Plame was covert

Newsweek has concluded from analyzing the Court papers in the Libby trial that Valerie Plame was a covert agent at the time she was outed.

Feb. 13, 2006 issue - Newly released court papers could put holes in the defense of Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, in the Valerie Plame leak case. Lawyers for Libby, and White House allies, have repeatedly questioned whether Plame, the wife of White House critic Joe Wilson, really had covert status when she was outed to the media in July 2003. But special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald found that Plame had indeed done "covert work overseas" on counterproliferation matters in the past five years, and the CIA "was making specific efforts to conceal" her identity, according to newly released portions of a judge's opinion.

There's no real surprise there except perhaps for the wing-nuts. They have been running around saying everyone knew she worked for the CIA.

Update: I do want to say one more thing about this article, however. The article says this could poke "holes in [Libby's] defense." Libby is not charged with outing a covert agent. He is charged with lying about who he talked to. The question of Valerie Plame's status is irrelevant to Libby's defense.