Valerie Plame is an American CIA employee whose identification as a CIA "operative" by columnist Robert Novak on July 14, 2003 resulted in a Justice Department investigation into possible violation of U.S. criminal law regarding exposure of covert government agents. It appeared possible that this investigation might lead to a major scandal involving members of the Bush administration.

Plame's CIA connection was reported by Novak because it was claimed by administration sources that it had been at her suggestion that the CIA sent her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, to Niger in 2002 to investigate reports that Iraq had attempted to illegally purchase uranium from that country. This appeared to contradict Wilson's claim that he was sent to Niger at the request of Vice President Cheney. (Cheney had denied any knowledge of Wilson's Niger visit.)

Wilson charged that his wife's CIA association had been deliberately exposed by the White House in order to destroy her career, in retaliation for his public charge that the Bush administration had lied to the American people about U.S. intelligence concerning weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In an article in The New York Times on July 6, 2003, Wilson denounced the Bush administration, saying that "some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."

The exposure of covert government agents is considered a serious crime in the U.S., carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years, and the matter is currently under investigation by the Justice Department and the FBI.

For obvious reasons, little is known of Plame's professional career. She described herself as an energy analyst for a private company, Brewster Jennings & Associates, which was subsequently acknowledged to be a CIA front company. Her husband has compared her to actress Jennifer Garner, who plays a spy on television.

Plame met Wilson at a Washington party in early 1997. She was able to reveal her CIA role to him while they were dating because he held a high-level security clearance. The couple are the parents of three-year-old twins.

Issues in Dispute

Novak has claimed that Plame was an analyst, not an operative, at the CIA, the difference being that analysts are not undercover, so exposing their identities is not a crime; this has been countered by several ex-CIA operatives who knew Plame giving interviews in which they claim she was an official undercover operative, or a NOC (no official cover) (c.f., Larry Johnston).

Novak has also attempted to defend his exposure of Plame by claiming that her CIA employment was an open secret in Washington; if this is the case, then the administration sources were not revealing classified information, contrary to law.