Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Nevada

Re: Public Identification of a CIA Agent

Well, it's not Nevada law, but here is an answer:

David Corn, Washington Editor for "The Nation" magazine, said in his article, "A White House Smear," dated July 16, 2003, "Under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, it is a crime for anyone who has access to classified information to disclose intentionally information identifying a covert agent. The punishment for such an offense is a fine of up to $50,000 and/or up to ten years in prison. Journalists are protected from prosecution, unless they engage in a 'pattern of activities' to name agents in order to impair US intelligence activities. So Novak need not worry."

If you surf the 'Net a bit, I am sure you will find many contradictory opinions and interpretations, but if a crime was committed, it probably was not by the journalist who did the reporting, but the phantom "senior administration official" from whom Novak allegedly received his information.

I will note that this entire incident was probably blown WAY out of proportion, given that most everyone in Washington knew Wilson's wife worked for the CIA (she was not, apparently, a "covert agent"), and it was no grand revelation to reveal her identity, as thousands of people were cognizant of the fact. Somewhat akin to revealing the secret ingredients of peanut butter are peanuts and salt.