My friend David Corn is hopping mad and he’s calling me names and questioning my motives. I understand that. I feel his anger.

But he hasn’t actually challenged any of the facts or analysis in my piece.

Except one:

He is arguing that providing the name of a CIA employee – or operative — is the same as exposing the identity of a CIA covert agent.

Now that may play out in the boondocks among people who have never known anyone who worked at the CIA and who assume that everyone at CIA has a secret identity and works for a CIA front.

But anyone with any knowledge or experience knows that is it doesn’t work like that.

The facts are these: (1) Bob Novak did not say that Valerie Plame was a secret agent; (2) David Corn did; (3) we don’t know who Bob’s sources were; (4) we know David’s source was Joe Wilson.

The rest is commentary.