That Plame was well known in the DC cocktail circuits to be CIA has been well known for YEARS. Just about the first story I ever saw about Plame/Wilson so very long ago made it clear that everyone knew her connections with the agency. Only the Old Media FRAUDcasters have been attempting to keep this fact from the public.
Novak could have gotten her name from many people who had zero "insider information" from my understanding.
Surprising? Not at all, when we recall that WILSON HIMSELF says she revealed herself as CIA agent on one of their first dates!
Valerie was not a person, apparently, who held that information in high confidence.
I've heard this claim made, which I find just slightly odd when one considers that an insider like Novak didn't know. And that Rove didn't know.
But my real question is this: I've heard a number of people make general comments like the one Andrea Mitchell made the other day, along the lines of "it was no secret." Have you heard anyone not with the Agency - reporter or not - say that before the Novak column, "I knew" she was with the CIA?