Valerie Plame

“So many times, genuine health workers and genuine NGO folks are really just trying to help other humans in whatever capacity they can. But they are perceived as being CIA, and therefore, it blocks their effectiveness.”

“When you work for the C.I.A. or as a diplomat, or serve in the military, you're not serving as a Democrat or a Republican; you serve as an American, whatever your personal moral compass or political views might be. So that would describe me.”

“Our mission was to make sure that the bad guys, basically, did not get nuclear weapons.”

“There is not adequate whistleblower protection.”

“I think the Bush Administration was bound and determined on regime change, and we will be paying the price of that for some time to come.”

“The entire intelligence community is so bloated and so reliant on contractors. There's no question there's many tasks that make sense to outsource, and yet, we have followed blindly this dogma that if it's private contracting, it must be better.”

“She was very kind to us when Joe and I went through the darkest days of the leak of my name in 2003. And, of course, Joe worked in the Clinton White House.”

“I want to shine a spotlight on showing how dangerous Trump and his Twitter button can be.”

“My take is, privacy is precious. I think privacy is the last true luxury. To be able to live your life as you choose without having everyone comment on it or know about.”

“I love my career. I thought, if I was lucky, I would retire as a senior intelligence officer, still working on the issues of counterproliferation. But that didn't happen, so - new chapter.”

“Hollywood does tend to portray CIA officers as totally the honey trap. Looks matter as they do in any profession. But the most important thing for me when I was working was blending into my environment.”

“After President Obama's election in 2008, there was a widespread hope that it would mark an end to unseemly partisan nastiness.”

“I do not subscribe to the 'Trump is crazy like a fox' thing. I think that's being too generous.”

“When you're in the CIA, you anticipate the possibility that you'll be betrayed by a foreign government or a source, but you never anticipate that it would be by your own government.”

“Over the years, from serving in the CIA to sitting on non-profit boards, I have observed first-hand what the addition of even one woman to a meeting or to a decision-making body can do. Put simply, in very many instances, group dynamics improve markedly.”

“If Russia did interfere in our election - and, by most accounts, they did - then it is imperative for the health of our democracy to have a thorough and unbiased investigation into the matter.”

“I think it's the height of patriotism to continue to exercise your right as a citizen and to hold your government to account. Isn't that what the very essence of democracy is about?”

“There's no way you can possibly intellectually justify, 'Well, it's okay for the Western Judeo-Christian countries to have nuclear weapons, but not for a country like Iran.' That logic goes nowhere fast.”

“After I resigned, I could eventually speak for myself, but when it first happened, I was in complete shock, and it took a long time for me to overcome it.”

“I certainly didn't reach out to my old assets and ask 'em how they're doing, although I would have liked to.”