In the summer of 2003, former ambassador Joseph Wilson wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times that accused the Bush Administration of deliberately misleading the public about the possibility of Iraq having sought nuclear weapons material from Niger. Shortly thereafter, conservative columnist Robert Novak published a column noting that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, worked for the CIA. The CIA cried foul -- insisting that a covert agent had been unmasked.
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald indicted Vice Presidential Staffer I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on obstruction of justice and perjury charges. Papers filed subsequently -- and Libby's defense strategy -- suggest that Vice President Cheney played a primary role in the disinformation campaign.
Libby was convicted in March 2007. In May, Fitzgerald filed court documents confirming that Plame worked for the CIA in undercover status.
