Valerie Plame: Shaken, not stirred

Mata Hari, James Bond, Boris and Natasha -- the popular image of spies always seems to embrace glamour, lots of "dah-links" and sex. So to blond and vivacious Valerie Plame Wilson, who for an awful period was, of all things, the world's most famous spy: Did you ever have a Hollywood moment? "Let me think -- I never wore a long evening gown at a craps table in Monaco," she said, laughing, "but there are moments when you're waiting for someone, you're in an exotic locale and you're waiting for something to happen and there's this little voice in my head saying, 'I can't believe they're paying me to do this.'"

Plame speaks Wednesday at Orchestra Hall as part of the Star Tribune Women's Lecture Series while on tour to promote her new book, "Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House" (Simon & Schuster, $26).

She still speaks in the present tense about her job with the CIA, although she resigned from the agency in January 2006 after serving for -- oh, that's another can of worms. She left after her identity as a covert agent was leaked by a source in the Bush administration to newspaper columnist Robert Novak.

Novak published her name in his column after former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson -- Plame's husband -- had criticized the administration for exaggerating the threat of Iraq's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, a subject that he himself had investigated for the CIA. The ensuing scandal cost some officials their jobs, and the administration its credibility -- although, as with all things classified, views differ.

For example, Plame can say only that she was employed by the CIA from 2002 to 2006. That brief time frame is fiercely defended by the CIA despite evidence to the contrary -- notably a mundane statement of retirement benefits that said she'd worked for the agency since Nov. 9, 1985.

You can almost see the tape reel going up in smoke.

When I grow up ...

Plame, 44, was born in Anchorage, where her father was stationed. He was a career Air Force officer who'd served in World War II. Her brother, a Marine, was wounded in Vietnam. "So there was a notion of public service in my family," she said. "I didn't grow up thinking I wanted to join the CIA, but when it became an option, I thought I can serve my country and do an exciting job. If none of this had happened, I could see living overseas with my family working on counter-proliferation issues, which I really enjoy."

As to the actual job, "I can just say that, like any job, there are ups and downs. For me, I liked working for something larger than myself, not for a corporation and a bottom line. It's a very detail-oriented job, in that if you ever screw up, it's a big responsibility."

The sense of responsibility on a life-or-death level makes her decision to have children worth a gentle question. To her credit, she laughed again. "I always wanted to have children. The hard part was finding the right person to have them with." When she met Joe Wilson, she was 34, an older age that was the result of her never dating seriously, which was due to her particular employer, which (see above) she cannot acknowledge.

At any rate, "it really was love at first sight." They're now the parents of twins who are in second grade. "Life is never the same again," she said. "Not better or worse, just completely different and you'd be a fool not to note the risks and all other things that might affect your children."

Family? Yeah, right

Thus the special bitterness she feels for what happened in the spring of 2004, when Plame's name was on a list of those targeted by Al-Qaida hit squads. The others on the list -- George Tenet, Karl Rove and John Ashcroft -- already had round-the-clock Secret Service protection.

"I was concerned mostly, of course, because we had small children and what happens to them if something happens to me? So I went to the head of the CIA and requested security on our residence, at least through the [November] election," she said. "It was declined. The CIA makes a big deal about, 'We're family, we're family,' but I was on my own."

As to her concerns that her outing could endanger former associates overseas, she knows that a damage report was done, but she was never informed of its findings.

"But what's at the bottom of this is the unprecedented fact that senior administration officials severely damaged our national security for their own political agenda," she said. "Most fair-minded people would agree that that's what happened, and I do hope it happens only once."

Still a good job

Despite her personal experience, Plame still would recommend a career in the CIA. "Our country is in perilous times and we need all the smart young people with the spirit of patriotism, who are willing to forgo a more lucrative career on Wall Street, to say, 'OK, I want to do this. I want to serve my country.'"

As for her own future? "I'm trying to find that elusive balance, like everyone," she said. Her family has relocated to Sante Fe and loves it. "My hobby so far is just keeping my sanity," she said, laughing. "It's not like I'm scrapbooking or anything, although I'd have a hell of a scrapbook. People send me all this stuff, and I literally throw it in a box in the garage. Maybe someday I'll use those funny little scissors and cut everything out."

Kim Ode • 612-673-7185