Valerie Plame
A former covert CIA operative thrust into a national scandal, she transformed her exposed identity into a voice for accountability and spy fiction.
Born 1963 (age 63)·American writer, spy novelist and former CIA officer·Birthday: August 13·Baby Boomers
Biography
Valerie Plame lived a life of calculated secrecy before becoming an unwilling public figure. Joining the CIA in the mid-1980s, she worked on counterproliferation, tracking weapons of mass destruction in a career that was deliberately obscured. In 2003, her cover was blown in a politically charged leak that ignited a Washington firestorm known as the Plame affair. Overnight, her covert career was over. Rather than retreat, Plame channeled her experience into writing, authoring a memoir that detailed the scandal and its personal cost, and later crafting a series of spy novels informed by her unique insider knowledge. She evolved from an anonymous officer into a public advocate for intelligence community integrity and a critic of the Iraq War machinations that ensnared her.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Valerie was born in 1963, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Valerie Was Born
The biggest hits of 1963
#1 Movie
Cleopatra
Best Picture
Tom Jones
#1 TV Show
Beverly Hillbillies
Valerie's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1963Born
JFK assassinated in Dallas; Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,100Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Sugar Shack" — Jimmy Gilmer & The FireballsBest Picture: Tom Jones
1968Started school
Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy assassinated
Gas: $0.34/galHome: $14,950Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Hey Jude" — The BeatlesBest Picture: Oliver!
1976Became a teenager
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1979Could drive
Iran hostage crisis begins; Three Mile Island accident
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $37,900Min wage: $2.90/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"My Sharona" — The KnackBest Picture: Kramer vs. Kramer
1981Could vote
MTV launches; first Space Shuttle flight; AIDS identified
Gas: $1.31/galHome: $52,300Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Bette Davis Eyes" — Kim CarnesBest Picture: Chariots of Fire
1984Turned 21
Apple Macintosh introduced
Gas: $1.13/galHome: $59,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"When Doves Cry" — PrinceBest Picture: Amadeus
1993Turned 30
European Union officially established
Gas: $1.11/galHome: $86,600Min wage: $4.25/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"I Will Always Love You" — Whitney HoustonBest Picture: Schindler's List
2003Turned 40
US invades Iraq; Human Genome Project completed
Gas: $1.59/galHome: $146,000Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"In Da Club" — 50 CentBest Picture: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2013Turned 50
Edward Snowden reveals NSA surveillance programs
Gas: $3.53/galHome: $152,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Thrift Shop" — Macklemore & Ryan LewisBest Picture: 12 Years a Slave
2023Turned 60
ChatGPT goes mainstream; Israel-Hamas war begins
Gas: $3.52/galHome: $361,600Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Joe Biden"Flowers" — Miley CyrusBest Picture: Oppenheimer
2026Age 63 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Served as a covert operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency for nearly two decades, focusing on counterproliferation.
- Published the memoir 'Fair Game,' detailing her experience of the CIA identity leak and its aftermath.
- Became a published novelist, authoring the 'Vanessa Pierson' series of espionage thrillers.
Did You Know?
Her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, wrote a New York Times op-ed criticizing the Bush administration's Iraq intelligence, which preceded the leak of her identity.
The film 'Fair Game' (2010), starring Naomi Watts, was based on her memoir.
She ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in New Mexico in 2020 but did not win the Democratic primary.
“"Mortifying, and I think I was in shock for a couple years."”
