Someone, anyone...has this ever been established as fact? Or is it just a myth/lie perpetrated by the MSM?
We are dealing with two separate definitions of "covert".
Valerie Plame had been a NOC -- non-official cover -- i.e., covert, from a professional standpoint. And the protocol would be "once a NOC...always a NOC".
But there is also a legal definition, for the purposes of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. And she almost certainly did not meet the requirements for a covert designation under the IIPA.
Did that muddy it up sufficiently for you?
Well, a legal definition or standpoint is really the only one we're concerned with here. Right?
Or is a civil suit less dependent on the legal aspects, and more on the emotional ones (lots and lots of lefties on the jury)?
"But there is also a legal definition, for the purposes of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. And she almost certainly did not meet the requirements for a covert designation under the IIPA."
Sounds like a distinction created by government rule. LOL