Libby & Miller Already Knew Who Plame Was
Idle Speculation
Miller as one of the six reporters given Plame's identity did not write an article "smearing" Valerie Plame.
If Miller wrote an article attacking Plame, Miller may have worried that there was a possibility that someone could trace elements of Miller's WMD articles back to information in CIA documents developed by covert CIA WMD expert Valerie Plame. (The run-up to the Iraq invasion was built in part on classified CIA WMD information.)
Miller's initial concern would entail being exposed for publishing classified information (culled from Plame's CIA documents). Miller has security clearance, or is treated as if she has, so she is privy to the documents contents. Or Miller gains some sort of security clearance to justify viewing or possessing classified information. (Note that this security clearance should be documented somewhere.) If there is no security clearance then Miller is just plain scared about using classified information illegally.
More Idle Speculation
As the furor about outing Plame grows, Miller then worries about being traced to the W.H.I.G. disinformation campaign (Miller having gotten the CIA information via W.H.I.G.), and being tied to Plame via the WMD articles. Miller is now trying to conceal two items, knowledge of Plame's identity and using CIA classified information for her articles.
One possibility is that Plame is known to the entire W.H.I.G hence Miller is technically correct in saying that Libby did not give her Plame's name because both Miller and Libby got it via W.H.I.G. When Miller writes "Valerie Flame" she is annotating her Libby meeting notes with a name both are already familiar with (and how convenient that a scrawled "P" looks like an "F"?).
However, how Plame's name was disseminated is another matter -- involving both Libby (to deflect Cheney's involvement) and Rove (to undercut Wilson by smearing Plame). Bob Novak would have to have two independent sources for confirmation hence the further involvement of Libby. Keeping in mind that both Rove and Libby would have learned Plame's identity as members of W.H.I.G. One could further speculate that as former ambassador to Iraq, Wilson was a known quantity and his relation to WMD expert Valerie Plame also known. The correlation between Wilson -- Iraq and Plame -- WMD is too enticing.
Even More Idle Speculation
And Libby and Rove as members of W.H.I.G. already knew Plame was covert. As did Miller... So, did the New York Times publisher and editor know about Miller's use of classified information? Making them potentially culpable?
Keep in mind Jeff Gannon. His real name and his associations were revealed very early in the investigation. His talking points could be traced back to the spin campaigns coming directly out of the White House. He gained access with the help of someone in the White House.
Whatever Miller is trying to hide has something to do with her early W.H.I.G. contacts and the WMD propaganda campaign. The person who gave her access... The people who gave her classified information.
Three Hundred and Sixty degrees of Idle Speculation.
It's one and the same. WMD -- Plame. Wilson -- article. Smear Plame. Discredit Wilson.
Pure Karl Rove: c.f. Danny Boy and Jeff Gannon. How it worked for Jeff Gannon is how it worked for Miller.