United States Senate Intelligence Committee will conduct hearings on the use of cover to protect the identities of intelligence operatives. The use of cover to protect the identities of intelligence operatives has come under scrutiny during the investigation of the disclosure of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Wilson. A special prosecutor is investigating who illegally leaked Valerie Wilson's status and lied to cover up the leak.
Valerie Wilson worked under cover for the Central Intelligence Agency for 18 years on weapons of mass destruction. Valerie Wilson was made public first and leaked in "Mission to Niger" by Robert Novak on Monday, July 14, 2003. Robert Novak used Valerie Wilson's maiden name, Valerie Plame, and attributed his information to two senior administration officials. Two senior administration officials, Karl Rove: President Political Adviser and Lewis Libby Jr.: Vice President Chief of Staff, have denied being the source of the leak.
Certain senior administration officials and others have minimized the significance of the leak of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Wilson, noting her work at the Central Intelligence Agency and that she did not have an in depth cover. Valerie Wilson's purported employer, a shell company created by the Central Intelligence Agency, was little more than a post office box in Boston, Massachusetts. They have also questioned whether the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 applied to Valerie Wilson.
This leak and any leak has put lives at risk and jeopardized intelligence.
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