I know there'll be all this noise about confidentiality of sources, but you know what? People shouldn't feel safe outing CIA agents. It's that simple.
May 24, 2004
NBC's Tim Russert and a journalist from Time Inc. have received federal subpoenas to face questioning about the alleged leak of an undercover CIA weapons expert's identity, but both news organizations said they would fight the subpoenas.
The companies said the subpoenas came from a special grand jury investigating whether the Bush administration improperly disclosed the identity of the agent, Valerie Plame, after her husband, former diplomat Joseph Wilson, publicly challenged the White House on Iraq weapons claims.
Russert and Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper had reported on the Plame controversy.