Nom de Plame

Once again, it appears that Robert Novak is trying to wriggle out of his culpability for disclosing that Valerie Plame was Mr. Wilson's husband and also a covert CIA operative. He says Valerie Plame was listed as Mr. Wilson's wife in Who's Who in America.

The aforementioned tome, however, did not mention Ms. Plame was a spy. And it is highly unlikely that anyone Ms. Plame dealt with on her foreign assignments would have randomly perused Ambassador Wilson's entry in Who's Who on the off chance that she might be his third wife. No doubt her maiden name was also inscribed somewhere in local marriage records. But that was never the point. Novak's crime was not doing detective work; it was shouting out what he had uncovered to the world.

You should read this profile of the Wilsons taken from Vanity Faire. Valerie's friends did not know she worked for the CIA. She had been trained in multiple languages and had demonstrated "considerable prowess" wielding an AK-47. It is a travesty that her anonymity has been shattered, and real damage has been done to her career. It is to her credit, I think, that she has thusfar chosen to retain as much of her privacy as she can.