“Joe and I are still very aware of the fact that we live in a country where he criticised the government and lived another day. That trumps all. To paraphrase Churchill, democracy is the worst form of government apart from all the other forms of government. You constantly have to fight for it; you have to keep your government honest.”

American writer and former CIA officer

Valerie Plame is an American writer, novelist, and former Central Intelligence Agency officer. She became widely known as the central figure in the 2003 Plame affair, also called the CIA leak scandal, when her identity as a CIA officer was revealed and then published by Robert Novak of The Washington Post. That episode brought intense public attention and a prolonged media storm. Plame has later described the experience as deeply humiliating and said she remained in shock for years.