Here’s the Buzz on Valerie Plame: She’ll Break Her Silence for $2.5M

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

The buzz in the publishing world is that Valerie Wilson – the former CIA official and wife of Joseph Wilson, whose outing in a column by Robert Novak led to the indictment of the vice president’s chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, and the continued questioning of Karl Rove – will break her two-year silence in a memoir, to be published by Crown. The buzz was especially loud because of the size of the advance: a reported $2.5 million.

While Mrs. Wilson must be gratified that her ordeal has brought her some benefit, two questions pose themselves about the deal: Can a book by an untested writer earn back such a substantial advance? And will Mrs. Wilson run into any of the problems that other former C.I.A. employees have experienced in getting their books cleared by the agency’s Publications Review Board? A delay in publication of a hotly topical book can mean missing a crucial window of public interest.

Those in publishing generally declined to disapprove of the size of the deal. Harry Evans, who as head of Random House bought former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s memoirs for $5 million, said: “All front list publishing is risky, but this strikes me as a worthwhile risk. I think she has a good story to tell and, providing she tells it properly, both the publisher and the public will be well served.”

“Nowadays [$2.5 million] is not a huge amount. Knopf paid all that money for Bill Clinton, and that was a huge success. Not all, but most of my expensive acquisitions paid off,” Mr. Evans said. He emphasized that while Mrs. Wilson’s book may not make money in its first year, “Really good books will last for a long time. Publishing isn’t just a year one event.”

By a rough calculation, for Mrs. Wilson’s book to earn back its advance in its first year, it will have to sell more than 500,000 hardcover copies – half again as many as Jon Stewart’s “America (The Book),” a big bestseller last year.

“On the scale of ridiculous advances, it’s not the craziest I’ve ever heard,” a publishing insider who did not wish to be named said. “A lot of it has to do with what she’s actually going to say. She’s a person who’s received a lot of attention and has remained quiet until now. That’s a good recipe.”

Christopher Wolf, a lawyer who represents Joseph Wilson and the only person close to the Wilsons who could be found to comment on the deal, said that they did not expect there would be a problem in getting the final typescript cleared by the CIA.

“She will comply with all the CIA requirements that pertain to this,” Mr. Wolf said. “She’s incredibly loyal and incredibly devoted to the agency and would never say anything that would impair their work.” Both Mrs. Wilson’s agent, Elyse Cheney, and Crown declined to comment.

But according to Mark Zaid, a lawyer who has represented many authors in litigation with the C.I.A., there is no easy clearance process. Mr. Zaid currently has two clients in legal dispute with the C.I.A. One, Thomas Waters, author of “Class 11: Inside the C.I.A’s First Post-9/11 Class” – has had his publication date postponed indefinitely because the agency, at the last moment, revoked its approval.

According to Mr. Zaid, the C.I.A. has modified its rules for publication approval, both in writing and, more importantly, in practice. “They’re being far stricter in how they’re interpreting things. They’ve made it very clear that they don’t want former employees writing books about their experiences.”

Mr. Zaid said the problem doesn’t lie with the Publications Review Board. “On paper, the PRB is supposed to be able to render its own decisions, but it is clearly being manipulated by outside parties from within the agency-most likely the operations folks.”

Historically, he said, the PRB has been good to work with. “They don’t have the same secrecy mentality that the other offices do. They were typically lawyers at other agencies or historians. They’re very cognizant of the balance between First Amendment and secrecy. But the PRB is not the one calling the shots now, it’s above them.”

As for whether Mrs. Wilson would face problems in getting approval for her memoir, Mr. Zaid said, “As far as I’m aware, this is not intended to be an anti-Agency book. She had a fantastic career with the Agency. She will be writing this book with the intent and purpose not to have classified information in the book.

“But I have little doubt that she will be shocked at the absurdities that they throw back at her as to what is classified or what they consider classified. Based on all her years of experience and being in truly sensitive positions, she will think she has made sure that everything she writes is unclassified. And she’ll be shocked to see that they disagree.”

If Mrs. Wilson simply repeats things that have been reported elsewhere, but not confirmed by the agency itself – like that her cover was a made-up company called Brewster – the agency could consider that classified.

Mrs. Wilson may get lucky, however, if General Michael Hayden, the president’s nomination as the new head of the CIA, becomes head of the Agency as he has himself been publicly outspoken. “He clearly seems to understand that secrecy does not necessarily mean no information gets out,” Mr. Zaid said.

Depending on how long it takes for a policy of greater openness to trickle down from the top to the bottom, Mrs. Wilson may find the going easier than authors who have tried to publish under the former CIA director Porter Goss.

Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy, said he assumed Mrs. Wilson would be publishing “salacious allegations about the administration” and would have little problem either selling books or getting her manuscript approved by the agency. “If you’re an opponent of this president, you’re likely to have a pretty free ride at the CIA,” he said.

Judith Miller, the former New York Times reporter whose life has in the last three years been entangled with Mrs. Wilson’s – Ms. Miller went to jail for 12 weeks for refusing to testify in the leak case- had only positive things to say when informed about the size of the deal. “In general, I’m in favor of large advances for writers,” she said with a laugh.


The New York Sun

© 2024 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use