[Rick Lee]

No, I agree with you there and I don't believe Armitage knew or thought Plame was undercover. IIRC, once Armitage realized what he had done, he told Colin Powell (his boss and best friend) and Powell either told the WH counsel's office or AG Gonzalez. That got the ball rolling here. No journalist I know of would be able to control themselves if handed such a scoop like that, least of all Novak. Also, IIRC, Novak double-checked his scoop by looking up Valerie Plame in Who's Who in America and figured that, since she was listed there as wife of Joseph Wilson, she couldn't possibly ave undercover status. Obviously, the CIA would never confirm something like this for anyone. In fact, I once did a loan for a CIA employee, and I honestly wonder how we verified her employment. Really. But then again, if she were covert, she would have never told me she worked there.