What I Didn't Find in the Novak Column

David Corn seems to have subtly changed his story about how he came to out Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA spy:

Over three years ago, on the morning of July 14, 2003, I picked up The Washington Post and did something I don't always do: I read Robert Novak's column.

....A few sentences in the middle of the column caught my eye: Novak was reporting that Wilson's wife--Valerie Plame--was a CIA "operative on weapons of mass destruction." ....

When I saw the reference to his wife as a CIA spy... [our bold]

Which is not what Novak wrote at all. That idea--that she was a spy--had to come from somewhere else. Fortunately, Corn provides us with that information

... I called Wilson and asked about that. He was livid about the column. He would neither confirm nor deny anything. But, he said, if the information in the Novak column was accurate--if she were a CIA operative--then her cover had been blown and that would have serious consequences. If the information was wrong, then she had been falsely branded a spy.

Fortunately for Mr Corn his scoop didn't violate the law (the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982) since to do so requires intent to do harm to the nation's security--Corn (and Wilson) only seem interested in drawing attention to themselves for pecuniary gain.