National Briefs

First library on Mars:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- When NASA's newest Mars lander departs Earth today, it will be carrying the words and art of visionaries from Voltaire to Carl Sagan. The "Visions of Mars" mini-disk secured to the lander will be the first library on Mars -- a gift from past and present dreamers to possible future settlers. "I'm glad you're there and I wish I was with you," Sagan said in a recording made for the mission before his 1996 death. An excerpt from his book "Cosmos" is also on board.

Judge rejects Plame bid:

NEW YORK -- The CIA can force Valerie Plame, whose career became national news after her once-clandestine position was leaked, to remain silent about the exact length of her tenure with the agency, a federal judge has ruled. Although the years of her employment have appeared in the Congressional Record and elsewhere, U.S. District Judge Barbara S. Jones said in ruling for the CIA that there were benefits to the agency and the country in keeping some things classified -- even after they are seemingly public. Plame and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, brought the lawsuit earlier this year, saying they had a First Amendment right to publish her dates of employment with the CIA in her upcoming memoir.