[JURIST] Former CIA operative Valerie Plame [WP profile] testified before the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee [official investigation website] Friday that the White House and US Department of State "carelessly and recklessly" blew her cover in an effort to discredit her diplomat-husband Joseph Wilson [BBC profile] who had criticized US pre-war intelligence on Iraq. Plame's identity as a CIA operative was leaked in a 2003 syndicated newspaper column by Robert Novak after Wilson reported that contrary to Bush administration assertions Saddam Hussein was not trying to buy uranium from Niger. The Congressional hearing was the first time that Plame has publicly answered questions about her role in the CIA leak case [JURIST news archive].

In response to Novak's article connecting her position within the CIA to a trip her husband took to Africa, she said she had no part in sending Wilson to Niger on a CIA fact-finding mission. Although I. "Scooter" Libby [defense website] was recently found guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury [JURIST report] related to the investigation of Plame's leaked identity, no charges have been brought against those responsible for the breach in security. AP has more.