By historical standards, the cost of U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald's investigation of the disclosure of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity has not been high - just $1.4 million as of last September. Fitzgerald's investigation, as a special counsel appointed by the acting attorney general, came after two decades of independent counsel investigations that cumulatively cost more than $100 million.
GRAPHIC: Seth Hamblin and Laura Stanton, The Washington Post - February 23, 2007
