Former spy ready to tell of betrayal

Valerie Plame will discuss book at the Lensic next month

Tom Sharpe | The New Mexican

10/4/2007 -

Santa Fe's most famous spy since Ed Howard will discuss her new book, Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House, next month at the Lensic.

Valerie Plame, 44, her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, 57, and their 7-year-old twins moved to a large hilltop home in Santa Fe earlier this year and have been consulting with screenwriters on a film about their life.

Plame was a covert CIA agent until 2003, when syndicated columnist Robert Novak publicly identified her after her husband wrote a newspaper article repudiating President Bush's claims that Iraq had tried to acquire uranium yellowcake in Africa.

A federal investigation into the leak of Plame's identity led to the conviction of Lewis Libby, a national-security assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney, on charges of obstructing justice and lying to investigators. Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison, a fine of $250,000, two years of supervised release and 400 hours of community service. Bush commuted the jail term.

On March 6, the same day as the Libby verdict, Wilson told Larry King Live that he and Plame had signed a contract with Warner Bros. that could lead to a film about their situation at the focal point of the international scandal. A year earlier, the New York Times reported Plame was negotiating with Random House to publish a book. But now Simon and Schuster is set to publish Fair Game on Oct. 22.

A spokesman for Simon and Schuster said no copies of the book will be available before the release date. Edward Borins, owner of Garcia Street Books, which will carry Plame's book, said the publisher has banned Plame from talking publicly about the book until the release date.

But Wilson, in a telephone interview from his home Thursday, said his wife's book starts out with the "coming of age of a young woman in a man's world" and ends with her battles with the Bush administration.

"Obviously, it's her story, since everybody and their uncle in the political world has commented about her," he said. "It's the book the White House and the CIA don't want you to read."

Plame and Wilson will be introduced Nov. 6 at the Lensic Performing Arts Center by Jonathan Richards, a Santa Fe cartoonist and film reviewer. Tickets are $15 or $50 for preferred seating with an autographed copy of the book.

Catherine Oppenheimer and Garrett Thornburg will hold a private reception for Plame and Wilson at La Fonda for $250 per person. Proceeds from the ticket sales and reception will go to the Wilson Legal Support Trust to help pay legal costs for a civil lawsuit on Plame's behalf.

Edward Lee Howard, a former CIA case officer who ended up in a state government job in Santa Fe, defected to Russia in 1985 after giving the FBI the slip from his home in Eldorado. He was working for the state Legislative Finance Committee at the time. Howard, who was accused of leaking the names of Russian informants to the CIA, died in 2002 at age 50 after breaking his neck in a fall down the steps of his dacha outside Moscow.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Valerie Plame discusses her new book

When: 6 p.m., Nov. 6

Where: Lensic Performing Arts Center

Tickets: $15 by calling 988-1234 or going online to ticketssantafe.com ($50 for preferred seating and an autographed copy of the book; $250 for preferred seating, autographed copy of the book and 8 p.m. reception at La Fonda)