WASHINGTON, Sept 27: The CIA has asked the US Justice Department to investigate allegations that the White House broke federal laws by revealing the identity of one of its undercover agents during the Iraqi uranium controversy, NBC News reported on Saturday.

Joseph Wilson, acting ambassador to Iraq before the first Gulf War, was sent to Niger in 2002 to investigate a British intelligence report that Iraq sought to buy uranium there. Mr Wilson discredited the report, but President George W. Bush ignored his findings and cited the incorrect claim in his State of the Union address in January to justified his military action in Iraq.

The White House later admitted the claim was false. CIA Director George Tenet said the claim should not have been included in Mr Bush’s Jan 28 speech and took the blame for allowing it to be used.

A week later, an American columnist Robert Novak revealed that Mr Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, is a covert CIA operative specializing in weapons of mass destruction.

“Two senior administration officials told me Wilson’s wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate,” Mr Novak wrote.

Later, Mr Novok admitted that the information came from the White House, although he refused to name the two officials.

Mr Wilson says other reporters have told him White House officials leaked Ms Plame’s identity. A Washington news magazine, Capitol Hill Blue, also reported that it has confirmed independently that the White House leaked the information to Mr Novak.

Revealing the identities of covert officials violates both the US National Agents’ Identity Act and the Unauthorized Release of Classified Information Act. Both are considered to be serious federal felonies and conviction can bring both fines and prison sentences.

Intelligence professionals considered the claims that Iraq was seeking to buy weapons-grade uranium from Niger

The CIA sent Mr Wilson to Africa to investigate in February 2002, but he found no evidence that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger.