CIA Agent in White House Leak Controversy Worried for Her Safety

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The former ambassador at the center of the White House leak controversy accused the Bush administration on Sunday of blowing his wife's CIA cover to muzzle criticism over the Iraq war and said the couple now was worried for her safety.

Joseph Wilson, a seasoned diplomat in both Republican and Democratic governments, said President Bush's top political aide Karl Rove, while likely not the source of the leak, later "gave legs" to a newspaper column that revealed his wife's identity as a CIA operative.

"I do have a number of people, or a person in whom I have a high degree of confidence, who has told me that Karl Rove told him that my wife is 'fair game', and that was one week after the leak," Wilson told CBS "Face The Nation."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan last week denied Rove was behind the disclosure to reporters of Valerie Plame's name. The Justice Department has opened an investigation. Revealing classified information is a federal crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

more