Plame affair

Plame affair
Timeline
People
Criminal investigation
Context

The Plame affair (also known as the CIA leak scandal and Plamegate) was a political scandal that revolved around journalist Robert Novak's public identification of Valerie Plame as a covert Central Intelligence Agency officer in 2003.[1][2][3]

In 2002, Plame wrote a memo to her superiors in which she expressed hesitation in recommending her husband, former diplomat Joseph C. Wilson, to the CIA for a mission to Niger to investigate claims that Iraq had arranged to purchase and import uranium from the country, but stated that he "may be in a position to assist".[4] After President George W. Bush stated that "Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa" during the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Wilson published a July 2003 op-ed in The New York Times stating his doubts during the mission that any such transaction with Iraq had taken place.[5]

A week after Wilson's op-ed was published, Novak published a column in The Washington Post which mentioned claims from "two senior administration officials" that Plame had been the one to suggest sending her husband. Novak had learned of Plame's employment, which was classified information, from State Department official Richard Armitage.[2] David Corn and others suggested that Armitage and other officials had leaked the information as political retribution for Wilson's article.

The scandal led to a criminal investigation; no one was charged for the leak itself. Scooter Libby was convicted of lying to investigators. His prison sentence was ultimately commuted by President Bush, and he was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2018.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference armitageny was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Hayden, Michael (June 1, 2007). "Transcript of General Hayden's Interview with WTOP". CIA.gov (Interview). Interviewed by J.J. Green. Archived from the original on January 9, 2008.
  3. ^ Seidman, Joel (May 29, 2007). "Plame Was 'covert' Agent At Time of Name Leak". NBC News. Retrieved June 10, 2007.
  4. ^ Timmerman, Kenneth R. (November 6, 2007). Shadow Warriors: The Untold Story of Traitors, Saboteurs, and the Party of Surrender. Crown Publishing Group. p. 354. ISBN 9780307407351. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  5. ^ Wilson, Joseph C., 4th (July 6, 2003). "Opinion: What I Didn't Find in Africa". The New York Times. Retrieved June 10, 2007.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)