Plame's CIA connection was reported by Novak because it was claimed by administration sources that it had been at her suggestion that the CIA sent her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, to Niger in 2002 to investigate reports that Iraq had attempted to illegally purchase uranium from that country. This appeared to contradict Wilson's claim that he was sent to Niger at the request of Vice President Cheney. (Cheney had denied any knowledge of Wilson's Niger visit.)
Wilson charged that his wife's CIA association had been deliberately exposed by the White House in order to destroy her career, in retaliation for his public charge that the Bush administration had lied to the American people about U.S. intelligence concerning weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In an article in The New York Times on July 6, 2003, Wilson denounced the Bush administration, saying that "some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."
The exposure of covert government agents is considered a serious crime in the U.S., carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years, and the matter is currently under investigation by the Justice Department and the FBI.
For obvious reasons, little is known of Plame's professional career. She described herself as an energy analyst for a private company, Brewster Jennings & Associates, which was subsequently acknowledged to be a CIA front company. Her husband has compared her to actress Jennifer Garner, who plays a spy on television.
Plame met Wilson at a Washington party in early 1997. She was able to reveal her CIA role to him while they were dating because he held a high-level security clearance. The couple are the parents of three-year-old twins.