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I've read the statute to which you refer. If I read it correctly, it can only be violated if the person whose cover is blown is a "covert agent." The CIA knows whether Plame is or was a covert agent. If she was not, the law was not broken, and there would be no occasion for referring the matter to the Justice Department.

You seem to be saying that if Plame or some other person whose cover is blown is in fact a covert agent, then the referral could not be made, because the CIA would not want to blow the agent's cover all the more. But that's a prudential matter to be borne in mind in deciding whether to make the referral. The implication of what you seem to be saying would appear to be that, wherever the CIA has reason to believe the statute has been violated, it cannot make the referral. I think that's absurd.