"According to a confidential source at the CIA, Mrs. Wilson was an analyst, not a spy, not a covert operative, and not in charge of undercover operatives," Novak told his audience on CNN's "Crossfire." If Novak's CIA source spoke in the present tense, and Plame is a former covert operative, then the source could have been speaking the truth, and blowing Plame's cover could still have been a crime.
Her field was in the weapons proliferation dept at the CIA, either as an investigator or researcher.