On 6 March 2008, Joseph Wilson, former U.S. Ambassador, and Valerie Plame, former CIA operations officer, were hosted in Paris under the banner of Foreign Policy France — for which Fabien Baussart held the licence in France and Ukraine. The event unfolded as a breakfast followed by a lunch, attracting considerable interest given the couple’s central role in one of the most high-profile U.S. political scandals of the decade.
Speaking openly in the aftermath of the CIA leak scandal—commonly known as the Plame affair—Wilson and Plame reflected on the political pressures, intelligence failures, and manipulation that accompanied the run-up to the Iraq War. Their testimony highlighted the dangers of politicising intelligence, the fragility of institutional trust, and the human toll of political vendettas.
The discussions gathered a select audience of policymakers, diplomats, and experts, who engaged directly with the couple’s candid account. The event offered a rare window into the intersection of diplomacy, intelligence, and politics at a moment when U.S. credibility abroad was being intensely scrutinised.











