However, do you think that a covert officer can ever be really off duty?

Mr. Fitzgerald is examining whether anyone in the government violated a law making it a crime to disclose the name of a covert officer deliberately.

But a top presidential aide continued to negotiate a deal on Tuesday that would offer covert officers some protection from prosecution, administration and Senate officials said.

When another covert officer heatedly supported Lofgren, Deutch laughed.

The person who has been briefed on the matter said Mr. Rove neither knew Ms. Wilson's name nor that she was a covert officer.

But the indictment does not describe a situation in which people accidentally outed someone they did not know was a covert officer.

It can be a crime to knowingly name a covert officer for the Central Intelligence Agency.

Disclosing the identity of a covert officer for the Central Intelligence Agency can be a crime.

Law enforcement agency personnel when they take on assumed identities are often referred to as covert officers or undercover officers.

Did you know that Mrs. Wilson was a covert officer?