Circuit Court Upholding Bates Decision] ", "The Joseph and Valerie Wilson Legal Support Trust", August 12, 2008, accessed August 14, 2008.]

House Oversight Committee hearing

On March 8, 2007, two days after the verdict in the Libby trial, Congressman Henry Waxman, chair of the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform, announced that his committee would ask Plame to testify on March 16, in an effort by his committee to look into "whether White House officials followed appropriate procedures for safeguarding Plame's identity." [Reuters, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/09/AR2007030900549.html "Plame to Testify to Congress on Leak"] , "The Washington Post", March 9, 2007, accessed March 19, 2007.] [http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1205 "Disclosure of CIA Identity"] , online posting, U.S. House Committee on Government Reform, "oversight.house.gov", March 16, 2007, accessed March 19, 2007.]

On March 16, 2007, at these hearings about the disclosure, Waxman read a statement about Plame's CIA career that had been cleared by CIA director Gen. Michael V. Hayden and the CIA, stating that she was undercover and that her employment status with the CIA was classified information prohibited from disclosure under Executive Order 12958. Wilson served in senior management positions at the CIA, in which she oversaw the work of other CIA employees, and in her various positions at the CIA, had faced significant risks to her personal safety and her life.PDFlink| [http://oversight.house.gov/Documents/20070316104030-43341.pdf "Statement of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Chairman"] |156 KiB , "Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Hearing on Disclosure of CIA Agent Valerie Plame Wilson's ldentity and White House Procedures for Safeguarding Classified Information", online posting, U.S. House Committee on Government Reform, "oversight.house.gov", March 16, 2007: 2, accessed March 19, 2007]

Subsequent reports in various news accounts focused on the following parts of her testimony:
*"My name and identity were carelessly and recklessly abused by senior government officials in the White House and state department"; this abuse occurred for "purely political reasons." [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2035981,00.html "Outed CIA Agent Criticises White House Officials"] , "The Guardian" March 16, 2007, accessed March 19, 2007.]
*After her identity was exposed by officials in the Bush administration, she had to leave the CIA: "I could no longer perform the work for which I had been highly trained."Richard Allen Greene, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6460053.stm "Ex-spy Makes Tough Bush Critic"] , "BBC News", March 16, 2007, accessed March 19, 2007.]
*She did not select her husband for a CIA fact-finding trip to Niger, but an officer senior to her selected him and told her to ask her husband if he would consider it: "I did not recommend him. I did not suggest him. There was no nepotism involved. I did not have the authority...."

"Fair Game"

Joseph Wilson announced on March 6, 2007 that he and his wife had "signed a deal with Warner Bros of Hollywood to offer their consulting services - or maybe more - in the making of the forthcoming movie about the Libby trial," their lives and the CIA leak scandal.Matt Frei, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6425311.stm "Washington diary: Libby, the Movie"] , "BBC News" (Washington), March 7, 2007, accessed March 18,2007; cf. transcript of Larry King interview with Joseph C. Wilson, Nicole Kidman will play Valerire Plame. [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0703/06/lkl.01.html "Ex-Cheney Aide Found Guilty"] , "Larry King Live", CNN, broadcast March 6, 2007, accessed March 18, 2007.] The feature film, a co-production between Weed Road's Akiva Goldsman and Jerry and Janet Zucker of Zucker Productions with a screenplay by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth to be based in part on Valerie Wilson's memoir "Fair Game" (contingent on CIA clearances) originally scheduled for release in August 2007, but ultimately published on October 22, 2007.Michael Fleming, [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117960398.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 "Plame Film in Works at Warner Bros.: Studio Sets Movie about CIA Leak Scandal"] , March 1, 2007, accessed March 18, 2007.]

In May 2006, the "New York Times" reported that Valerie Wilson agreed to a $2.5 million book deal with Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House. Steve Ross, senior vice president and publisher of Crown, told the Times that the book would be her "first airing of her actual role in the American intelligence community, as well as the prominence of her role in the lead-up to the war." Motoko Rich, [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/05/books/05cnd-plame.html "Valerie Plame Gets Book Deal"] , "New York Times", May 5, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006.] Subsequently, the "New York Times" reported that the book deal fell through and that Plame was in exclusive negotiations with Simon & Schuster.Motoko Rich, [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/01/books/01plam.html?hp&ex=1149220800&en=79440cf211d66068&ei=5094&partner=homepage|title=Valerie Plame Gets Book Deal"] , "New York Times", June 1, 2006, accessed June 7, 2006.] Ultimately, Simon and Schuster publicly confirmed the book deal, though not the financial terms and, at first, no set publication date.Hillel Italie (Associated Press), [http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/gossip/15032040.htm "Ex-CIA Officer Finds New Memoir Publisher"] , "The Mercury News" July 13, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006. (Free registration required.)]

On May 31, 2007, various news media reported that Simon and Schuster and Valerie Wilson were suing J. Michael McConnell, Director of National Intelligence, and Michael V. Hayden, Director of the CIA, arguing that the CIA "is unconstitutionally interfering with the publication of her memoir, "", ... set to be published in October [2007] , by not allowing Plame to mention the dates she served in the CIA, even though those dates are public information." [http://www.wnbc.com/news/13420498/detail.html "Valerie Plame Wilson Suing CIA"] , "WNBC" (Channel 4, New York City), May 31, 2007, accessed June 10, 2007.] Kimberly Maul, [http://www.thebookstandard.com/bookstandard/news/author/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003592363 "Simon and Schuster and Valerie Plame Wilson Sue CIA"] , "The Book Standard", May 31, 2007, accessed June 10, 2007.] Judge Barbara S. Jones, of the United States District Court for the District of New York, in Manhattan, had decided that Plame would not be able to state in her memoir precisely the dates that she had worked for the CIA, even though they are already published in documents in the public domain.

On October 31, 2007, in her "conversation" with Charlie Rose broadcast on "The Charlie Rose Show" (recorded on October 29, 2007), she discussed many aspects relating to her memoir: the CIA leak grand jury investigation, "United States v. Libby," the civil suit which she and her husband are still pursuing against Libby, Cheney, Rove, and Armitage, and other matters presented in her memoir relating to her covert work with the CIA.Charlie Rose, [http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2007/10/31/2/a-conversation-with-valerie-plame-wilson "A Conversation with Valerie Plame Wilson"] , "The Charlie Rose Show," PBS, WNET (New York), recorded October 29, 2007, broadcast October 31, 2007, 12:30 a.m. ET-1:00 a.m. ET, accessed November 6, 2007 (video clip).]

ee also

*National Clandestine Service

Notes

References

* [http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/plame/wilsonlibby91306acmp.html Amended Complaint] . "FindLaw.com", September 13, 2006.
* [http://mediamatters.org/items/200507150003 "AP falsely reported Wilson 'acknowledged his wife was no longer in an undercover job' when her identity was first publicly leaked"] . "Media Matters for America". July 15, 2005. Accessed September 24, 2006.
* [http://www.townhall.com/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ContentGuid=4cd646c8-6131-4910-8068-92ad42629fdc "Armitage's Leak Poses More Questions"] . "Townhall.com", September 8, 2006. Accessed June 17, 2007.
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/31/AR2006083101460_pf.html "End of an Affair: It Turns Out That the Person Who Exposed CIA Agent Valerie Plame Was Not Out to Punish Her Husband"] . "The Washington Post", September 1, 2006.
*Corn, David. [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-corn/explosive-new-rove-revela_b_3933.html "Explosive New Rove Revelation Coming Soon? Update: It's Here"] . "The Huffington Post" (blog), July 9, 2005. Accessed September 24, 2006.
*–––. [http://www.davidcorn.com/archives/2006/09/toensing_and_ws.php "Toensing and WSJ: Corn Outed Plame (Here We Go Again)"] . "DavidCorn.com" (journalist's blog), September 15, 2006. Accessed November 20, 2006. (Reply to Toensing.)
*–––. [http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?bid=3&pid=823 "A White House Smear"] . "The Nation" ("Capital Games" blog), July 16, 2006. Accessed September 24, 2006.
*Crewdson, John. [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-060311ciamain-story,1,123362.story?ctrack=1&cset=true "Internet Blows CIA Cover"] . "The Chicago Tribune", March 13, 2006. Accessed November 16, 2006.
*Ensor, David, et al. [http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/09/29/novak.cia/ "Novak: 'No great crime' with Leak"] . "Inside Politics" on CNN. "CNN.com", October 1, 2003. Accessed September 24, 2006.
*Finn, Ed. [http://www.slate.com/id/2089062/ "How Deep Is CIA Cover?"] "Slate", September 30, 2003. Accessed November 16, 2006.
*Isikoff, Michael. [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8682500/site/newsweek/ "Leak Investigation: The Russert Deal—What It Reveals"] . "Newsweek", August 1, 2006. Accessed November 13, 2006.
*–––. [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8525978/site/newsweek/ "Matt Cooper's Source:] What Karl Rove Told Time Magazine's Reporter". "Newsweek" June 18, 2005. Accessed November 13, 2006.
*–––, and David Corn. "Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War". New York: Crown, 2006 (September 8). ISBN 0-307-34681-1.
*Johnson, Larry C. [http://www.alternet.org/story/23691/ "Fighting Rove's Gang of Bullies:] A Former CIA Analyst Speaks Up in the Hopes of Freeing His Former Colleague, Valerie Plame, from the RNC's 'malicious smear campaign'". "AlterNet", July 25, 2005. Accessed June 19, 2007.
*Johnston, David, and Richard W. Stevenson, with David E. Sanger. [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/15/politics/15rove.htm "Rove Reportedly Held Phone Talk on C.I.A. Officer"] . "The New York Times", July 15, 2005. Accessed November 16, 2006.
*Kincaid, Cliff. [http://www.aim.org/aim_column/3833_0_3_0_C "AIM Column: Why Judith Miller Should Stay In Jail"] . "Accuracy In Media", July 11, 2005. Accessed June 19, 2007.
*Leonnig, Carol D. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32380-2005Apr6.html "Papers Say Leak Probe Is Over"] . "Washington Post", April 6, 2005: A12.
*Novak, Robert. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/13/AR2006091301572.html "Armitage's Leak"] . "The Washington Post", September 13, 2006. Accessed September 24, 2006.
*–––. [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/07/my_role_in_plamegate.html "My Role in Plamegate"] . Online posting. "RealClearPolitics.com" (blog), July 12, 2006. Accessed September 25, 2006.
*Parry, Robert. [http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/091506.html "New Clues in the Plame Mystery"] . "ConsortiumNews.com", September 15, 2006. Accessed November 8, 2006.
*Pincus, Walter, and Mike Allen. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A40012-2003Oct3&notFound=true "Leak of Agent's Name Causes Exposure of CIA Front Firm"] . "The Washington Post", October 4, 2003: A03.
*Smyth, Frank. [http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/67699/ CPJ Statement: Commentary: U.S. Sends the Wrong Message to the World"] . "IFEX" (International Freedom of Expression Exchange), June 30, 2005, updated July 1, 2005. Accessed September 24, 2006.
*Toensing, Victoria. [http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008948 "The Plame Kerfuffle: What a Load of Armitage!] What Did Patrick Fitzgerald Know, and When Did He Know It?" "The Wall Street Journal", September 15, 2006, Editorial. Accessed November 20, 2006. (Reply by Corn, "Toensing and WSJ.")
*Waas, Murray S.. [http://nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2006/0209nj1.htm "Cheney Authorized Libby to Leak Classified Information"] "National Journal", February 9, 2006. Accessed September 10, 2007.
*–––. [http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?articleId=9473 "Exclusive: Plame Game Over?"] "American Prospect", April 6, 2005. Accessed September 10, 2007.
*–––, with research assistance by Thomas Lang. [http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2004/02/waas-m-02-12.html "Plame Gate: Did Robert Novak Willfully Disregard Warnings That His Column Would Endanger Valerie Plame? Our Sources Say 'Yes'"] . "American Prospect", February 12, 2004. Accessed September 25, 2006. (Web-exclusive feature article.)
*Wheeler, Marcy. "Anatomy of Deceit: How the Bush Administration Used the Media to Sell the Iraq War and Out a Spy". Berkeley: Vaster Books (Dist. by Publishers Group West), 2007. ISBN 0-979-17610-7 (10). ISBN 978-0979-17610-4 (13).
* [http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-wh/2004/jun/18/061802534.html "White House Counsel Questioned in CIA Leak"] . "Las Vegas Sun", June 18, 2004.
*Wolf, Christopher. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16733-2005Jan17.html "Plame Investigation Is Not a 'Game'."] Letter to the Editor. "Washington Post", January 18, 2005: A16. [A neighbor of Valerie E. Wilson, Wolf is also a lawyer representing her.]

External links

*" [http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/cia.leak/index.html CNN Special Reports: CIA Leak Investigation] " compiled by CNN; incl. interactive timeline of "Main Events" and "Key Players" (click on photo captioned "Plame").
*" [http://www.nytimes.com/ref/washington/2006_LEAKTIMELINE_GRAPHIC.html?currentcasetype=Wilson Interactive Graphic: Timeline of a Leak] " compiled by "The New York Times" (double-click on photo captioned "Ms. Wilson").
* [http://oversight.house.gov/investigations.asp?Issue=Disclosure+of+CIA+Agent+Identity "Investigations: Disclosure of CIA Agent Identity"] and [http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1205 "Disclosure of CIA Agent Identity:] Hearing Examines Exposure of Covert CIA Agent Valerie Plame Wilson's Identity". U.S. House Committee on Government Reform (Oversight Committee). March 16, 2007. Accessed October 22, 2007. Hyperlinked menu with streaming video of hearing and "Documents and Links" (box), featuring documents chart, PDFlink| [http://oversight.house.gov/Documents/20070316173308-19288.pdf "Disclosures of Valerie Plame Wilson's Classified CIA Employment"] |35.9 KiB .
*" [http://wilsonsupport.org/ The Joseph and Valerie Wilson Legal Support Trust] ". Accessed June 10, 2008.
* [http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc/ "Patrick J. Fitzgerald"] , U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel.
*United States Senate Democratic Policy Committee Hearing, United States House of Representatives Government Reform Committee Minority, [http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpchearing.cfm?A=23 "A Special Joint Oversight Hearing] on the National Security Consequences of Disclosing the Identity of a Covert Intelligence Officer", with link to "Hearing Transcript". July 22, 2005. Accessed August 12, 2007.
*" [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/valerie-plame-wilson Valerie Plame Wilson Blog] " at "The Huffington Post".