First Outing of Valerie Plame

AP:

Despite Ambassador Joe Wilson's proclamations to the contrary, the Washington Post editorial by Robert Novak in June, 2003, was not the first public disclosure of his wife's role in undercover operations.While recent allegations of Wilson's own loose lips in the Foxnews green room to two retired military officers has also made recent headlines, AP has learned that Ms. Plame played a key role in the first outing of both herself and the "cover" corporation that she worked for.

Ms. Plame wrote a screen play that was turned into a movie in the early 1980's under the psuedonym "Emmit Fitzhume." The movie included disclosure of CIA insertion operations, selection of operatives, and the name of an until then CIA run agency called the "Ace Tomato Corporation." However, the credits to the movie include her name as the "CIA technical advisor," and her actual role was played by Donna Dixon, a role that used her name.

While Ms. Plame had her lead character use her pseudonym for the screenplay, her part in the operation used the cover of a Red Cross Nurse working in the mountains of Pakistan along the Afghanistan border. Red Cross officials launched an investigation and broke ties with the CIA after the movie to prevent the appearance of impartiality. Plame also drew criticism from the CIA for releasing information about common sexual practices of agents on assignment.

Ms. Plame has said that the screenplay was vetted by the CIA prior to her submission to Warner Brothers films.

The movie, which was titled Spies like Us, nearly ended the presidency of Ronald Reagan in 1985 due to the disclosure of rogue military officers trying to launch a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Additionally, the CIA was forced to changed the name of the under cover corporation to the "Acme Tomato Corporation."

Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald has indicated that he was aware of this disclosure, and it was the primary reason that he did not indict any current officials for violations of the Undercover Agent Act.

Neither Chevy Chase nor Dan Akroyd, the producers and lead actors in the film would comment, citing "national security."