While I understand your argument, I'm not sure I agree. If she was covert, nothing Wilson would do would justify "outing" her, by anyone. If the media was looking for confirmation that they believed her to be CIA, anyone up as high as Rove and Libby knows that you can't even take a chance. The CIA will never confirm.
If you're out, you're out--it's like being pregnant --you are or you aren't.In any event the only report that she was "undercover" is from David Corn who wrote (The Nation) of the first articles. Wilson was obviously his anonymous source, and if he told that to Corn, he "outed" his wife. If he didn't, COrn is a liar.
As to what Fitz is going after--DOJ has very strict rules relating to ths issuance and substance of subpoenas to reporters. He can't go beyond the subpoena. And by agreement he can only go into those things named in the subpoena which relate to Libby.
She was not covert. Plame was working at Langley and according to Vainty Fair, most of the folks in the neighborhood seemed to know it. She drove every day to work. She also made political contributions using her cover company.
If the media was looking for confirmation that they believed her to be CIA, anyone up as high as Rove and Libby knows that you can't even take a chance. The CIA will never confirm.
It is my contention that the media was not interested in Wilson's wife, except to confirm Wilson's story that the VP and the CIA sent him to Niger to investigate the sale of uranium to Iraq. The fact that she was involved in the selection process was germane to the Wilson story. The VP's office stated, after the NYT story, that they had not requested the CIA to investigate and had no knowledge of it. Tenet said the same thing, i.e., he didn't direct it nor did he learn of the results.
On July 14, 2003, columnist Robert Novak wondered why Mr. Wilson, who had no intelligence background and strong anti-Bush views, had been selected for the Niger mission. "Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report," he wrote. That set off the Plame name game.
Wilson and the Dems claim that the WH "outed" Plame as retribution for Wilson's NYT article. In point of fact, it was Wilson who invited the media attention on his wife. He made false claims and made the connection to the CIA in his NYT article. He should have never mentioned in a newspaper article that he was acting on behalf of the CIA.
In his NYT article, Wilson stated, "The mission I undertook was discreet but by no means secret. While the C.I.A. paid my expenses (my time was offered pro bono), I made it abundantly clear to everyone I met that I was acting on behalf of the United States government." And he added, "In early March, I arrived in Washington and promptly provided a detailed briefing to the C.I.A. I later shared my conclusions with the State Department African Affairs Bureau." So the CIA paid his expenses and as soon as he arrived back in DC, the first thing he did was to provide a detailed briefing to the CIA.
We now know that Wilson's NYT article was full of false information, including his conclusions, which actually supported to contention that Iraq and Niger were discussing uranium purchases.
Libby and Rove were rebutting Wilson's story. The fact that Wilson's wife sent him to Niger is a critical element in that rebuttal.