“My CIA colleagues were smart, dedicated, funny, and creative. Yes, there was sometimes stifling bureaucracy, boredom, colleagues who never should have been there, and later, deeply disturbing stories of the CIA's involvement in torture. Still, I got to do work I thought was incredibly important and, many times, had fun doing it.”

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.