Operative whose identity was leaked is leaving CIA

WASHINGTON -- Valerie Plame, the diplomat's wife whose secret resume was exposed in a newspaper column that eventually led to the indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, is leaving the CIA on Friday, people familiar with her plans said.

Plame, 43, worked undercover for the CIA tracking weapons proliferation. Her clandestine career was imperiled after she was identified as an agency operative in the summer of 2003 in an article by syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak.

Friends said the mother of 5-year-old twins wants to spend more time with her family and, although she once appeared in a photo spread about the case with her husband in Vanity Fair magazine, she has no plans to speak out.

There has also been speculation that she might file a civil suit against the Bush administration for damaging her career.