The Comenian

Issue date: 11/6/08 Section: News & Feature

Valerie Plame Wilson talks with students after speaking at this years's Cohen Lecture. The lecture series is in its 25th year of bringing noteworthy speakers to campus each fall.

On Wednesday, Oct. 29, former CIA covert operative Valerie Plame Wilson presented the 25th annual Cohen Lecture with her talk, entitled "Civility and Public Service."

Five years ago, Plame Wilson found herself thrust into a national spotlight when government official Lewis "Scooter" Libby revealed her secret status to several national journalists, including one syndicated newspaper columnist who published her name in retaliation for an opinion article her husband wrote criticizing the war in Iraq.

Plame Wilson spoke to an audience of about 1,700 at Johnston Hall about her CIA career and her exposure, which she described as abuse of public trust and an attempt to stifle freedom of speech rights.

"This is not a Republican issue. This is not a Democratic issue," she said. "This is an issue of national security, and this is why you should all care."

Plame Wilson said that while she is more cynical following the political firestorm, she urges young men and women to consider a life of public service.

"Voting is not enough," she said to students, and commented that involvement only begins with voting.

Plame Wilson urged young people to become engaged in civic life, whether that means volunteering at a campaign office, counting ballots, or making phone calls.

"Our country is in a very difficult time, and I think we can use all the bright, young, patriotic people to be brought into public service as we can," she said, calling the audience to action. She reminded students that despite the campaign of nearly five years by the government to destroy her family members' lives, she and her husband are not bitter, only angry-and disappointed in the U.S. government.

Plame Wilson said that her first reaction to her involvement in the political discord was complete shock, and she "felt like she had been sucker-punched in the gut." She knew that her covert career was over, but she worried most about her family, including the safety of her then three-year-old twins.

Plame Wilson's husband, retired Ambassador Joseph Wilson IV was the first to challenge the Bush administration on its use of what seemed to be false intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq.

Continued...

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