Aug 3, 2007 3:28 pm US/Eastern
Judge Rules CIA Can Keep Plame Info Classified
Plame Is Publishing A Book, Wants To Include The Dates Of Her CIA Service
WASHINGTON (CBS News) ―
The Central Intelligence Agency can force Valerie Plame, whose CIA career became national news after it was leaked to the media, to remain silent about the how long she worked for the agency.
Although the years of her CIA employment have appeared in the Congressional Record and elsewhere, a federal judge ruled that there are benefits to the CIA in keeping some things classified, even after they are public.
Wilson's name was revealed in a syndicated newspaper column in 2003, shortly after her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, began criticizing the Bush administration's march to war in Iraq.
According to published reports, including in the Congressional Record, Plame worked at the CIA from 1985 to 2006. The government has acknowledged that she worked for the CIA from 2002 to January 2006.
David Smallman, a lawyer for Wilson and Simon & Schuster, said they're evaluating whether to appeal the case. Wilson and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, brought the lawsuit earlier this year, saying they had a First Amendment right to publish her dates of employment with the CIA in her upcoming memoir.
Earlier this month, a federal judge dismissed former CIA operative Valerie Plame's lawsuit against members of the Bush administration in the CIA leak scandal.
CBS News has learned that Judge Bates, who was was appointed by President Bush, has ruled in favor of the Vice President before. In 2002, Bates dismissed a case filed by the General Accounting Office seeking information about the Cheney Energy Task Force meetings.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
