“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.”

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.