Help me out with the analyst versus operative question [View All]

I'm sure this has been covered in the last few days, but I've scanned through and not found what I'm looking for in the pages and pages of posts.

I'm trying to point out to someone that the analyst versus operative issue isn't important. Now that Plame has been confirmed as an operative, it is really a moot point. But after listening to NPR this morning, I'm a bit confused. Someone on the radio show this morning said that whether or not she was an analyst or an operative is a moot point. They are all CIA "officers" and if they travel overseas they are encouraged to go undercover, if not outright ordered to do so.

So is it a crime to out her if she was "only" an analyst? Or would it have been a crime regardless?