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{{Short description|American writer, spy novelist and former CIA officer (born 1963)}}
'''Valerie Plame''' is an ] ] employee whose identification as a CIA "operative" by ]-columnist ] on July 14, 2003 resulted in a ] investigation into possible violation of U.S. criminal law regarding exposure of covert government agents. In March 2004, the ] subpoenaed the telephone records from ], reviving the belief that the invesigation would result in a major ].
{{Redirect|Valerie Flame|the ''Childrens Hospital'' character|Childrens Hospital#Cast and characters{{!}}''Childrens Hospital''#Cast and characters}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Valerie Plame
| image = Valerie plame wilson 2014.jpg
| caption = Plame at the 2014 ]
| birth_name = Valerie Elise Plame
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1963|8|13}}
| birth_place = ], U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| party = ]
| other_names = Valerie Plame Wilson
| occupation = {{Plain list|
* ]
* ] (1985–2006)
* ]
}}
| education = {{Plain list|
* ] (])
* ] (])
* ] (])
}}
| spouse = {{Plain list|
* {{marriage|Todd Sesler|1987|1989|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|]|1998|2017|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Joseph Shepard|2020}}
}}
| children = 2
| website = {{url|valerieplame.com}}
}}


'''Valerie Elise Plame''' (born August 13, 1963) is an American writer, spy, novelist, and former ] (CIA) ]. As the subject of the 2003 ], also known as the CIA leak scandal, Plame's identity as a CIA officer was ] to and subsequently published by ] of '']''. She described this period and the media firestorm that ensued as "mortifying, and I think I was in shock for a couple years".<ref name="EyewitnessHistory">], </ref>
Plame, the wife of retired Ambassador ], was exposed by Novak as a ] covert operative, who wrote, "Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate" the allegation.


In the aftermath of the scandal, ] in the ] was identified as one source of the information, and ], Chief of Staff to Vice President ], was convicted of lying to investigators. After a failed appeal, President ] commuted Libby's sentence and in 2018, President ] pardoned him. The individual responsible for leaking the information was never charged.
According to Novak, administration sources claimed that it had been at Plame's suggestion that the CIA sent her husband to ] in 2002 to investigate reports that ] had attempted to illegally purchase ] from that country. This appeared to contradict Wilson's claim that he was sent to Niger at the request of ]. Cheney had denied any knowledge of Wilson's Niger visit.


In collaboration with a ghostwriter, Plame wrote a ] detailing her career and the events leading up to her resignation from the CIA. She has subsequently written and published at least two spy novels. A 2010 biographical feature film, '']'', was produced based on memoirs by her and her husband.
According to the September 27, 2003 edition of (JOM), on July 16, 2003, ] "started this scandal" when he published the ''A White House Smear'' in ''The Nation'', wherein:
:This is not only a possible breach of national security; it is a potential violation of law. Under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, it is a crime for anyone who has access to classified information to disclose intentionally information identifying a covert agent.


Plame was an unsuccessful candidate for ] in 2020, placing second behind ] in the ].
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 ]. In an article in '']'' 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."


== Early life and education ==
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 ]. ] currently heads the investigation.
Valerie Elise Plame was born on August 13, 1963, on ], in ], to Diane (née McClintock) and Samuel Plame III.<ref name=APbio>], ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116183811/http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001392451 |date=January 16, 2009 }}), reposted in '']'', May 30, 2005, accessed August 12, 2007.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Valerie Plame|date=2007|title=Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gJekd8LUmOUC&pg=PA314|publisher=Simon & Schuster|page=314|isbn=9781416583363}}</ref> Plame says that her paternal grandfather was Jewish, the son of a ] who emigrated from ]; the original family surname was "Plamevotski". The rest of Plame's family was Protestant (the religion in which Plame was raised); she was unaware, until she was an adult, that her grandfather was Jewish.<ref>Wilson, pp. 173–174.</ref>


She graduated in 1981 from ], in ],<ref name=Spivak>{{cite news|first=Rachel|last=Spivak|url=http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2003/10/10-09-03tdc/10-09-03dnews-08.asp|title=CIA Agent Linked to Collegian|newspaper=The Daily Collegian Online|date=October 9, 2003|accessdate= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525091307/http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2003/10/10-09-03tdc/10-09-03dnews-08.asp |archive-date=May 25, 2011 }}</ref><ref name=Goffard>{{cite news|first=Christopher|last=Goffard|authorlink=Christopher Goffard|url=http://www.tampabay.com/SearchForwardServlet.do?articleId=258941|title=Valerie Plame: Smart, Private, 'Waltons' Fan|newspaper=]|via=tampabay.com|date=August 8, 2005|accessdate=June 8, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303183033/http://www.tampabay.com/SearchForwardServlet.do?articleId=258941 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 }}</ref> and in 1985 from ], with a ] in advertising.<ref name=VanityFair/> While attending Penn State, she joined ] ]<ref name=FG>"]".</ref> and worked for the business division of the '']'' ].<ref name=VanityFair>{{cite magazine | first = Vicky | last = Ward | url = https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2004/01/plame200401?printable=true&currentPage=all | title = Double Exposure | magazine = ] | date = January 2004 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080406022724/http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2004/01/plame200401?printable=true&currentPage=all | archive-date = April 6, 2008 }} </ref><ref name="forward.com"> March 29, 2019, By Aiden Pink, The Forward</ref>
Corn had that the investigation would die in the CIA - ] would stay loyal to ] and quash this." JOM adds: "Evidently not. One guess - Mr. Tenet, pondering Bush's declining poll numbers and faced with in-house annoyance, decided to do the right thing. One presumes that, with Congress back in town, Mr. Tenet checked with his supporters on both sides of the aisle before proceeding."


==Career==
Both and have made recent comments on the matter, according to JOM.
]'', at ], in ], on December 4, 2007.]]


After graduating from college and moving to ], Plame worked at a clothing store while awaiting results of her application to the ].<ref name=VanityFair/> She was accepted into the 1985–86 CIA officer training class.<ref name="LiptakAug">{{cite news|first=Adam|last=Liptak|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/03/washington/03plame.html |title=Judge Backs C.I.A. in Suit On Memoir|newspaper=]|date=August 3, 2007|access-date=March 23, 2008}}</ref> Special Counsel ] affirmed that Plame "was a CIA officer from January 1, 2002, forward" and that "her association with the CIA was classified at that time through July 2003."<ref name=Fitzgeraldpress>, '']'', October 28, 2005, accessed July 15, 2006.</ref> Details about Plame's professional career are still classified, but it is documented that she worked for the CIA in a ] capacity relating to ].<ref>{{cite web |first1=Muriel |last1=Kane |first2=Dave |last2=Edwards |url=http://rawstory.com/news/2007/CBS_confirms_2006_Raw_Story_scoop_1020.html|title=CBS confirms 2006 Raw Story scoop: Plame's job was to keep nukes from Iran|website=]|date=October 20, 2007|access-date=October 22, 2007|archive-date=September 14, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080914224116/http://rawstory.com/news/2007/CBS_confirms_2006_Raw_Story_scoop_1020.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=LiptakAug/><ref name=Fitzgeraldaffidavit>], Placed in Public File Pursuant to Opinion Released February 3, 2006", online posting, '']'', February 3, 2006: 28 n. 15, accessed August 7, 2007.</ref><ref name=ExhibitA>{{cite web|url= http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/files/sentencing_memo_exhibits.pdf |title=Unclassified Summary of Valerie Wilson's CIA Employment and Cover History }}&nbsp;{{small|(2.63&nbsp;])}}, "Exhibit A" in sentencing memorandum exhibits, '']'', online posting of public document, ''The Next Hurrah'' (blog), May 26, 2007: 2–3.</ref><ref name=Salon>{{cite web|url=https://www.salon.com/2007/05/30/plame_46/|title=Valerie Plame, Covert After All|work=]|date=May 30, 2007|access-date=August 12, 2007}}</ref>
For obvious reasons, little is known of Plame's professional career. She described herself as an energy analyst for a private company, ], which was subsequently acknowledged to be a CIA front company. Her husband has compared her to actress ], who plays a spy on television.


Plame served the CIA at times as a non-official cover, operating in ] and ].<ref name=Bumiller>{{cite news|first=Elisabeth|last=Bumiller|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9806E7D8123CF936A35753C1A9659C8B63 |title=Debating a Leak: The Director: C.I.A. Chief Is Caught in Middle by Leak Inquiry|newspaper=]|date=October 5, 2003}}</ref> While using her own name, "Valerie Plame", her assignments required posing in various professional roles in order to gather intelligence more effectively.<ref name=JohnsonBigLie>], ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080125151623/http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/7/13/04720/9340 |date=January 25, 2008 }}), 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.)</ref><ref name=DuffyBurger>{{cite magazine|first1=Michael|last1=Duffy|first2=Timothy J. |last2=Burger|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,524486-1,00.html|title=NOC. Who's There? A Special Kind of Agent|magazine=]|date=October 19, 2003|accessdate=September 25, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022174929/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,524486-1,00.html|archive-date=October 22, 2007}}</ref><ref name=LeibyandPriest>{{cite news|first1=Richard|last1=Leiby|first2=Dana|last2=Priest|authorlink2=Dana Priest|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A58650-2003Oct7/ |title=The Spy Next Door: Valerie Wilson, Ideal Mom, Was Also the Ideal Cover|newspaper=]|date=October 8, 2003|page=A01|access-date=October 31, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810134144/https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A58650-2003Oct7/?language=printer|archive-date=August 10, 2018}}</ref> Two of her covers include serving as a junior consular officer in the early 1990s in Athens and then later as an energy analyst for the private company (founded in 1994) "]," which the CIA later acknowledged was a ] for certain investigations.<ref name=Kuhn>{{cite web|first=Carolyn|last=Kuhn|url=http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/137645/index.php|title=Libby Trial: Plame, Brewster, Ellmann, Edwards, Dennehy, Jennings: Not Secret? |publisher=dc.indymedia.org|date=January 31, 2007|accessdate=May 5, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022162935/http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/137645/index.php|archive-date=October 22, 2007}}</ref> 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 ] to ] and ] in July 1991. The matter of whether she actually had covert status is disputed.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116033614/http://edition.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/09/29/novak.cia/ |date=November 16, 2017 }}. Wednesday, October 1, 2003, CNN</ref><ref name=Crewdson>{{cite news|first=John|last=Crewdson|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-060311plame-story,1,2504459.story?|title=Plame's identity, if truly a secret, was thinly veiled|newspaper=]|date=March 11, 2006|accessdate=September 25, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071115021048/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-060311plame-story,1,2504459.story |archive-date=November 15, 2007 }}</ref> After the ] War in 1991, the CIA sent her first to the ] and then the ], in ], for ]s. After earning the second degree, she stayed on in Brussels, where she began her next assignment under cover as an "energy consultant" for Brewster-Jennings.<ref name=VanityFair/> Beginning in 1997, Plame's primary assignment was shifted to the ] in ].<ref name=Jones>{{cite book|first=Ishmael|last=Jones|title=The Human Factor: Inside the CIA's Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture|publisher=]|date=2008|page=255|asin=B003XU7IF4}}</ref>
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.


During this time, part of her work concerned the determination of the use of ] purchased by Iraq.<ref name=Corn>David Corn, , '']'' (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 ].</ref> CIA analysts prior to the Iraq invasion were quoted by the ] as believing that Iraq was trying to acquire ] and that these aluminum tubes could be used in a ] for ].<ref name=CIAreport1>'' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061003122934/https://www.odci.gov/cia/reports/721_reports/july_dec2002.htm#4 |date=October 3, 2006 }} Unclassified Report to Congress on the Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions, July 1 Through 31 December 200'', Office of the Directorate of Central Intelligence (ODCI), ], Dec. 2002, accessed October 27, 2006.</ref><ref name=CIAreport2>'' ({{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060930043217/https://www.odci.gov/cia/reports/721_reports/jan_jun2002.html |date=September 30, 2006 }}) on the Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions, January 1 Through June 30, 2002'', Office of the Directorate of Central Intelligence (ODCI), ], June 2002, accessed October 27, 2006.</ref> ] and ] argued that the ] work being done by Plame and her CIA colleagues in the Directorate of Central Intelligence ] Center strongly contradicted such a claim.<ref name=Corn/>
== Novak's response ==
Novak claims that Plame was an analyst, not an operative, at the CIA&mdash;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.'', ]).


=== "Plamegate" ===
Novak has also attempted to defend his exposure of Plame by claiming that her CIA employment was an open secret in Washington &mdash;if true, Novak claims, this would contradict the claim that administration sources were revealing classified information.
{{Main|Plame affair|Plame affair grand jury investigation|Plame affair criminal investigation}}


On July 14, 2003, ], a journalist for '']'', used information obtained from ], ], and ], to reveal Plame's identity as a CIA operative in his column.<ref name=Seidman>{{cite web|first=Joel|last=Seidman|work=]|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18924679|title=Plame Was 'covert' Agent at Time of Name Leak: Newly Released Unclassified Document Details CIA Employment|date=May 29, 2007|access-date=August 10, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Christopher|last=Moran|title=Company Confessions: Secrets, Memoirs, and the CIA|publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|location=New York City|date=2015|pages=266–7|isbn=978-1250047137|quote=The fallout was huge. Novak's column effectively ended Plame's CIA career. With her cover blown, she eventually resigned in December 2005}}</ref> Legal documents published in the course of the ], '']'', and ] investigations, established her classified employment as a ] officer for the CIA at the time when Novak's column was published in July 2003.<ref name=Seidman/><ref name=Waxmanstmt>{{cite web |url= http://oversight.house.gov/Documents/20070316104030-43341.pdf |title= Statement of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Chairman |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090325085424/http://oversight.house.gov/Documents/20070316104030-43341.pdf |archive-date= March 25, 2009 }}&nbsp;{{small|(156&nbsp;])}}, "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, ], ''oversight.house.gov'', March 16, 2007: 2, accessed March 19, 2007</ref><ref name=oversightdocs> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090826111916/http://oversight.house.gov/investigations.asp?Issue=Disclosure+of+CIA+Agent+Identity |date=August 26, 2009 }} and {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070419075417/http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1205 |date=April 19, 2007 }} Hearing Examines Exposure of Covert CIA Agent Valerie Plame Wilson's Identity", ] (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 {{cite web |url= http://oversight.house.gov/Documents/20070316173308-19288.pdf |title= Disclosures of Valerie Plame Wilson's Classified CIA Employment |access-date= February 8, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090826112007/http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20070316173308-19288.pdf |archive-date= August 26, 2009 |url-status=dead }}&nbsp;{{small|(35.9&nbsp;])}}.)</ref>
==Reverse timeline==


In his press conference on October 28, 2005, Special Prosecutor ] explained the necessity of secrecy about his ] 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 ] of then high-ranking Bush Administration official ] as it pertained to her.<ref name="Fitzgeraldpress" />
* ], who repeatedly claimed that his trip to Niger was not brought about by his wife Plame's suggestion, was the subject of a conclusion reached in the bi-partisan Senate Intelligence Committee's ] that the former diplomat was selected to travel to Niger after his wife rehearsed to the CIA Wilson's specific qualifications in a memo. From the ]:


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.<ref name="Fitzgeraldpress" /> Official court documents released later, on April 5, 2006, reveal that Libby testified that "he was specifically authorized in advance" of his meeting with ], reporter for '']'', to disclose the "key judgments" of the October 2002 ] ] (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 ."<ref name=TheSmokingGun>{{cite web|url= http://www.thesmokinggun.com/graphics/pdf/libbyplame.pdf |title=U.S. vs. I. Lewis Libby |date=November 19, 2010 }}&nbsp;{{small|(200&nbsp;])}}, as posted online in '']'' (blog), April 5, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006.</ref> 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 ]." A couple of days after Libby's meeting with Miller, then–] ] 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."<ref name=IsikoffNewsweek>Michael Isikoff, '']'', April 4, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006.</ref> 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 ] background briefing on ] (WMD) in Iraq.<ref name=NIEedit>, ''fas.org'' (blog), accessed July 15, 2006.</ref> 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."<ref name=Sanger>David E. Sanger, , ''San Francisco Gate'' (blog), April 11, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006.</ref> President Bush had previously indicated that he would fire whoever had outed Plame.<ref name=IsikoffNewsweek/>
''"Administration officials told columnist Robert D. Novak then that Wilson, a partisan critic of Bush's foreign policy, was sent to Niger at the suggestion of Plame, who worked in the nonproliferation unit at CIA. The disclosure of Plame's identity, which was classified, led to an investigation into who leaked her name. ''


A court filing by Libby's defense team argued that Plame was not foremost in 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 that he was told to reveal Plame's identity.<ref>{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, '']'', April 14, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006.</ref> 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 ] as important," indicating that Libby's lawyers planned to call ] to the stand. Fitzgerald ultimately decided against pressing charges against Rove.<ref name=Gonyea>Don Gonyea, , NPR, ''Morning Edition'' (June 13, 2006).</ref>
''The report may bolster the rationale that administration officials provided the information not to intentionally expose an undercover CIA employee, but to call into question Wilson's bona fides as an investigator into trafficking of weapons of mass destruction. To charge anyone with a crime, prosecutors need evidence that exposure of a covert officer was intentional."''


The five-count indictment of Libby included ] (two counts), ] (one count), and ] to ] (two counts). There was, however, no count for disclosing classified information, i.e., Plame's status as a CIA operative.


===Libby trial===
*: President Bush is interviewed for more than an hour regarding the incident.
{{Main|United States v. Libby}}
{{See also|Joseph C. Wilson#Reactions to the Libby trial and commutation}}


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 Plame's CIA status. His sentence included a $250,000 fine, 30 months in prison and two years of probation. On July 2, 2007, President ] ] Libby's sentence, removing the jail term but leaving in place the fine and ], calling the sentence "excessive."<ref></ref><ref></ref> In a subsequent press conference, on July 12, 2007, Bush noted, "...the Scooter Libby decision was, I thought, a fair and balanced decision."<ref>, July 12, 2007, accessed August 11, 2007.</ref> The Wilsons responded to the commutation in statements posted by their legal counsel, ], executive director of ] (CREW), and on their own legal support website. President ] pardoned Libby on April 13, 2018.<ref name=p1>{{cite news|first=Kevin|last=Liptak|title=Trump pardons ex-Cheney aide Scooter Libby|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/13/politics/donald-trump-pardons-scooter-libby/index.html|website=]|date=April 13, 2018|access-date=April 13, 2018}}</ref>
* President Bush announces he will hire attorney ] if questioned by the investigation.


=== ''Wilson v. Cheney'' ===
*: Novak explains: "My role and the role of the Bush White House have been distorted and need explanation."
{{Main|Wilson v. Libby}}


On July 13, 2006, Joseph and Valerie Wilson filed a civil lawsuit against Rove, Libby, Vice President ], and other unnamed senior White House officials (to whom they later added ])<ref name=CBSNews>, '']'', September 13, 2006, accessed September 25, 2006; includes PDF. Cf. at ''FindLaw.com''.</ref> for their alleged role in the public disclosure of Valerie Wilson's classified CIA status.<ref>] LLP, Against Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove, and Scooter Libby for Violations of their Constitutional and Other Legal Rights", ''] Business Wire'' (Press Release), July 13, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006; cf. {{cite web|url= http://howappealing.law.com/PlameAddressOrder.pdf |title=Lame Plame Game Flames Out }}&nbsp;{{small|(41.8&nbsp;])}}, rpt. in ''How Appealing'' (blog), July 13, 2006, accessed July 15. 2006.</ref> Judge ] dismissed the Wilsons' lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds on July 19, 2007;<ref name=APDimissed>], , '']'', July 19, 2007, accessed July 19, 2007.</ref><ref>, '']'', July 19, 2007, accessed July 19, 2007.</ref><ref name=Leonnigdism>], , '']'', July 20, 2007, accessed July 20, 2007.</ref><ref name=Bates>, in "Valerie Wilson, et al., Plaintiffs, v. I. Lewis Libby, Jr., et al., Defendants", "Civil Action No. 06-1258 (JDB)", '']'', July 19, 2007, accessed July 20, 2007.</ref> the Wilsons appealed. On August 12, 2008, in a 2-1 decision, the three-judge panel of the ] upheld the dismissal.<ref name=DeckerOReilly>Susan Decker and Cary O'Reilly, , '']'', August 12, 2008, accessed August 13, 2008.</ref><ref name=DCCircuit>{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at '']'', August 12, 2008, accessed August 13, 2008.</ref> ], of ], which represents the Wilsons, said "the group will request the full D.C. Circuit to review the case and appeal to the ]."<ref name=DeckerOReilly/><ref name=WilsonsCircuitresp>", ''The Joseph and Valerie Wilson Legal Support Trust'', August 12, 2008, accessed August 14, 2008.</ref> Agreeing with the Bush administration, the Obama Justice Department argued the Wilsons have no legitimate grounds to sue. On the current justice department position, Sloan stated: "We are deeply disappointed that the Obama administration has failed to recognize the grievous harm that Bush White House officials inflicted on Joe and Valerie Wilson. The government's position cannot be reconciled with President Obama's oft-stated commitment to once again make government officials accountable for their actions."<ref name=WilsonAppeal> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110222030539/http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/39740 |date=February 22, 2011 }},'']'' (CREW), May 20, 2009, accessed May 22, 2009.</ref>
*: "While Novak's decision to use Plame's name begs a journalism ethics debate, releasing her name to him or any reporter may well constitute a felony.... Sunday , ''The Washington Post'' said that '''White House officials''' had contacted six Washington reporters to disclose Plame's CIA identity."


On June 21, 2009, the ] refused to hear the appeal.<ref name=AppealDenied> {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130105085910/http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2009/06/supreme-court-will-not-revive-valerie-plame-lawsuit/97233 |date=January 5, 2013 }}, '']'', June 21, 2009. Retrieved May 26, 2012.</ref>
*: Wilson told ] on ''Nightline'' that "Washington reporters told him that senior White House adviser ] said his wife was 'fair game'." Wilson "plans to give the names of the reporters to the FBI, which is conducting a full-blown investigation of the possible leak."


===House Oversight Committee hearing===
*: "'Nobody in the Bush administration called me to leak this,' Novak said, saying the information was disclosed to him while he was interviewing a senior Bush administration official.... Novak said the administration official told him in July that Wilson's trip was 'inspired by his wife,' and that the CIA confirmed her 'involvement in the mission for her husband.' ... 'They asked me not to use her name, but never indicated it would endanger her or anybody else,' he said, adding that a source at the CIA told him Plame was 'an analyst -- not a covert operator and not in charge of undercover operators.'"
On March 8, 2007, two days after the verdict in the ], Congressman ], chair of the ], 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."<ref>{{cite web |title=Plame to Testify to Congress on Leak |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-leak/plame-to-testify-to-congress-on-leak-idUSN0833270020070309 |access-date=March 31, 2022 |website=] |date=March 8, 2007}}</ref><ref name=Oversight> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070419075417/http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1205 |date=April 19, 2007 }}, online posting, ], ''oversight.house.gov'', March 16, 2007, accessed March 19, 2007.</ref>


On March 16, 2007, at these hearings about the disclosure, Waxman read a statement about Plame's CIA career that had been cleared by ] Gen. ] and the CIA, stating that she was undercover and that her employment status with the CIA was classified information prohibited from disclosure under ].
*: White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan on Karl Rove: "He wasn't involved,... The president '''knows''' he wasn't involved. ... It's simply not true."


Subsequent reports in various news accounts focused on the following parts of her testimony:
:Comment from : "Of course, the only way Shrub could know that Rove was not involved is if he already knows who was involved -- which would make him (at a minimum) an accessory after the fact."


* "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."<ref>, '']'' March 16, 2007, accessed March 19, 2007.</ref>
*: Wilson participated in a "public panel in Washington" on Thursday, August 21st, and is quoted as having said "At the end of the day, it's of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs. And trust me, when I use that name, I measure my words." See .
* 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."<ref name=Greene>Richard Allen Greene, , ], March 16, 2007, accessed March 19, 2007.</ref>
* She did not select her husband for a CIA fact-finding trip to ], 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 ] involved. I did not have the authority ."<ref name=Greene/>


===''Fair Game''===
*: Days after Wilson "publicly voiced doubts about a reported Iraqi weapons program," Wilson says he became "a target of a campaign to discourage others like him from going public.... Wilson's wife was identified by name as a covert C.I.A. operative in a by the conservative columnist Robert Novak, a '''disclosure''' that Mr. Novak has '''attributed to senior administration officials'''."
{{Main|Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House}}


Plame's husband Joseph Wilson announced on March 6, 2007, that the couple had "signed a deal with ] of ] 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.<ref name=Frei>Matt Frei, , '']'' (Washington), March 7, 2007, accessed March 18, 2007; cf. transcript of Larry King interview with Joseph C. Wilson, ] will play Valerie Plame. , '']'', ], broadcast March 6, 2007, accessed March 18, 2007.</ref> The feature film, a co-production between Weed Road's ] and ] of ] with a screenplay by ] and ] to be based in part on Valerie Wilson's ] ''Fair Game'' (contingent on CIA clearances) originally scheduled for release in August 2007, but ultimately published on October 22, 2007.<ref name=Variety>{{cite magazine|first=Michael|last=Fleming|url=https://variety.com/2007/film/markets-festivals/plame-film-in-works-at-warner-bros-2-1117960398/|title=Plame Film in Works at Warner Bros.: Studio Sets Movie about CIA Leak Scandal|magazine=]|date=March 1, 2007|access-date=March 18, 2007}}</ref>
*: When pressed, Scott McClellan told reporters: “I’m saying no one was certainly given any authority to do anything of that nature, and I’ve seen no evidence to suggest there’s any truth to it.” ... To date, Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) have called for investigations and any number of other senators have told reporters that some sort of inquiry is probably in order.


In May 2006, ''The New York Times'' reported that Valerie Wilson agreed to a $2.5 million book deal with ], a division of ]. 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."<ref name=Rich1>{{cite news|first=Motoko|last=Rich|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/05/books/05cnd-plame.html|title=Valerie Plame Gets Book Deal|newspaper=]|date=May 5, 2006|accessdate=July 15, 2006}}</ref> Subsequently, the ''New York Times'' reported that the book deal fell through and that Plame was in exclusive negotiations with ].<ref name=Rich1/> Ultimately, Simon and Schuster publicly confirmed the book deal, though not the financial terms and, at first, no set publication date.<ref name=Corn/><ref name=Italie>Hillel Italie (]), {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060720053733/http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/gossip/15032040.htm |date=July 20, 2006 }}, '']'' July 13, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006. (Free registration required.)</ref>
*: "...'''some government officials''' have noted to ''TIME'' in interviews, (as well as to syndicated columnist Robert Novak) that Wilson's wife, '''Valerie Plame''', is a CIA official who monitors the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."


], October 2016]]
*: "Mission to Niger" by Robert Novak: "Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, '''Valerie Plame''', is an Agency operative on ]. '''Two senior administration officials''' told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger.... The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him."


On May 31, 2007, various news media reported that Simon and Schuster and Valerie Wilson were suing ], ], and ], ], arguing that the CIA "is unconstitutionally interfering with the publication of her memoir, '']'', ... set to be published in October , by not allowing Plame to mention the dates that she served in the CIA."<ref name=WNBC>, '']'' (Channel 4, ]), May 31, 2007, accessed June 10, 2007.</ref><ref name="Maul">Kimberly Maul, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071222084428/http://www.thebookstandard.com/bookstandard/news/author/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003592363|date=December 22, 2007}}, '']'', May 31, 2007, accessed June 10, 2007.</ref> Judge Barbara S. Jones, of the ], in ], interpreted the issue in favor of the CIA. Therefore, the ruling stated that Plame would not be able to describe in her memoir the precise dates she had worked for the CIA. In 2009, the federal court of appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed Judge Jones's ruling.
*: Press Gaggle with ] at The National Hospital in Abuja, Nigeria: (Fleischer) "had previously obtained yellow cake from Africa. In fact, in one of the least known parts of this story, which is now, for the first time, public -- and you find this in Director Tenet's -- the official that -- lower-level official sent from the CIA to Niger to look into whether or not Saddam Hussein had sought yellow cake from Niger, Wilson, he -- and Director Tenet's statement last night states the same former official, Wilson, also said that in June 1999 a businessman approached him and insisted that the former official, Wilson, meet an Iraqi delegation to discuss expanding commercial relations between Iraq and Niger. The former official interpreted the overture as an attempt to discuss uranium sales. ... This is in Wilson's report back to the CIA. Wilson's own report, the very man who was on television saying Niger denies it, who never said anything about forged documents, reports himself that officials in Niger said that Iraq was seeking to contact officials in Niger about sales."


On October 31, 2007, in an interview with ] broadcast on '']'', Valerie Wilson discussed many aspects relating to her memoir: the ]; ''United States v. Libby,'' the civil suit which she and her husband were at the time still pursuing against Libby, Cheney, Rove, and Armitage; and other matters presented in her memoir relating to her covert work with the CIA.<ref name=RoseWilson>], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706183221/http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2007/10/31/2/a-conversation-with-valerie-plame-wilson |date=July 6, 2008 }}, ''],'' ], ] (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).</ref>
*: Wilson's Op-Ed article "What I Didn't Find in Africa" published in ''New York Times''.


] October 2008]]
===Reaction/Response to Plame "Leak"===


The film, ], was released November 5, 2010, starring ] and ]. It is based on two books, one written by Plame, and the other by her husband.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Kirk|last=Honeycutt|title=''Fair Game'' n- film review|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/node/29648 |magazine=]|date=October 10, 2010|access-date=April 20, 2020 |archive-date=November 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101113042537/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/node/29648 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The ''Washington Post'' editorial page, led by editor Fred Hiatt, a vocal supporter of the Iraq War,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a34497/fred-hiatt-would-like-to-remind-you-that-war-is-the-answer |title=The Many Wars Of Fred Hiatt: The Unique History Of One Man's Mongering |first=Charles P.|last=Pierce |date=April 20, 2015 |magazine=] |access-date=September 11, 2019}}</ref> who blamed Wilson for Plame's identity being leaked,<ref>{{cite news |title=End of an Affair |newspaper=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418031622/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/31/AR2006083101460.html |archive-date=April 18, 2023 |url-status=live |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/31/AR2006083101460.html}}</ref> described the movie as being "full of distortions—not to mention outright inventions",<ref>, at '']'', published December 3, 2010; retrieved February 5, 2017</ref> while news reporters Walter Pincus and Richard Leiby at ''The Washington Post'' disagreed, saying "The movie holds up as a thoroughly researched and essentially accurate account—albeit with caveats".<ref name="gets some things">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/04/AR2010110407989.html |title='Fair Game' gets some things about the Valerie Plame case right, some wrong|newspaper=] |first1=Walter |last1=Pincus |first2=Richard |last2=Leiby |date=November 7, 2010}}</ref>
*: "More vicious than Tricky Dick" by John Dean: "I thought I had seen political dirty tricks as foul as they could get, but I was wrong. In blowing the cover of CIA agent Valerie Plame to take political revenge on her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, for telling the truth, Bush's people have out-Nixoned Nixon's people. And my former colleagues were not amateurs by any means."


In May 2011, it was announced that Plame would write a series of spy novels with mystery writer Sarah Lovett. The first book in the series, titled ''Blowback'', was released on October 1, 2013, by Blue Rider Press, an imprint of the ].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.authorlink.com/news/item/2654/Penguin-New-Imprint-Named-Blue-Rider-Press |title=authorlink.com |access-date=April 12, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521034446/http://www.authorlink.com/news/item/2654/Penguin-New-Imprint-Named-Blue-Rider-Press |archive-date=May 21, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
:*"Regardless of whether or not a special prosecutor is selected, I believe that Ambassador Wilson and his wife -- like the DNC official once did -- should file a civil lawsuit, both to address the harm inflicted on them, and, equally important, to obtain the necessary tools (subpoena power and sworn testimony) to get to the bottom of this matter. This will not only enable them to make sure they don't merely become yesterday's news; it will give them some control over the situation."


===Anti Trump fundraiser ===
*: "White House Counsel's Memo on Leak Probe", ''New York Times'': "Text of an e-mail to White House staff Tuesday from counsel ] about the Justice Department's investigation about the leak of a CIA officer's identity."
In August 2017, Plame set up a ] fundraising page in an attempt to buy a majority interest in ] and kick U.S. President ] off the network.<ref name="sfgate-23aug2017">{{cite news|title=Former CIA agent wants to buy Twitter to kick Trump off|url=http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Valerie-Plame-Wilson-wants-to-buy-Twitter-to-kick-11952291.php|access-date=August 23, 2017|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=August 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823181721/http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Valerie-Plame-Wilson-wants-to-buy-Twitter-to-kick-11952291.php|archive-date=August 23, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="theguardian.com"> Associated Press in Washington Thursday 24 August 2017 15.50 BST</ref><ref name="usatoday.com"> Jessica Estepa, ''USA Today'', August 22, 2017</ref> She launched her campaign because she believes that Donald Trump 'emboldens white supremacists' and encourages 'violence against journalists'.<ref name="ijr.com"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923002651/http://ijr.com/the-declaration/2017/09/980185-valerie-plame-raised-88k-ban-trump-emboldens-white-supremacists-violence-journalists |date=September 23, 2017 }} by Pardes Seleh, ''Independent Law Journal'', September 9, 2017</ref>


Titled "Let's #BuyTwitter and #BanTrump", she set the campaign's goal to $1 billion; her campaign raised $88,000.<ref name="ijr.com"/>
*: "Remarks by President Bush to the Travel Pool After Meeting with Business People" in Chicago, IL:


=== Antisemitism controversy ===
:"I know of nobody -- I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action. And this investigation is a good thing.
In September 2017, Plame tweeted a link to an article from '']'' website posted by ], titled "America's Jews Are Driving America's Wars", repeating the title of the article in her tweet.<ref>{{cite news|last=Brown|first=Hayes|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hayesbrown/plame-the-jews|title=It's Been A Not-Great Day For Valerie Plame On Twitter Dot Com|work=BuzzFeed News|date=September 21, 2017|access-date=May 20, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Kirchick">{{cite news|last=Kirchick |first=James|url=https://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/245720/valerie-plames-real-blunder|title=Valerie Plame's Real Blunder|work=Tablet|date=September 25, 2017|access-date=May 20, 2019}}</ref> The article said that certain "American Jews who lack any shred of integrity" should be given a special label when appearing on television: "kind-of-like a warning label on a bottle of rat poison."<ref name="Kirchick" /> Amid criticism, Plame first defended her posts, replying on Twitter that "Many neocon hawks ARE Jewish."<ref name="Kirchick" /><ref name="thehill.com"> ''The Hill'', by Mallory Shelbourbe, 09/21/17</ref> She also said that people should "read the entire article" without "biases", writing in defense of herself after the initial backlash:<ref name="Ponnuru">{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/451633/valerie-plame-wilson-anti-semite |title=Valerie Plame Wilson, Anti-Semite |first=Ramesh |last=Ponnuru |website=] |date=September 22, 2017}}</ref> "read the entire article, just for a moment, to put aside your biases and think clearly."<ref> by Seth J. Frantzman, September 10, 2019, ''Jerusalem Post''</ref>


Within two hours, she deleted her initial post and apologized, tweeting "OK folks, look, I messed up. I skimmed this piece, zeroed in on the neocon criticism, and shared it without seeing and considering the rest. I missed gross undercurrents to this article & didn't do my homework on the platform this piece came from. Now that I see it, it's obvious. Apologies all. There is so much there that's problematic AF and I should have recognized it sooner. Thank you for pushing me to look again. I'm not perfect and make mistakes. This was a doozy. All I can do is admit them, try to be better, and read more thoroughly next time, Ugh."<ref>{{cite web |title=Former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson offers epic apology after tweeting anti-Semitic story: 'One should not tweet while moving' |website=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206205606/https://www.businessinsider.com/valerie-plame-wilson-apology-tweeting-anti-semitic-story-2017-9 |archive-date=December 6, 2022 |url-status=live |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/valerie-plame-wilson-apology-tweeting-anti-semitic-story-2017-9}}</ref> ] and Caleb Ecarma have argued that the incident followed a pattern of her posting antisemitic content, and of Plame making jokes about "rich Jews".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mediaite.com/online/ex-cia-officer-valerie-plame-apologizes-for-promoting-article-blaming-americas-jews-for-war |title=Ex-CIA Officer Valerie Plame Apologizes for Promoting Article Blaming 'America's Jews' For War |first=Caleb|last=Ecarma |date=September 21, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Ponnuru" /> She had tweeted at least eight articles from the same website before,<ref name="washingtonpost.com">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/09/22/why-people-care-about-valerie-plame-and-her-anti-semitic-tweet/ |title=Why people care about Valerie Plame and her anti-Semitic tweet |first=Callum |last=Borchers |date=September 22, 2017 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> in which she previously retweeted links to ] of 'dancing Israelis' being behind the ].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/09/22/the-other-problem-with-valerie-plames-horrible-anti-semitic-tweet/ |title=The other problem with Valerie Plame's horrible anti-Semitic tweet |first=Molly |last=Roberts |date=September 22, 2017 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>
:"And again I repeat, you know, Washington is a town where there's all kinds of allegations. You've heard much of the allegations. And if people have got solid information, please come forward with it. And that would be people inside the information who are the so-called anonymous sources, or people outside the information -- outside the administration. And we can clarify this thing very quickly if people who have got solid evidence would come forward and speak out. And I would hope they would.


===Congressional run===
:"And then we'll get to the bottom of this and move on. But I want to tell you something -- leaks of classified information are a bad thing. And we've had them -- there's too much leaking in Washington. That's just the way it is. And we've had leaks out of the administrative branch, had leaks out of the legislative branch, and out of the executive branch and the legislative branch, and I've spoken out consistently against them and I want to know who the leakers are."
{{main|2020 United States House of Representatives elections in New Mexico#District 3}}


In May 2019, Plame announced her candidacy for the ] for {{ushr|NM|3}} in the ].<ref name=Saul>Stephanie Saul, , ''New York Times'' (May 9, 2019).</ref> The seat, in northern New Mexico, was being vacated by Democratic Representative ], who ran for Senate instead.<ref name=Saul/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Jada Yuan |title=Valerie Plame, America's most famous ex-spy, finds her new identity |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/valerie-plame-americas-most-famous-ex-spy-finds-her-new-identity/2019/12/01/2d29086a-0177-11ea-8bab-0fc209e065a8_story.html |access-date=June 3, 2020|newspaper=]}}</ref> She outspent her rivals with funding from outside her district.<ref name=Medina>Jennifer Medina, , ''New York Times'' (June 3, 2020).</ref> On June 2, 2020, she was defeated in the seven-way Democratic primary election by ].<ref name=Medina/> Fernandez received 44,480 votes, Plame 25,775 votes, and ] 12,292 votes.<ref>, New Mexico Secretary of State.</ref>
*: "Heads-Up-Gate" by Wyethwire bloggers: "The first rule of scandal is that the cover-up is worse than the crime. With that in mind, we ought to be looking to see if any effort was made to prevent the CIA from requesting a Justice Department investigation. And we ought to find out who warned the White House Counsel that something was up, so that Alberto Gonzalez could warn the White House staff in his now ."


== Personal life ==
*: "The CIA leak" by Robert Novak, ''Townhall.com''.
After graduating from Penn State in 1985, Plame married Todd Sesler; the marriage ended in divorce in 1989.<ref name="VanityFair" /> In 1997, while working for the ] (CIA), Plame met former Ambassador ].<ref name="WilsonPolitics">Joseph C. Wilson, '']: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed my Wife's CIA Identity: A Diplomat's Memoir'' (2004; New York: Carroll & Graf, 2005), p. 240–242. (Additional page references appear within parentheses in the text.)</ref><ref name="Goffard" /><ref>Wilson, ''Politics of Truth'', p. 242</ref> They were married on April 3, 1998.<ref>Wilson, ''Politics of Truth'', p. 273</ref> At the time they met, Wilson related in his memoir, he was ] from his second wife Jacqueline. They ]d after 12 years of marriage so that he could marry Plame.<ref name="WilsonPolitics" /> They had two children, twins Trevor Rolph and Samantha Finnell Diana, born in 2000. Wilson and Plame divorced in 2017.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Goodman|first1=Alana|date=March 29, 2019|title=Outed CIA spy Valerie Plame and diplomat husband Joe Wilson are divorced|url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/outed-cia-spy-valerie-plame-and-diplomat-husband-joe-wilson-are-divorced|magazine=Washington Examiner|access-date=June 19, 2019}}</ref> Wilson died in 2019. Plame married Dr. ], President of ], in 2020.


Prior to the disclosure of her CIA job, the family lived in ]<ref name="VanityFair" /> After she resigned from the CIA following the disclosure of her CIA position, in January 2006, the family moved to ],<ref name="WilsonIndependent">Andrew Buncombe and ], ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830045111/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2368902.ece|date=August 30, 2008}}), '']'', March 18, 2007, accessed August 7, 2007. (Interview.)</ref><ref name="LiptakAug" /> where Plame served as a consultant to the ] until 2016. In a 2011 interview, Plame said she and Wilson had received threats while living in the D.C. metro area, and that the New Mexico location was calm.<ref>{{cite web|date=March 10, 2011|title=Valerie Plame: American values were undermined by Dick Cheney|url=http://www.metro.co.uk/news/857747-valerie-plame-american-values-were-undermined-by-dick-cheney|access-date=March 11, 2011|work=Metro |archive-date=March 20, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110320030756/http://www.metro.co.uk/news/857747-valerie-plame-american-values-were-undermined-by-dick-cheney|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*: "Probe targets White House. Bush ordered his staff to cooperate as the Justice Dept. announced a full-scale inquiry into the CIA leak. Justice left open the possibility of a special counsel] by Ron Hutcheson and Shannon McCaffrey, ''Philadelphia Inquirer'': "The developments raised the prospect of a full-blown White House scandal while Bush is sinking in job-approval polls, struggling to win international help in Iraq, and grappling with Congress over his request for $87 billion more in war-related spending."


Plame was involved in the ] of Democratic candidate ].<ref>{{cite news |last=Richman |first=J. |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/politics-government/ci_28738781/hillary-clinton-plans-five-bay-area-fundraisers |newspaper=The Mercury News |date=September 1, 2015 |title=Hillary Clinton plans four Bay Area fundraisers}}</ref>
*: "Iraq puts Cheney in harsh spotlight. Role: His broad influence on White House policy makes the low-profile vice president a high-profile target for Democrats" by Susan Baer, ''SunSpot.net'': "CIA Director ] says ] was not briefed on Wilson's conclusions. Nor has Cheney been tied to accusations that the White House punished Wilson for his role in forcing the retraction by blowing his wife's cover as a CIA operative."


== Citations ==
*: "Leak inquiry is a chink in Bush's moral armor" by Warren P. Strobel, ''Philadelphia Inquirer'': "...revelation of a Justice Department criminal investigation into whether administration officials - believed to be at the White House - leaked the name of a CIA officer to get at a Bush opponent."
{{Reflist|30em}}


== General and cited references ==
*: "Investigating Leaks," Op-Ed ''New York Times'': "Attorney General John Ashcroft has put himself and the president in a very dangerous position with his handling of the Justice Department's investigation into how Robert Novak got the name of a C.I.A. operative for publication in his syndicated column. After career lawyers conducted a preliminary investigation into the leaking of the officer's name, Mr. Ashcroft chose to proceed with a full investigation within the Justice Department. He did so despite department guidelines that would have permitted him to appoint an outsider, who would serve at Mr. Ashcroft's discretion but could make independent decisions. Instead, Mr. Ashcroft has decided to leave the investigation under the authority of the department's ] office. That office employs career lawyers who routinely investigate this sort of leak and have the security clearances to do so with dispatch."
{{refbegin|colwidth=60em}}
* . FindLaw.com, September 13, 2006.
* . '']'', September 8, 2006. Accessed June 17, 2007. {{Cite web |url=http://townhall.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?ContentGuid=4cd646c8-6131-4910-8068-92ad42629fdc |title=Audio |access-date=February 7, 2021 |archive-date=April 15, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110415040233/http://townhall.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?ContentGuid=4cd646c8-6131-4910-8068-92ad42629fdc |url-status=bot: unknown }}
* . '']'', September 1, 2006.
* ]. . '']'' (blog), July 9, 2005. Accessed September 24, 2006.
* Corn, David. . ''DavidCorn.com'' (journalist's blog), September 15, 2006. Accessed November 20, 2006. (Reply to Toensing.)
* Corn, David. . '']'' (''Capital Games'' blog), July 16, 2006. Accessed September 24, 2006.
* ]. . '']'', March 13, 2006. Accessed November 16, 2006.
* Ensor, David, et al. . '']'' on ]. ''].com'', October 1, 2003. Accessed September 24, 2006.
* Finn, Ed. '']'', September 30, 2003. Accessed November 16, 2006.
* ]. . '']'', August 1, 2006. Accessed November 13, 2006.
* Isikoff, Michael. What Karl Rove Told Time Magazine's Reporter". '']'' June 18, 2005. Accessed November 13, 2006.
* Isikoff, Michael, and ]. ''Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War''. New York: Crown, 2006. {{ISBN|0-307-34681-1}}.
* ], and Richard W. Stevenson, with David E. Sanger. {{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. '']'', July 15, 2005. Accessed November 16, 2006.
* ]. . '']'', April 6, 2005: A12.
* ]. . '']'', September 13, 2006. Accessed September 24, 2006.
* Novak, Robert. . Online posting. ''RealClearPolitics.com'' (blog), July 12, 2006. Accessed September 25, 2006.
* ], and ]. . '']'', October 4, 2003: A03.
* Smyth, Frank. . '']'' (International Freedom of Expression Exchange), June 30, 2005, updated July 1, 2005. Accessed September 24, 2006.
* ]. What Did Patrick Fitzgerald Know, and When Did He Know It?" '']'', September 15, 2006, Editorial. Accessed November 20, 2006. (Reply by Corn, "Toensing and WSJ.")
* ]. ''National Journal'', February 9, 2006. Accessed September 10, 2007.
* Waas, Murray S. '']'', April 6, 2005. Accessed September 10, 2007.
*Waas, Murray S., with research assistance by Thomas Lang. . '']'', February 12, 2004. Accessed September 25, 2006. (Web-exclusive feature article.)
* ]. ''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|978-0-9791761-0-4}}.
* . '']'', June 18, 2004.
* Wolf, Christopher. . Letter to the Editor. '']'', January 18, 2005: A16.
{{refend}}


==External links==
*: "Attorney General Is Closely Linked to Inquiry Figures" by Elisabeth Bumiller and Eric Lichtblau, ''New York Times'': "Deep political ties between top White House aides and Attorney General ] have put him into a delicate position as the Justice Department begins a full investigation into whether administration officials illegally disclosed the name of an undercover C.I.A. officer." Names of ''inquiry figures'' associated with Ashcroft are: ] and ].
{{wikiquote}}
*
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080314155507/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/cia.leak/index.html |date=March 14, 2008 |title=CNN Special Reports: CIA Leak Investigation }} compiled by ]; incl. interactive timeline of ''Main Events'' and "Key Players" (click on photo captioned "Plame").
* '''' compiled by '']'' (double-click on photo captioned "Ms. Wilson").
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070106105131/http://oversight.house.gov/investigations.asp?Issue=Disclosure+of+CIA+Agent+Identity |date=January 6, 2007 |title=Investigations: Disclosure of CIA Agent Identity }} and {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070829175419/http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1205 |date=August 29, 2007 |title=Disclosure of CIA Agent Identity: Hearing Examines Exposure of Covert CIA Agent Valerie Plame Wilson's Identity }}. ] (Oversight Committee). March 16, 2007. Accessed October 22, 2007. Hyperlinked menu with streaming video of hearing and "Documents and Links" (box), featuring documents chart, {{cite web |url= http://oversight.house.gov/Documents/20070316173308-19288.pdf |title= Disclosures of Valerie Plame Wilson's Classified CIA Employment |access-date= February 8, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090826112007/http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20070316173308-19288.pdf |archive-date= August 26, 2009 |url-status=dead }}&nbsp;{{small|(35.9&nbsp;])}}.
* , ].
* ] Democratic Policy Committee Hearing, ] Government Reform Committee Minority, on the National Security Consequences of Disclosing the Identity of a Covert Intelligence Officer", with link to "Hearing Transcript". July 22, 2005. Accessed November 5, 2010.
* '''' at '']''.
*
* , Associated Press, 11/4/10.


{{Authority control}}
*: "FBI Narrowing List of CIA Leak Suspects" by Curt Anderson, AP.

*: "] Creates Team to Investigate CIA Leaks", AP: "Overseeing the investigation is ], a 30-year career prosecutor who has headed the counterespionage section at the Justice Department since 2002."

*: "Outside Probe of Leaks Is Favored" by Dana Milbank and Mike Allen, ''Washington Post'': "Confronted with little public support for the White House view that the investigation should be handled by the Justice Department, Bush aides began yesterday to adjust their response to the expanding probe. They reined in earlier, broad portrayals of innocence in favor of more technical arguments that it is possible the disclosure was made without knowledge that a covert operative was being exposed and therefore might not have been a crime.... At the same time, administration allies outside the White House stepped up a counteroffensive that seeks to discredit the administration's main accuser, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, whose wife was named as a CIA operative. ] Chairman ] gave a string of television interviews with the three-part message that the Justice Department is investigating, that the White House is fully cooperating and that Wilson has a political agenda and has made 'rash statements'."

*: "Why the Federal Conspiracy and Fraud Statutes May Apply Here" by ].

*: "The Serious Implications Of President Bush's Hiring A Personal Outside Counsel For The Valerie Plame Investigation" by ].

==External links==
* .
* - hoo News
* - Disinfopedia article
*


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Latest revision as of 23:50, 19 December 2024

American writer, spy novelist and former CIA officer (born 1963) "Valerie Flame" redirects here. For the Childrens Hospital character, see Childrens Hospital#Cast and characters.

Valerie Plame
Plame at the 2014 Texas Book Festival
BornValerie Elise Plame
(1963-08-13) August 13, 1963 (age 61)
Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.
Other namesValerie Plame Wilson
Education
Occupations
Political partyDemocratic
Spouses
Todd Sesler ​ ​(m. 1987; div. 1989)
Joseph C. Wilson ​ ​(m. 1998; div. 2017)
Joseph Shepard ​(m. 2020)
Children2
Websitevalerieplame.com

Valerie Elise Plame (born August 13, 1963) is an American writer, spy, novelist, and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. As the subject of the 2003 Plame affair, also known as the CIA leak scandal, Plame's identity as a CIA officer was leaked to and subsequently published by Robert Novak of The Washington Post. She described this period and the media firestorm that ensued as "mortifying, and I think I was in shock for a couple years".

In the aftermath of the scandal, Richard Armitage in the U.S. Department of State was identified as one source of the information, and Scooter Libby, Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of lying to investigators. After a failed appeal, President George W. Bush commuted Libby's sentence and in 2018, President Donald Trump pardoned him. The individual responsible for leaking the information was never charged.

In collaboration with a ghostwriter, Plame wrote a memoir detailing her career and the events leading up to her resignation from the CIA. She has subsequently written and published at least two spy novels. A 2010 biographical feature film, Fair Game, was produced based on memoirs by her and her husband.

Plame was an unsuccessful candidate for New Mexico's 3rd congressional district in 2020, placing second behind Teresa Leger Fernandez in the June 2, 2020, primary.

Early life and education

Valerie Elise Plame was born on August 13, 1963, on Elmendorf Air Force Base, in Anchorage, Alaska, to Diane (née McClintock) and Samuel Plame III. Plame says that her paternal grandfather was Jewish, the son of a rabbi who emigrated from Ukraine; the original family surname was "Plamevotski". The rest of Plame's family was Protestant (the religion in which Plame was raised); she was unaware, until she was an adult, that her grandfather was Jewish.

She graduated in 1981 from Lower Moreland High School, in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, and in 1985 from Pennsylvania State University, with a B.A. in advertising. While attending Penn State, she joined Pi Beta Phi sorority and worked for the business division of the Daily Collegian student newspaper.

Career

Presenting a lecture on her book Fair Game, at Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island, on December 4, 2007.

After graduating from college and moving to Washington, D.C., Plame 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. Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald affirmed that Plame "was a CIA officer from January 1, 2002, forward" and that "her association with the CIA was classified at that time through July 2003." Details about Plame's professional career are still classified, but it is documented that she worked for the CIA in a non-official cover (or NOC) capacity relating to counter-proliferation.

Plame served the CIA at times as a non-official cover, operating in Athens and Brussels. While using her own name, "Valerie Plame", her assignments required posing in various professional roles in order to gather intelligence more effectively. Two of her covers include serving as a junior consular officer in the early 1990s in Athens and then later as 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. 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. The matter of whether she actually had covert status is disputed. After the Persian 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 degree, 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.

During this time, part of her work concerned the determination of the use of aluminum tubes purchased by Iraq. 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. David Corn and Michael Isikoff argued that the undercover work being done by Plame and her CIA colleagues in the Directorate of Central Intelligence Nonproliferation Center strongly contradicted such a claim.

"Plamegate"

Main articles: Plame affair, Plame affair grand jury investigation, and Plame affair criminal investigation

On July 14, 2003, Robert Novak, a journalist for The Washington Post, used information obtained from Richard Armitage, Karl Rove, and Scooter Libby, to reveal Plame's identity as a CIA operative in his column. Legal documents published in the course of the CIA leak grand jury investigation, United States v. Libby, and Congressional investigations, established her classified employment as a covert officer for the CIA at the time when Novak's column was published in July 2003.

In his press conference on October 28, 2005, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald explained 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 then high-ranking Bush Administration official Scooter Libby as it pertained to her.

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 Judith Miller, reporter for The New York Times, 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 ." 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." 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. 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." President Bush had previously indicated that he would fire whoever had outed Plame.

A court filing by Libby's defense team argued that Plame was not foremost in 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 that he was told to reveal Plame's identity. 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. Fitzgerald ultimately decided against pressing charges against Rove.

The five-count indictment of Libby included perjury (two counts), obstruction of justice (one count), and making false statements to federal investigators (two counts). There was, however, no count for disclosing classified information, i.e., Plame's status as a CIA operative.

Libby trial

Main article: United States v. Libby See also: Joseph C. Wilson § Reactions to the Libby trial and commutation

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 Plame'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." In a subsequent press conference, on July 12, 2007, Bush noted, "...the Scooter Libby decision was, I thought, a fair and balanced decision." 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. President Donald Trump pardoned Libby on April 13, 2018.

Wilson v. Cheney

Main article: Wilson v. Libby

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 (to whom they later added Richard Armitage) for their alleged role in the public disclosure of Valerie Wilson's classified CIA status. Judge John D. Bates dismissed the Wilsons' lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds on July 19, 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. Melanie Sloan, of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which represents the Wilsons, said "the group will request the full D.C. Circuit to review the case and appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court." Agreeing with the Bush administration, the Obama Justice Department argued the Wilsons have no legitimate grounds to sue. On the current justice department position, Sloan stated: "We are deeply disappointed that the Obama administration has failed to recognize the grievous harm that Bush White House officials inflicted on Joe and Valerie Wilson. The government's position cannot be reconciled with President Obama's oft-stated commitment to once again make government officials accountable for their actions."

On June 21, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal.

House Oversight Committee hearing

On March 8, 2007, two days after the verdict in the Libby trial, Congressman Henry Waxman, chair of the United States House Committee on Oversight and 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."

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.

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."
  • 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."
  • 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

Main article: Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House

Plame's husband Joseph Wilson announced on March 6, 2007, that the couple 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. 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.

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." Subsequently, the New York Times reported that the book deal fell through and that Plame was in exclusive negotiations with Simon & Schuster. Ultimately, Simon and Schuster publicly confirmed the book deal, though not the financial terms and, at first, no set publication date.

Valerie Plame and journalist Nina Burleigh, October 2016

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, Fair Game, ... set to be published in October , by not allowing Plame to mention the dates that she served in the CIA." Judge Barbara S. Jones, of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, in Manhattan, interpreted the issue in favor of the CIA. Therefore, the ruling stated that Plame would not be able to describe in her memoir the precise dates she had worked for the CIA. In 2009, the federal court of appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed Judge Jones's ruling.

On October 31, 2007, in an interview with Charlie Rose broadcast on The Charlie Rose Show, Valerie Wilson 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 were at the time still pursuing against Libby, Cheney, Rove, and Armitage; and other matters presented in her memoir relating to her covert work with the CIA.

Valerie Plame at Moravian College October 2008

The film, Fair Game, was released November 5, 2010, starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. It is based on two books, one written by Plame, and the other by her husband. The Washington Post editorial page, led by editor Fred Hiatt, a vocal supporter of the Iraq War, who blamed Wilson for Plame's identity being leaked, described the movie as being "full of distortions—not to mention outright inventions", while news reporters Walter Pincus and Richard Leiby at The Washington Post disagreed, saying "The movie holds up as a thoroughly researched and essentially accurate account—albeit with caveats".

In May 2011, it was announced that Plame would write a series of spy novels with mystery writer Sarah Lovett. The first book in the series, titled Blowback, was released on October 1, 2013, by Blue Rider Press, an imprint of the Penguin Group.

Anti Trump fundraiser

In August 2017, Plame set up a GoFundMe fundraising page in an attempt to buy a majority interest in Twitter and kick U.S. President Donald Trump off the network. She launched her campaign because she believes that Donald Trump 'emboldens white supremacists' and encourages 'violence against journalists'.

Titled "Let's #BuyTwitter and #BanTrump", she set the campaign's goal to $1 billion; her campaign raised $88,000.

Antisemitism controversy

In September 2017, Plame tweeted a link to an article from The Unz Review website posted by Philip Giraldi, titled "America's Jews Are Driving America's Wars", repeating the title of the article in her tweet. The article said that certain "American Jews who lack any shred of integrity" should be given a special label when appearing on television: "kind-of-like a warning label on a bottle of rat poison." Amid criticism, Plame first defended her posts, replying on Twitter that "Many neocon hawks ARE Jewish." She also said that people should "read the entire article" without "biases", writing in defense of herself after the initial backlash: "read the entire article, just for a moment, to put aside your biases and think clearly."

Within two hours, she deleted her initial post and apologized, tweeting "OK folks, look, I messed up. I skimmed this piece, zeroed in on the neocon criticism, and shared it without seeing and considering the rest. I missed gross undercurrents to this article & didn't do my homework on the platform this piece came from. Now that I see it, it's obvious. Apologies all. There is so much there that's problematic AF and I should have recognized it sooner. Thank you for pushing me to look again. I'm not perfect and make mistakes. This was a doozy. All I can do is admit them, try to be better, and read more thoroughly next time, Ugh." Ramesh Ponnuru and Caleb Ecarma have argued that the incident followed a pattern of her posting antisemitic content, and of Plame making jokes about "rich Jews". She had tweeted at least eight articles from the same website before, in which she previously retweeted links to conspiracy theories of 'dancing Israelis' being behind the 9/11 attacks.

Congressional run

Main article: 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in New Mexico § District 3

In May 2019, Plame announced her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives for New Mexico's 3rd congressional district in the 2020 elections. The seat, in northern New Mexico, was being vacated by Democratic Representative Ben Ray Luján, who ran for Senate instead. She outspent her rivals with funding from outside her district. On June 2, 2020, she was defeated in the seven-way Democratic primary election by Teresa Leger Fernandez. Fernandez received 44,480 votes, Plame 25,775 votes, and Joseph L. Sanchez 12,292 votes.

Personal life

After graduating from Penn State in 1985, Plame married Todd Sesler; the marriage ended in divorce in 1989. In 1997, while working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Plame met former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson. They were married on April 3, 1998. At the time they met, Wilson related in his memoir, he was separated from his second wife Jacqueline. They divorced after 12 years of marriage so that he could marry Plame. They had two children, twins Trevor Rolph and Samantha Finnell Diana, born in 2000. Wilson and Plame divorced in 2017. Wilson died in 2019. Plame married Dr. Joseph Shepard, President of Western New Mexico University, in 2020.

Prior to the disclosure of her CIA job, the family lived in the Palisades, Washington, D.C. After she resigned from the CIA following the disclosure of her CIA position, in January 2006, the family moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Plame served as a consultant to the Santa Fe Institute until 2016. In a 2011 interview, Plame said she and Wilson had received threats while living in the D.C. metro area, and that the New Mexico location was calm.

Plame was involved in the 2016 presidential campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

Citations

  1. Eyewitness History, "Former CIA Agent Valerie Plame Discusses Bush Administration's Identity Leak and Aftermath, Spying & Espionage"
  2. Associated Press, "The Real Valerie Plame" (Archived January 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine), reposted in Editor and Publisher, May 30, 2005, accessed August 12, 2007.
  3. Wilson, Valerie Plame (2007). Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House. Simon & Schuster. p. 314. ISBN 9781416583363.
  4. Wilson, pp. 173–174.
  5. Spivak, Rachel (October 9, 2003). "CIA Agent Linked to Collegian". The Daily Collegian Online. Archived from the original on May 25, 2011.
  6. ^ Goffard, Christopher (August 8, 2005). "Valerie Plame: Smart, Private, 'Waltons' Fan". St. Petersburg Times. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2008 – via tampabay.com.
  7. ^ Ward, Vicky (January 2004). "Double Exposure". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on April 6, 2008. Alt URL
  8. "Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House".
  9. Former Spy Accused Of Anti-Semitism Eyeing Senate Run March 29, 2019, By Aiden Pink, The Forward
  10. ^ Liptak, Adam (August 3, 2007). "Judge Backs C.I.A. in Suit On Memoir". The New York Times. Retrieved March 23, 2008.
  11. ^ "Transcript of Special Counsel Fitzgerald's Press Conference", The Washington Post, October 28, 2005, accessed July 15, 2006.
  12. Kane, Muriel; Edwards, Dave (October 20, 2007). "CBS confirms 2006 Raw Story scoop: Plame's job was to keep nukes from Iran". Raw Story. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved October 22, 2007.
  13. Patrick Fitzgerald, "August 27, 2004 Affidavit 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.
  14. "Unclassified Summary of Valerie Wilson's CIA Employment and Cover History" (PDF). (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.
  15. "Valerie Plame, Covert After All". Salon. May 30, 2007. Retrieved August 12, 2007.
  16. Bumiller, Elisabeth (October 5, 2003). "Debating a Leak: The Director: C.I.A. Chief Is Caught in Middle by Leak Inquiry". The New York Times.
  17. Larry C. Johnson, "The Big Lie about Valerie Plame" (Archived January 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine), 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.)
  18. Duffy, Michael; Burger, Timothy J. (October 19, 2003). "NOC. Who's There? A Special Kind of Agent". Time. Archived from the original on October 22, 2007. Retrieved September 25, 2006.
  19. Leiby, Richard; Priest, Dana (October 8, 2003). "The Spy Next Door: Valerie Wilson, Ideal Mom, Was Also the Ideal Cover". The Washington Post. p. A01. Archived from the original on August 10, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2006.
  20. Kuhn, Carolyn (January 31, 2007). "Libby Trial: Plame, Brewster, Ellmann, Edwards, Dennehy, Jennings: Not Secret?". dc.indymedia.org. Archived from the original on October 22, 2007. Retrieved May 5, 2007.
  21. "Novak: 'No great crime' with leak" Archived November 16, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Wednesday, October 1, 2003, CNN
  22. Crewdson, John (March 11, 2006). "Plame's identity, if truly a secret, was thinly veiled". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on November 15, 2007. Retrieved September 25, 2006.
  23. Jones, Ishmael (2008). The Human Factor: Inside the CIA's Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture. Encounter Books. p. 255. ASIN B003XU7IF4.
  24. ^ David 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.
  25. Attachment A: Archived October 3, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Unclassified Report to Congress on the Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions, July 1 Through 31 December 200, Office of the Directorate of Central Intelligence (ODCI), CIA, Dec. 2002, accessed October 27, 2006.
  26. Unclassified Report to Congress: (Archived September 30, 2006, at the Wayback Machine) on the Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions, January 1 Through June 30, 2002, Office of the Directorate of Central Intelligence (ODCI), CIA, June 2002, accessed October 27, 2006.
  27. ^ Seidman, Joel (May 29, 2007). "Plame Was 'covert' Agent at Time of Name Leak: Newly Released Unclassified Document Details CIA Employment". NBC News. Retrieved August 10, 2007.
  28. Moran, Christopher (2015). Company Confessions: Secrets, Memoirs, and the CIA. New York City: Thomas Dunne Books. pp. 266–7. ISBN 978-1250047137. The fallout was huge. Novak's column effectively ended Plame's CIA career. With her cover blown, she eventually resigned in December 2005
  29. "Statement of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Chairman" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 25, 2009. (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, United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, oversight.house.gov, March 16, 2007: 2, accessed March 19, 2007
  30. "Investigations: Disclosure of CIA Agent Identity" Archived August 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine and "Disclosure of CIA Agent Identity: Archived April 19, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Hearing Examines Exposure of Covert CIA Agent Valerie Plame Wilson's Identity", United States House Committee on Oversight and 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 "Disclosures of Valerie Plame Wilson's Classified CIA Employment" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 26, 2009. Retrieved February 8, 2016. (35.9 KiB).)
  31. "U.S. vs. I. Lewis Libby" (PDF). November 19, 2010. (200 KiB), as posted online in The Smoking Gun (blog), April 5, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006.
  32. ^ Michael Isikoff, "The Leaker in Chief?" Newsweek, April 4, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006.
  33. "Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction", fas.org (blog), accessed July 15, 2006.
  34. David E. Sanger, "Special Prosecutor Links White House to CIA Leak", San Francisco Gate (blog), April 11, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006.
  35. "'Scooter' Won't Play Plame Blame Game", New York Post, April 14, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006.
  36. Don Gonyea, Rove Won't Be Charged in CIA Leak Case, NPR, Morning Edition (June 13, 2006).
  37. Grant of Executive Clemency
  38. Statement by the President on Executive Clemency for Lewis Libby
  39. Press Conference by the President, July 12, 2007, accessed August 11, 2007.
  40. Liptak, Kevin (April 13, 2018). "Trump pardons ex-Cheney aide Scooter Libby". CNN. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  41. "Armitage Added to Plame Law Suit", CBS News, September 13, 2006, accessed September 25, 2006; includes PDF. Cf. Amended complaint at FindLaw.com.
  42. Proskauer Rose LLP, "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. "Lame Plame Game Flames Out" (PDF). (41.8 KiB), rpt. in How Appealing (blog), July 13, 2006, accessed July 15. 2006.
  43. Associated Press, "Valerie Plame's Lawsuit Dismissed", USA Today, July 19, 2007, accessed July 19, 2007.
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General and cited references

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