Telling him, 'don't print that story' would have been pretty clear confirmation, now wouldn't it?
Further, the CIA says they asked Novak not to publish it, and they've barred Plame from talking about what she did for national security reasons.
Sorry, I'm not buying the idea she wasn't undercover and the CIA and DOJ are just going wild with this whole thing.
Another interesting article about how "covert" Valerie was --- NOT, examining the specifics.
How Covert Was Valerie Plame?
http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2005/10/how_covert_was_.html
And no matter how you want to claim she was covert, the IIPA is very clear and definite and the FACT is that Plame was NOT serving abroad and haven't for at least 5 years.
"Intelligence Identities Protection Act. To violate it, you must disclose the name of a covert agent who has served abroad within the last five years, while knowing that that person was a covert agent. It does not appear that Plame was a covert agent who had served abroad within five years of the disclosure of her name to reporter "