agent valerie plame effectively ending her career with the agency. her work was focused on nuclear air proliferation, and she wrote an auto biography that turned into a movie and has since been working with the organization "global zero." now she's authored a new spy novel called "blow back." joining us is former c.i.a. agent valerie blame. great to have you with us. >> thank you for having me. >> i want to start with serious questions. your work at the c.i.a. now at global zero and in the novel all have corrections to iran. the number of countries that now have nuclear weapons has grown since you left the c.i.a. are you hopeful that proliferation will stop? >> i am hopeful. i think more and more nations are realizing that nuclear weapons belong in a dust pin of history. that they no, no longer provide the security that they once did, where we have the nexus of nuclear technology and terrorism. the proliferation will continue unless we take strong international steps which is what global zero is supporting, enough, i think we've just been lucky so fa

>> all of that plus valerie plame is with us and has written a spy novel and the plot sounds very familiar. >> good one. >> 24 hours after the capitol hill shooting and what a difference, back to business as usual for this congress, which hasn't been much business except a shutdown. on the left that's what the capitol was like yesterday after a woman rammed the white house gates and led police on a chase that ended with her being killed by capitol police. on right president o bam am and vice president biden walking out of the white house going to lunch. they are trying to determine what caused miriam carey to drive to d.c. with a toddler in the car and engage in capitol police. she had a history of mental illness and believed she was being stalked by the president. luke russert was on hill during the chaos and now here with the latest on the investigation. >> reporter: nbc's pete william, tour'e says this woman was a dental hygienist, 34 years old and that the doctor she originally worked for she had been fired said she suffered a fall and at that fall -- after she took time off from that

former cia officer valerie plame. she became a household name when in 2003 her cover was notoriously blown by a member of the bush administration. she's put her cloak and dagger experience into this new book "blowback" out this week about a junior female cia officer on the hunt for a dangerous nuclear arms dealer. valerie plame has been nice enough to join us on the congressional lawn. thanks for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> you wrote this in part because you're disappointed with how, in general, hollywood and the publishing world has portrayed female cia officers. >> absolutely. female cia officers are always portrayed in such a shallow fashion, i think. >> they trade sex for intelligence. >> sex and guns, which are good and fine, but if that's the only thing you trade on, i thought there was room to depict someone that was a little more realistic, but still entertaining. that was the genesis of that. >> what do you think of kerry matheson, the character in "homeland"? what do you think of the character

first what brought plame in from the cold. >> reporter: for nearly 20 years, valerie plame worked under the confer of darkness serving as the covert cia agent. in retaliation for her husband, former ambassador joe wilsons editorial that questioned the evidence of chemical weapons of mass destruction, used to justify the iraq war. >> i worked on behalf of national security of our country, on behalf of the people of the united states until my name and true affiliation were exposed in the national media on july 14th 2003. >> reporter: her picture was flashed all over newspapers and magazines including this profile in "vanity fair." thrust into the spotlight, plame's career was over. in 2007 she released her memoir entitled "fair game" and spoke with "60 minutes" about her time with the cia and her confidence being revealed. >> i can tell you all the intelligence services in the world that morning were running my name through their databases to see did anybody by this name come in the country. when? did we know anything about it? where did she stay? >> reporter: since then plame and her hus

first what brought plame in from the cold. >> reporter: for nearly 20 years, valerie plame worked under the confer of darkness serving as the covert cia agent. in retaliation for her husband, former ambassador joe wilsons editorial that questioned the evidence of chemical weapons of mass destruction, used to justify the iraq war. >> i worked on behalf of national security of our country, on behalf of the people of the united states, until my name and true affiliation were exposed in the national media on july 14th, 2003. >> reporter: her picture was flashed all over newspapers and magazines including this profile in "vanity fair." thrust into the spotlight, plame's career was over. in 2007, she released her memoir entitled "fair game" and spoke with "60 minutes" about her time with the cia and her confidence being revealed. >> i can tell you all the intelligence services in the world that morning were running my name through their databases to see did anybody by this name come in the country. when? did we know anything about it? where did she stay? >> reporter: since then plame and her

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there was -- i have forgotten the name of valerie plame's husband -- >> joe wilson? >> he had published an article saying that he had been sent to investigate some of the allegations about saddam hussein and he had reported back. aegis was not so -- it just was not so. his op-ed was intended to undermine the credibility of the vice president and the administration. it asserted that there was evidence that there was -- it asserted that there was evidence of this and that he had been asked my the same people to look and he had told them, "no." the response of the white house was not intended to attack joe wilson personally. it was to undermine the credibility of what he was saying. in part, by saying that they did not send him and he was sent by the agency. at the suggestion of his wife, who worked at the agency. there was a credibility reason to out the wife. it was not intentional. it appeared in a bob novak column. the revelation of the wife having been at the cia. and, the -- as it turns out -- the person who had leaked this information to bob novak was the deputy

. >> what was your view speaking of the media of the rangel over karl rove and valerie plame and her husband and of yellow cake and bob novak and who leaked the story and all of that. how did you see it where you were sitting and what role did you play in that? i had very little role in the underlying activity or the fallout from it. i was the budget director at the time kind of removed from those sorts of political activities. be uh you couldn't fail. if you sat at the senior staff table in the bush administration in those years, you couldn't fail to be affectled by it. and to have a lot of sympathy for the folks going through a very difficult investigation. that i -- i think was -- i'm trying to pick a plight word -- ill conceived at best. there had been the -- it's an incredibly complicated story. but trying to boil it down to some of its basic elements, they're -- they're -- i mean, i've forgotten the name of valerie plame's husband. >> joe wilson. >> joe wilson had published and article saying he had been sent to investigate some of the allegations about saddam importing yellow

. >> speaking of the media, what is that you of the -- what is of the wrangling over plame,ve, valerie itlowcake --how did you see -- how did you see it? role in thetle underlying activity because i was the budget director at the time and kind of removed from those sorts of political considerations and activities. but, you could have, if you set the senior staff cable, if you sat at-- the senior staff cable, you could not not be affected by it. going through a very difficult that i think -- that, i think, was ill- conceived, at best. is a had been -- it complicated story -- i'm trying to boil it down. -- i have forgotten the name of valerie plame's husband -- >> joe wilson? articled published an saying that he had been sent to investigate some of the husseinons about saddam and he had reported back. -- it just waso not so. was intended to undermine the credibility of the vice president and the administration. it asserted that there was -- itce that there was asserted that there was evidence of this and that he had been asked my the same people to look "no." had told them, the response

. >>> valerie plame and "breaking bad" mastermind vince gilligan here today. >> but we begin this morning with a look at today's "eye opener," your world in 90 seconds. >> our founders would be ashame evidence what this country has become. it's dysfunctional. we ought to be ashamed of ourselves, that's nuts. >> the federal government grinds to a halt.

outfront, former operative valerie plame. you will recall her cover was blown in 2003 by a member of the bush administration and she is author of a flew book called "blowback." i'll cut straight to it. a lot of people are cheering for him and some are just appalled. does he have, deserve an award for integrity in intelligence? >> one thing as we know for certain, we would not even be having this conversation about the appropriate balance of security versus privacy if it were not for snowden's revelations. and president obama had spoken about the need to have a really robust conversation about this. it goes right to the heart of the fourth amendment. i think ultimately history will tell exactly where ed snowden falls on that line. >> all right. and so you've said that u.s. citizens owed him at one point you said a thank you for bringing the policies into the public eye. it is something that has changed the conversation in this country about who is watching what that do you in your e-mail and your phone conversations. but a the

>> all of that plus valerie plame is with us and has written a spy novel and the plot sounds very familiar. >> good one. >> 24 hours after the capitol hill shooting and what a difference, back to business as usual for this congress, which hasn't been much business except a shutdown. on the left that's what the capitol was like yesterday after a woman rammed the white house gates and led police on a chase thated

plame. bush commuted libby's substance, served zero days in jail, but for cheney, this was not enough. conviction was a deep scar, chain yip saeney said. he has to live with that stigma for the rest of his life. it is obviously a place where we fundamentally disagree. he knows how i felt about it. cheney suggested the president did not want to take the heat. i am sure it meant some criticism of him, he said, but it was a huge disappointment for me. well, here to talk about that, and where else things went wrong for the two of them, we have robert george, james moore, director of the pac progress texas. still with us, msnbc casey hunt and james, i'll start with you. there are two relationships, two personal alliances that define george w. bush in the public eye, one was karl rove and george w. bush. can you talk about which of those relationships was maybe more significant to his presidency and how specifically that cheney one evolved over the course of the presidency? >> rove is the politica