Former CIA Agent Shares Her Story with Women's Group

She looks like a model, but she was really a spy.

Valerie Plame Wilson, former CIA agent, spoke to a crowd of 600 women philanthropists at Livingston's Crystal Plaza and talked to them about being outed by Washington Post columnist Robert Novak.

 "Novak wrote the article and everything was in jeopardy… you have no idea what it's like to lose your privacy until it's gone," she said.

Plame, whose life story is coming to the big screen at midnight Friday, described her work as an international spy who "made sure the bad guys did not get nuclear weapons." But once her identity was leaked, her career in espionage was over and she was forced to resign from the CIA.

Plame was introduced Monday night by Anna Fisch, president of women's philanthropy for UJC MetroWest. Her identity leak is widely-believed to be a result of a blistering editorial by her husband, diplomat Joseph Wilson, questioning the credibility of sources on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

A U.S. Justice Department investigation later resulted in the conviction of former vice president Dick Cheney's chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby on four counts of perjury and obstruction of justice, a charge Cheney tried unsuccessfully to have him pardoned for by then-president George W. Bush.

After her identity was exposed, Plame and her family moved to Santa Fe, where she wrote a memoir about the scandal titled, Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House.

A movie version of the book, starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts, and is to be released Friday.

Plame, along with Jacqueline Levine, a twice-arrested grandmother who marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were the speakers at the CHOICES Redux dinner, sponsored by UJC MetroWest's Women's Philanthropy.

The event was held in celebration of the $1.9 million raised by UJC MetroWest last year.

Levine, who accepted the national Kipnis-Wilson/Friedman Award for women who have set a high standard for philanthropy and volunteerism.

Levine, a woman who has spent six decades of her life as a female activist, was honored for her outstanding service towards female activist leadership in American Jewish life.

Levine spoke about her opposition to the restrictions of Joe McCarthy, her picketing of Woolworth stores for their refusal to seat African-American, and her participation in the civil rights marches with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from Selma to Montgomery.

Levine said, "I remember what Dr. King said to us the night we marched through Montgomery. He said we are all witnesses together… and he meant we are all responsible to one and other."