Fueling the fire...

[ziggytrix]

Originally Posted by KevinTheOmnivore

You can't focus on the gravity of a CIA "agent" being outed, b/c from what I gather, she was basically like a research assistant at the agency.

That is disputed by everyone who isn't in (goose)step with Republican talking points.

Novak indicated that he had used the term "operative" loosely, and had not intended it to identify Plame as an undercover agent. Novak's initial column identified Plame as "an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction." He has since claimed that he believed Plame was merely an analyst at the CIA, not a covert operative —the difference being that analysts are not undercover, so identifying them is not a crime. Critics of Novak's defence argue that after decades as a Washington reporter, Novak was well aware of the difference and would be unlikely to make such a mistake. A search of the Lexis Nexis database for the terms "CIA operative" and "agency operative" showed Novak had correctly used the terms to describe covert CIA employees, every single time they appear in his articles, including the Plame article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Plame

A few of my classmates, and Valerie was one of these, became a non-official cover officer. That meant she agreed to operate overseas without the protection of a diplomatic passport. If caught in that status she would have been executed.

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/7/13/04720/9340