Former CIA Agent Plame, Ambassador Wilson Speak at RMU

Former Central Intelligence Agency officer Valerie Plame and her husband, former Ambassador to Niger Joseph Wilson, fielded  students' questions Monday. 

Before a crowded luncheon at RMU's Nicholson Center, Plame and Wilson talked about Plame's exposure as a covert CIA counter-proliferation officer in the aftermath of the Iraq War. Students from also attended the event. 

The two later spoke Monday evening at Heinz Hall as a part of RMU's Pittsburgh Speakers Series. 

Shortly after the 2003 United States invasion of Iraq, Wilson wrote a New York Times op-ed piece titled What I Didn't Find in Africa, suggesting that the threat of Iraqi nuclear weapons had been exaggerated to justify the invasion. The couple claims that the op-ed led to the revelation of Plame's identity and the end of her decades-long career in the CIA. 

Plame told students that after her identity was revealed in a 2003 Washington Post column she felt as if she were "falling down Alice's rabbit hole." 

"I worried for my safety, and I worried about our twins' safety, and I knew my career in the CIA was over," Plame said.