No, I'm not saying they knew beforehand, though I think they certainly could've. I'm saying that, in defending against the charges, or responding to the investigation, there is no way they wouldn't know exactly what her status was. If she was overt, can you think of any reason in the world why they would agree not to bring that into a trial?
"So you think she could've been "technically undercover" but not really undercover?"
Absolutely. Have you ever dealt with a bureaucracy?
"If she was overt, can you think of any reason in the world why they would agree not to bring that into a trial?"
I don't know who agreed to what. My understanding was that the pinhead judge made Plame's status off limits.
You are aware, I hope, that neither Libby nor anyone else is being charged with "outing" Plame. As an excercize, why don't you explain to me why that is so. Could it possibly be that she really *wasn't* "undercover"?