Former undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame, whose identity was leaked to the press, is suing U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.

Plame has accused Cheney, his chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby, presidential adviser Karl Rove and other White House officials of leaking her identity to discredit her husband Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. diplomat who questioned the reasoning behind the invasion of Iraq.

Both Wilson and Plame filed the lawsuit Thursday.

On July 6, 2003, Wilson wrote a column in The New York Times arguing that the White House had glossed over certain intelligence reports in its argument for the war.

Specifically, Wilson wrote that after a trip to Niger, he had concluded Iraq did not have an agreement to acquire uranium yellowcake to produce nuclear weapons, as was alleged.

Just eight days after Wilson's piece was published, syndicated columnist Robert Novak wrote that it was Wilson's wife, Plame, who used her influence as a CIA agent to send Wilson to Niger.

The lawsuit alleges that White House officials "embarked on an anonymous 'whispering campaign' designed to discredit ... (the Wilsons) and to deter other critics from speaking out," by revealing her identity to the press.

Not all reporters who obtained Plame's identity used the information. It's a federal offence in the U.S. to name an undercover operative.

The lawsuit also alleges that Cheney, Libby, Rove and 10 unnamed officials endangered the Wilson family - including their children - by leaking Plame's identity.

"This lawsuit concerns the intentional and malicious exposure by senior officials of the federal government of ... (Plame), whose job it was to gather intelligence to make the nation safer and who risked her life for her country," the couple's lawyer said in the lawsuit.

The Wilsons also allege that the leak infringed on their privacy rights.

Libby faces perjury and obstruction of justice charges in connection with the leak. He allegedly lied to FBI investigators and a grand jury about when he discovered Plame's identity, and what he told reporters about her.

According to The Associated Press, court filings in the Libby case allege that Cheney was active in countering Wilson's opinion piece.

Cheney apparently wrote on Wilson's article: "Have they done this sort of thing before? Send an ambassador to answer a question? Do we ordinarily send people out pro bono to work for us? Or did his wife send him on a junket?"

No other officials have been charged in the leak. And in June, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald said he would not take legal action against Rove.

With files from The Associated Press