Outed CIA operative is staying under cover -- for the most part

Former ambassador Joseph Wilson has been quite protective of his wife, Valerie Plame, in the weeks since her cover as a CIA operative was blown.

“My wife has made it very clear that -- she has authorized me to say this -- she would rather chop off her right arm than say anything to the press, and she will not allow herself to be photographed,” he declared in October on “Meet the Press.”

But that was before Vanity Fair came calling.

The January issue features a two-page photo of Wilson and the woman the magazine calls “the most famous female spy in America.” Plame is wearing a scarf and big glasses, which just adds to the aura of mystery. In a second shot, she holds a newspaper in front of her face.

“The pictures should not be able to identify her,” Wilson said. “She’s still not going to answer any questions, and there will not be any pictures that compromise her.” The reason, said Wilson, is that “she’s still employed” by the CIA “and has obligations to her employer.”

Ron Beinner, a contributing photography producer at Vanity Fair, said Plame was not originally scheduled to participate in the Nov. 8 shoot but agreed to join her husband once “she felt suitably disguised.”