[SpringheelJack]

Nothing in the Cooper e-mail suggests that Rove used Plame's name or knew she was a covert operative.

Hair-splitting on whether or not he actually used her name seems pretty pointless to me; "Wilson's wife" is clear enough about who was meant.

I think he's on safer ground when it comes to whether or not he knew she was a covert operative. Cooper's version of what Rove said gives no indication that Rove was aware of that.

[PzLdr]

She wasn't a covert operative. My understanding is that she was a pencil pusher or bean counter at Langley. And why wasn't anybody at the CIA reprimanded for allowing this woman to get her husband the job?{Potential conflict of interest, appearance of impropriety, etc, etc} Could it be because the Agency bureaucrats were opposed to "W's" policies, were of a like mind with Wilson and the little woman, and didn't want to give "W" any ammo against Saddam?

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

I think he's on safer ground when it comes to whether or not he knew she was a covert operative.

Plame was not a covert operative at the time Wilson went on travel which has already been established as fact.

[cricket]

"Hair-splitting on whether or not he actually used her name seems pretty pointless to me; "Wilson's wife" is clear enough about who was meant. "

I do not believe that it was a 'secret' where VP worked.

What is supposed to have been a 'secret' was her role as 'undercover agent, et al'.

(Though I think that was common knowledge - thanks to the Wilson's themselves - amongst the Georgetown cocktail set.)

[xzins]

Cooper wrote that Rove offered him a "big warning" not to "get too far out on Wilson." Rove told Cooper that Wilson's trip had not been authorized by "DCIA"—CIA Director George Tenet—or Vice President Dick Cheney. Rather, "it was, KR said, wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized the trip." Wilson's wife is Plame, then an undercover agent working as an analyst in the CIA's Directorate of Operations counterproliferation division. (Cooper later included the essence of what Rove told him in an online story.) The e-mail characterizing the conversation continues: "not only the genesis of the trip is flawed an[d] suspect but so is the report. he [Rove] implied strongly there's still plenty to implicate iraqi interest in acquiring uranium fro[m] Niger ... "

I think the above article is tricky.

In the above you have the Isikoff, author of this article, you have what Cooper wrote in an email, and you have some of what Rove said. According to Cooper, Rove said that Wilson's wife works on WMDs and authorized the trip. That is enclosed in quotes that show it was the writing of Cooper....not Rove. Following the quotes is a sentence written by the author of this piece, who is Michael Isikoff....Wilson's wife is Plame, then an undercover agent working as an analyst in the CIA's Directorate of Operations counterproliferation division.

Rove does not name Wilson's wife. Rove does not reveal she is an undercover agent.

This piece is skillfully written in a manner that confuses who said what.

[Safetgiver]

She was recalled from covert duties when Aldrich Ames blew her cover. There is a thread about that around here some where.