[pepsionice]

What I see out of this whole thing...is bits and pieces. Someone in the CIA screwed up by just linking the husband to her, and then they screwed up by half-admiting what she does for a living. Cheny may have had part of the facts...but where did he get them? And the only answer...leads back to the CIA and the boss then...likely never grasped what he was telling Cheny was really classified.

[Steve_Seattle]

"What I see out of this whole thing...is bits and pieces. Someone in the CIA screwed up by just linking the husband to her, and then they screwed up by half-admiting what she does for a living."

I think that's about right, and that's why I think it's a misnomer when people say this is about a "leak." A "leak" is when confidential information is passed on in order to further some sort of agenda. What happened here, in my opinion, is that information was passed on as a way of explaining something, i.e., why Wilson was sent to Niger. That's also why I think the spin that Plame was "outed" is just that - spin - because it doesn't accurately describe why the information was initially divulged. It was not to "get" or "punish" or "muzzle" someone, but simply to explain what happened.