Meanwhile, eleven former intelligence officers have written an open letter to Congressional leaders saying the outing of Plame as a CIA operative may have damaged national security and the government’s ability to gather intelligence. They blasted the Republican National Committee for circulating talking points about the scandal that allege that Plame was not really working undercover because she worked at a desk in Langley and legally merited no protection. The eleven point out that thousands of U.S. intelligence officers work at desks in the Washington area every day whose identities are shielded, as Plame’s was when her identity was leaked.