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The Plame Game

Sweetness & Light speculates that it "was almost certainly Mr. Joseph C. Wilson IV who first 'outed' his wife as a CIA officer." And they go on to mention that Joe Wilson probably did so "in early May 2003 after meeting with top level Democrats and around the time he began to work for the John Kerry for President campaign."

It intrigues me that I haven't seen anyone take this to the next, logical progression and state that it was Valerie Plame, herself, who inappropriately revealed her Agency status (if any). Last Friday's Washington Post has a fairly good indicator on who first screwed up, which is about 10 people removed from Scooter Libby:

When [Plame] met Wilson at a Washington reception in 1997, "she described herself as an energy executive living in Brussels," he later wrote in his book. Eventually, Plame revealed to Wilson -- who held a security clearance as political adviser to the European Command -- that she was a spy, Wilson wrote. He said his only question was: "Is your real name Valerie?"

(Emphasis mine) Ha ha ha. Amusing anecdote, to be sure. But exactly when did it become appropriate for an operative of Plame's alleged status to reveal the nature of her work to her boyfriend? The red herring of Wilson's nebulous "security clearance" most likely didn't give him the right to know about Plame's alleged status, unless our nation is making it routine policy to inform trench-dwelling political advisers the whereabouts and nature of our most secret non-official cover operatives.

If Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald wants to bring charges against someone, why not start with the leaky, publicity-seeking source: Valerie Plame?