First: The CIA sent her husband, former Ambassador Joseph 
    Wilson, to Niger on a sensitive mission regarding WMD. He 
    was to determine whether Iraq had attempted to purchase 
    yellowcake, an essential ingredient for nonconventional 
    weapons. However, it was Ms. Plame, not Mr. Wilson, who 
    was the WMD expert. Moreover, Mr. Wilson had no 
    intelligence background, was never a senior person in 
    Niger when he was in the State Department, and was 
    opposed to the administration's Iraq policy. The 
    assignment was given, according to the Senate 
    Intelligence Committee, at Ms. Plame's suggestion.

    Second: Mr. Wilson was not required to sign a 
    confidentiality agreement, a mandatory act for the rest 
    of us who either carry out any similar CIA assignment or 
    who represent CIA clients.

    Third: When he returned from Niger, Mr. Wilson was not 
    required to write a report, but rather merely to provide 
    an oral briefing. That information was not sent to the 
    White House. If this mission to Niger were so important, 
    wouldn't a competent intelligence agency want a 
    thoughtful written assessment from the "missionary," if 
    for no other reason than to establish a record to refute 
    any subsequent misrepresentation of that assessment? 
    Because it was the vice president who initially inquired 
    about Niger and the yellowcake (although he had nothing 
    to do with Mr. Wilson being sent), it is curious that 
    neither his office nor the president's were privy to the 
    fruits of Mr. Wilson's oral report.

    Fourth: Although Mr. Wilson did not have to write even 
    one word for the agency that sent him on the mission at 
    taxpayer's expense, over a year later he was permitted to 
    tell all about this sensitive assignment in the New York 
    Times. For the rest of us, writing about such an 
    assignment would mean we'd have to bring our proposed op-ed
    before the CIA's Prepublication Review Board and spend 
    countless hours arguing over every word to be published. 
    Congressional oversight committees should want to know 
    who at the CIA permitted the publication of the article, 
    which, it has been reported, did not jibe with the thrust 
    of Mr. Wilson's oral briefing. For starters, if the piece 
    had been properly vetted at the CIA, someone should have 
    known that the agency never briefed the vice president on 
    the trip, as claimed by Mr. Wilson in his op-ed.

    Fifth: More important than the inaccuracies is the fact 
    that, if the CIA truly, truly, truly had wanted Ms. 
    Plame's identity to be secret, it never would have 
    permitted her spouse to write the op-ed. Did no one at 
    Langley think that her identity could be compromised if 
    her spouse wrote a piece discussing a foreign mission 
    about a volatile political issue that focused on her 
    expertise? The obvious question a sophisticated 
    journalist such as Mr. Novak asked after "Why did the CIA 
    send Wilson?" was "Who is Wilson?" After being told by a 
    still-unnamed administration source that Mr. Wilson's
    "wife" suggested him for the assignment, Mr. Novak went 
    to Who's Who, which reveals "Valerie Plame" as Mr. 
    Wilson's spouse.

    Sixth: CIA incompetence did not end there. When Mr. Novak 
    called the agency to verify Ms. Plame's employment, it 
    not only did so, but failed to go beyond the perfunctory 
    request not to publish. Every experienced Washington 
    journalist knows that when the CIA really does not want 
    something public, there are serious requests from the 
    top, usually the director. Only the press office talked 
    to Mr. Novak.

    Seventh: Although high-ranking Justice Department officials
    are prohibited from political activity, the CIA had no 
    problem permitting its deep cover or classified employee 
    from making political contributions under the name
    "Wilson, Valerie E.," information publicly available at 
    the FEC. 

    The CIA conduct in this matter is either a brilliant 
    covert action against the White House or inept 
    intelligence tradecraft. It is up to Congress to decide 
    which.