If it is true that “two top white house officials contacted at least six reporters and disclosed the identity and occupation of Wilson’s wife,” that still would not prove that those officials knew that Valerie Plame worked (at some point) undercover. Like others around town, they might simply have know that Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA in Langley.

Remember: Novak has said all along that his sources never told him Plame was a NOC (an agent using non-official cover). Whatever one might say about Dick Armitage, I doubt he would have named her had he thought she was a NOC. Novak did not write in his column that Plame was a NOC. He has said all along that had he believed that, he would not have named her. We only learned about her undercover status from David Corn based on his source – which I believe to have been Joe Wilson. In other words, even if Greenfield is correct, there would still be no evidence of an attempt on the part of anyone to expose the identify of a secret agent, to ruin her career and endanger her life and the lives of family members –as has been alleged by Corn and others pushing conspiracy theories. All it would mean is that some officials in the White House attempted to correct a dishonest story put out by Joe Wilson – the story that the Vice President had sent him to Niger. It would have been an attempt on the part of those officials to explain what really happened, how Wilson actually got the mission, the role played by his wife who did indeed recommend him for the boondoggle.