What, wifey wouldn't tell Mr. Wilson what she was doing? Novak intervening? IMO Novak is spinning, poorly, because he's pressed for immediate response. He might be trying to spin it to allow an anti-Admin interpretation - and Novak was "anti-war" as they come.
What are you talking about? Novak called the CIA Headquarters to confirm Mrs. Wilson's involvement in the mission. He did NOT call Mrs. Wilson. He called the press office at the CIA. I dont have a clue what you are saying.
From all that Novak wrote I dont see that he is trying to damage the Administration at all. He was merely trying to write a story about the mission to Africa and how Wilson got involved.
I'm not an English teacher, but that sentence reads, IMO, that Novak called the CIA on behalf of Mr. Wilson to "confirm" that Mrs. Wilson was involved "in the mission."
It's not the only stilted sentence in the paragraph. That's why I said, IMO, it sounds like a "first draft."
This answer would satisfy me: "Mr. Wilson told me his wife was a CIA agent."
But maybe Novak doesn't want to say that directly because it would be "revealing" a source. So he told us it was Wilson elliptically.