Dick Cheney

A former CIA agent has sued several top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney and former presidential adviser Karl Rove for their roles in the public disclosure of her classified identity.

Former agent Valerie Plame and her husband, former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson, also named Cheney's former chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby and 10 other unnamed senior officials in Thursday's suit.

The suit alleges that the officials conspired to seek revenge against Wilson for criticizing the administration's reasons for invading Iraq.

One day earlier, the reporter who first revealed Plame's status as a CIA officer acknowledged that Rove was one of three people that provided him with the information.  Robert Novak also named former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow as a source for the 2003 story.  Novak said he is unable to reveal the third person's identity.

The report triggered a criminal investigation to determine who was responsible for revealing Plame's identity. 

A grand jury is investigating whether Bush administration officials leaked the information as revenge against Wilson.

Wilson traveled to Niger in 2002 on behalf of the CIA to investigate reports that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from the west African nation. 

The administration used these claims as part of its reasons for toppling Saddam Hussein, despite Wilson's assertions that he found no evidence of any such transactions.

Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief-of-staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, has been charged with perjury and lying to investigators for his role in the scandal.  He will go on trial next year.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.