I am absolutely sure the CIA asked the justice department.
the request was filed by the CIA on July 30, 2003.
Just do a google search. David Corns article is not a formal request for an investigation. In fact not only did the CIA make a formal request for the investigation. They even said
that if Valeria Plame was not a covert agent there would have been no need for such a request from the justice department.
I think you concede that the press called for an investigation before the CIA. This is in contradiction to what you wrote previously.
But I see a game of "heads I win, tails you lose" when you move the goalposts. If there was no criminal investigation, the left would have insisted that the administration was covering criminal activity up in the White House (See Corn). If there is an investigation, that is dipositive evidence of criminal activity in the White House. So no matter what happens, the left makes the same accusation. That is beyond intellectually lazy and approaching intellectually bankrupt.