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Valerie Plame Timeline

Valerie Elise Plame is born in a military hospital in Anchorage, Alaska to Samuel D. Plame, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force, and Diane E. Plame. The family moves to Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. Graduates from Lower Moreland High School in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. Graduates from Pennsylvania State University. Plame meets former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV at a party in Washington, D.C. Plame and Wilson marry. Valerie gives birth to fraternal twins, Trevor and Samantha. Wilson is sent to Niger to investigate the possibility that Iraq bought uranium yellowcake from Niger in the late 1990s. Wilson returns to Washington and briefs the CIA on his findings that it is highly unlikely that Iraq purchased uranium from Niger. He also shares his findings with the State Department African Affairs Bureau. The British government publishes a "white paper" claiming that Saddam Hussein poses an immediate danger. The report cites as evidence Iraq's attempts to purchase uranium from Africa. Wilson publishes an op-ed piece in the New York Times entitled "What I Didn't Find in Africa," claiming that he found no evidence that Iraq had purchased uranium in Africa and that the Bush administration used false information to justify its war against Iraq. He writes: "Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat." The CIA issues a press release saying that the accounts of Iraq purchasing uranium from Niger are "highly dubious" and that it was a CIA mistake that led to the allegations being part of Bush's State of the Union speech. Robert Novak identifies Plame as a CIA "operative on weapons of mass destruction" in his newspaper column. He says his sources are ""two senior administration officials." Matthew Cooper, Massimo Calabresi, and John F. Dickerson publish an article called "A War on Wilson?" on Time magazine's website. It reads, in part: "Has the Bush Administration declared war on a former ambassador who conducted a fact-finding mission to probe possible Iraqi interest in African uranium?" The article also says: "Some government officials have noted to TIME in interviews, (as well as to syndicated columnist Robert Novak) that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA official who monitors the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction." The Justice Department begins an investigation into the leak of Plame's name to the media, since revealing the identity of a CIA agent is illegal and breaks the code of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. Bush says: "Let me just say something about leaks in Washington. There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There's leaks at the executive branch; there's leaks in the legislative branch. There's just too many leaks. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of." FBI agents interview Karl Rove and Scott McClellan about the CIA leak. Tim Russert of NBC and Time's Matthew Cooper are subpoenaed for the grand jury investigation. President Bush is questioned for more than an hour in the Oval Office by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald and his assistants. The president is not placed under oath and is accompanied by a lawyer. New York Times reporter Judith Miller is subpoenaed by a grand jury. Miller, who has not published any articles about Plame, refuses to name her sources and is held in contempt of court. Judge Hogan declares that Miller was "defying the law" in refusing to reveal her sources and Miller is jailed. Judith Miller is released from prison after her source gives her permission to testify and she reaches a deal with U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald. I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby resigns after being indicted for obstruction of justice, making a false statement, and perjury. Wilson tells Ed Bradley of 60 MINUTES that Valerie has received threats. He says: "There have been specific threats. Beyond that I just can’t go." In response to people who say it was common knowledge that Plame was a CIA officer, Wilson says: "Well, very few people outside the intelligence community [knew]. Her parents and her brother, essentially."