In 2003, journalist Robert Novak reported that Valerie Plame was a CIA agent, ending her career as a covert operative.

BBC: The history of US leaks

Morphing from actor to patient to soldier to spy, Lysander is plunged into the dangerous world of wartime intelligence as a covert operative.

CNN: Sex, spies and psychoanalysis in 'Waiting for Sunrise'

Prosecutors said the former officer leaked the name of a covert operative to a journalist, who subsequently disclosed it to a researcher working for the lawyer of a Guantanamo detainee.

BBC: Former CIA agent Kiriakou gets 30 months for name leak

Prosecutors said that in 2008 the former officer leaked the name of a covert operative to a journalist, who subsequently disclosed it to a researcher working for the lawyer of a Guantanamo detainee.

BBC: Ex-CIA officer Kiriakou 'made peace' with leak decision

Would it be a member of the criminal underground or covert national operative in another region of the world, acting under orders?

FORBES: Intellectual Property Theft: Beware The Enemy Within

In July, newspaper columnist and CNN Commentator Robert Novak reported the identity of Wilson's wife as a covert CIA operative in a column in the Chicago Sun Times.

CNN: Ashcroft recuses himself from CIA leak probe