# Valerie Plame

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Valerie Plame," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/valerie-plame/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*Covert CIA case officer whose identity was publicly outed by the Bush administration in retaliation for her husband, former U.S. ambassador to Niger Joseph Wilson, publishing a New York Times op-ed debunking the administration's claim that Iraq had attempted to purchase yellowcake uranium from Niger. Per John Kiriakou, Plame's CIA career ended on the day her cover was blown — she could never travel overseas under cover again; no one was prosecuted for the leak.*

- **CIA role:** Covert case officer
- **Husband:** Joseph Wilson, former U.S. Ambassador to Niger
- **Outed by:** Bush administration, via syndicated columnist Robert Novak, after Joseph Wilson debunked the Yellowcake Niger claim in a New York Times op-ed
- **Per Kiriakou:** Her career was destroyed the day her cover was blown — could never travel overseas under cover again
- **Prosecuted for the leak:** No one; Scooter Libby was prosecuted only for lying about the leak after the fact

**Valerie Plame** was a covert [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) case officer whose identity was publicly outed by the Bush administration in 2003 in retaliation for her husband [Joseph Wilson](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/joe-wilson) publicly debunking the administration's [Yellowcake Niger forgery](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/yellowcake-niger-forgery) claim. Per [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou), her career was effectively destroyed the day her cover was blown.[1][2]

## The retaliation chain

Kiriakou's account: after Wilson flew to Niger at CIA request to investigate the administration's yellowcake claim and concluded — and then published in the *New York Times* — that no such Iraqi approach to Niger had occurred, *"Dick Cheney was so enraged that they would call him on the carpet like this that he had the deputy secretary of state leak Valerie Plame's name to a syndicated columnist, Novak, who said, 'Joe Wilson — nobody knows Joe Wilson — Joe Wilson's wife works for the CIA, and the CIA doesn't want to fight Iraq so they're covered up for the Iraqis.'"*[2][3]

## Career-ending effect

Per Kiriakou: *"Now Valerie Plame can never travel again. She can never take an overseas assignment ever again. She's been outed in the media, and so her career is done. Just like that. They did it on purpose. Nobody was ever prosecuted for it. Scooter Libby was prosecuted for lying about it after the fact, but nobody was ever prosecuted for leaking her name."*[3][4]

## See also

- [Joseph Wilson](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/joe-wilson)
- [Yellowcake Niger forgery](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/yellowcake-niger-forgery)
- [Leon Panetta](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/leon-panetta) — Kiriakou's go-to example of another senior official who leaked covert CIA names without prosecution

## See also

- [Joseph Wilson](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/joe-wilson)
- [Yellowcake Niger forgery](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/yellowcake-niger-forgery)
- [Leon Panetta](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/leon-panetta)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. CIA Spy on 9/11, Enhanced Interrogation, AI, Jeffrey Epstein | John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2023-11-19), at 1:41:21. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMg7-QfL10&t=6081s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-11-19-dalton-fischer-kiriakou-part-2/
2. CIA Spy on 9/11, Enhanced Interrogation, AI, Jeffrey Epstein | John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2023-11-19), at 1:43:32. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMg7-QfL10&t=6212s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-11-19-dalton-fischer-kiriakou-part-2/
3. CIA Spy on 9/11, Enhanced Interrogation, AI, Jeffrey Epstein | John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2023-11-19), at 1:44:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMg7-QfL10&t=6243s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-11-19-dalton-fischer-kiriakou-part-2/
4. CIA Spy on 9/11, Enhanced Interrogation, AI, Jeffrey Epstein | John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2023-11-19), at 1:44:33. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMg7-QfL10&t=6273s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-11-19-dalton-fischer-kiriakou-part-2/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/valerie-plame/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt