[JURIST] A legal professional speaking on condition of anonymity has told the Associated Press that chief presidential adviser Karl Rove [Wikipedia profile] testified to a grand jury that he learned the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame [Wikipedia profile] from the media. Rove allegedly testified that columnist Robert Novak [Wikipedia profile] informed him Plame worked for the CIA before he publicly revealing [Townhall article; response to investigation] her identity, attributing the leak to two senior administration officials. According to the AP's source, Rove testified that he belived he had similar information from another member of the media before speaking with Novak. The source also avers Rove testified that three days after speaking with Novak he informally told TIME magazine reporter Matt Cooper [JURIST report] that he believed Wilson's wife worked for the CIA.

According to the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act [50 USC s. 421 text; CNN interview], the federal statute at the center of the investigation into the leak, it is a crime for someone with authorized access to classified information to knowingly disclose the identity of a covert agent. However, according to Plame's husband, former US Ambassador Joseph Wilson [Wikipedia profile], she "was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity." AP has more.