Woodward apologizes over Plame secret

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Bob Woodward of the Washington Post has apologized for failing to let his editor know he was informed in June 2003 about the identity of a CIA operative.

The leak of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame has been the subject of a federal investigation for more than two years, and recently led to the indictment of I. Lewis Libby -- and to his resignation as an assistant to President George W. Bush and chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Woodward, the Post's assistant managing editor, said he told Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. he kept the information about Plame to himself because he was worried about being subpoenaed by special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the Post reported.

"I apologized because I should have told him about this much sooner," Woodward told the newspaper. "I explained in detail that I was trying to protect my sources."

Downie said Woodward "made a mistake," and should have told him sooner what he had heard from a senior Bush administration official about Plame's affiliation with the CIA.