For all the BushCo apologists who like to trivialize Plame's outing...
• Plame Wilson: Leak of CIA identity jeopardized, destroyed networks of agents
• Before leak, husband Joe Wilson investigated, contested a justification for Iraq war
• GOP congressman: It's "more like a CIA problem than a White House problem"
• Plame Wilson: Perjury case against ex-Cheney aide shows leak "purely political"
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Valerie Plame Wilson told Congress Friday the leak of her identity as a CIA covert operative "has jeopardized and even destroyed entire networks of foreign agents."
For the first time since the 2003 leak, the central figure of the resulting scandal revealed her side of events that led to the conviction this month of a former vice presidential aide.
She told a House committee that Bush administration officials had "carelessly and recklessly" released her status as a CIA employee, which was first reported by columnist Robert Novak. (Watch Plame Wilson describe how she felt like she'd been "hit in the gut" Video)
"I felt like I had been hit in the gut," Plame Wilson told the panel.
Novak's column destroyed her position and classified status, she told the committee.
The disclosure also damaged U.S. intelligence efforts, she said. "If our government cannot even protect my identity, future foreign agents who might consider working with the Central Intelligence Agency in providing needed intelligence would think twice."
Plame Wilson testified her work involved gathering intelligence on weapons of mass destruction.
'A CIA problem'
The ranking Republican on the committee, Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, suggested that it wasn't clear that Plame Wilson's role was classified at the time.
"No process can be adopted to protect classified information that no one knows is classified, just as no one can be prosecuted for unauthorized disclosure of information that no one ever said was protected," Davis said. "So this looks to me more like a CIA problem than a White House problem."
Plame Wilson rejected claims that her role at the CIA not covert when her identity was leaked.
She said she had conducted secret overseas missions within the past five years, and that much information about her career remains classified. (Read how Plame Wilson said she worked on secret missions during her time as an operative).
(more)
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/...eak/index.html
