Whoever triggered the “outing” of a covert Central Intelligence Agency individual and perhaps endangered many other CIA operatives, committed a crime that could cause damage, injury and death to people working on the American public’s behalf.

There seems to be strong opinion that someone connected with the George W. Bush White House was the source of it all, and if that is the case, it is unforgivable. The prevailing view is that the Bush administration was displeased with a report by a man about Iraq weapon activity and that revenge was the goal. Joe Wilson, a former diplomat who had challenged White House claims about Iraq’s pre-war weapons quest, has a wife, Valerie Plame, who for 18 years had served the CIA undercover. There are those, however, who say Wilson has not been truthful in telling the story.

Wilson was sent to Niger to find out if Iraq was seeking material for weapons of mass destruction. He reported he found nothing of the kind and that apparently did not fit the White House need for war justification. Wilson’s going public seems to have triggered retaliation that involved his wife, now unable to continue in her previous CIA duties.

Most telling about it all is the point that here were people involved in the dangerous business of spying who were “outed” not by enemies or terrorists but perhaps by their own government. President Bush, reportedly unaware of the White House leak, called the action a serious crime, and that it is.

The blame game has run rampant and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the vice president’s chief of staff, has been indicted for lying in the Plame case. It still is not certain who “leaked” the Plame identity. Some say it was the CIA itself, and we may never know for sure. But in all the conflict, one person who sparked the matter has been getting off far too easily.

On July 14, 2003, syndicated columnist Robert Novak wrote that “two administration officials” told him Plame was behind husband Wilson’s trip to Niger. Novak called her an “agency operative,” which means undercover agent. The cover was blown, not only for Plame but certainly for other agents with whom she was dealing. Have any of the agents working with Plame been imprisoned, tortured or killed by now? The implication of the Novak piece was that nepotism was involved in Wilson’s Niger trip. CIA people say Wilson was named for the trip by agency officials, not by his wife. So who chose Wilson for the trip is still uncertain.

But back to Novak. He can shout First Amendment rights all he wants, but he has been around the political scene long enough to know full well what his revelation could lead to. For all the attention he has been getting, Novak is no hero. He has enough experience to know what he was doing was perilous and he should have exercised far better judgment in his handling of the issue.