Intelligence Identities Protection Act The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 ( , ) is a United States federal law that makes it a federal crime for those with access to classified information , or those who systematically seek to identify and expose covert agents and have reason to believe that it will harm the foreign intelligence activities of the U . S . , to intentionally reveal the identity of an agent whom one knows to be in or recently in certain covert roles with a U . S . intelligence agency , unless the United States has publicly acknowledged or revealed the relationship . History . The law was written , in part , as a response to several incidents where Central Intelligence Agency agents or officers ' identities were revealed . Under then existing law , such disclosures were legal when they did not involve the release of classified information . In 1975 , CIA Athens station chief Richard Welch was assassinated by the Greek terrorist group November 17 after his identity was revealed in several listings by a magazine called " CounterSpy , " edited by Timothy Butz . A local paper checked with " CounterSpy " to confirm his identity . However , the linkage between the publication of Welch ' s name and his assassination has been challenged by pundits that claim he was residing in a known CIA residency . Another major impetus to pass the legislation was the activities of ex - CIA agent Philip Agee during the 1960s and 1970s . Agee ' s book " CIA Diary " and his publication of the " Covert Action Information Bulletin " ( " CAIB " ) blew the cover of many agents . Some commentators say the law was specifically targeted at his actions , and one Congressman , Bill Young , said during a House debate , " What we ' re after today are the Philip Agees of the world . " The law passed the House by a vote of 315 – 32 , with all opposing votes coming from Democrats . The law passed the Senate 81 – 4 , with the opponents being Democratic Senators Joseph Biden ( currently Vice President of the United States ) , Gary Hart , and Daniel Patrick Moynihan , and Republican Senator Charles Mathias . Biden had written an op - ed column in the Christian Science Monitor published on April 6 , 1982 that criticized the proposed law as harmful to national security . , there have been only been two successful prosecutions involving the statute . In 1985 , Sharon Scranage , a secretary in the CIA ' s office in Accra , Ghana , was sentenced to five years and served eight months , for giving the names of other agents to her boyfriend in Ghana . In January , 2013 John C . Kiriakou , a former CIA officer , who accepted a plea bargain , is serving a prison sentence for disclosing the name of another CIA officer to a reporter . First Amendment implications . The criminal provisions of the act are contained in 50 U . S . C . § 421 . During Congress ' s consideration of the measure , much attention is paid to subsection 421 ( c ) , which states : Under this subsection , journalists and political commentators alike could be prosecuted should they show an effort towards discovering or revealing identities of covert agents . However , it was ultimately concluded by the Senate Judiciary and the Conference Committee that the measure is constitutionally sound . Individuals would only be prosecuted if they engage in a pattern of activities intended to identify and expose covert agents , on the grounds that such actions goes beyond information that might contribute to informed public debate on foreign policy or foreign intelligence activities . The Conference Committee assured that U . S . intelligence critics would be beyond the reach of law so long as they do not actively seek to identify or expose covert agents . However , commentators are still wary of the measure , finding 421 ( c ) standard over - broad since it lacks a ' specific intent requirement ' and instead relies on a ' reason to believe ' standard . Valerie Plame affair . Between 2003 and 2007 , an investigation was conducted by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald into whether this law and others were violated in the identification of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative in a 2003 newspaper column by Robert Novak . As a result of the investigation , former Vice Presidential Chief - of - Staff " Scooter " Libby was convicted on two counts of perjury , one count of obstruction of justice and one count of making false statements to federal investigators and sentenced to thirty months in jail . In a court filing related to Libby ' s sentencing , the CIA stated that Plame was a covert agent at the time of the leak . In addition , the leak enabled the identification of Plame as an employee of the CIA front company , Brewster Jennings & Associates , and in doing so enabled the identification of other CIA agents who were " employed " there . Who is Rich Blee ? In 2011 Ray Nowosielski and John Duffy of SecrecyKills . org planned to release an audio documentary entitled " Who is Rich Blee ? " , focusing on the CIA ' s Bin Ladin unit before 9 / 11 , and the way certain CIA officials blocked information on 9 / 11 hijackers from reaching the FBI before 9 / 11 . In the documentary they planned to reveal the identity of two CIA agents . One of them is " Frances " , the red - headed CIA agent mentioned in several reports on the War on Terror , including Jane Mayer ' s The Dark Side and an AP news story from 2011 about the Khalid El - Masri case . However , after receiving threats under the IIPA , Duffy and Nowosielski decided to release the documentary with the names redacted . The CIA threatened them with prosecution . They claim that their webmaster later posted an email containing the identities on accident . The identities then spread to the wider Internet . John Kiriakou . A former CIA officer , John Kiriakou , was charged and convicted under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act . On Tuesday , October 23 , 2012 Kiriakou pleaded guilty to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act . As part of a plea agreement , Kiriakou accepted a 30 month prison term , while the charges filed under the Espionage Act were dropped . He was sentenced on January 25 , 2013 . This is the first conviction of a CIA officer under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act in 27 years .