AP:
The CIA has terminated an employee for leaking classified information which includes details about secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe that resulted in a Pultizer Prize-winning story that was written by Dana Priest. Priest detailed a prison system set up by the CIA after Sept. 11, 2001, that included sites in eight countries.
AP stated the CIA officer is Mary McCarthy who was nearing retirement. McCarthy was assigned to its Office of Inspector General, looking into allegations the CIA was involved in torture at Iraqi prisons.
CIA Director Porter Goss announced her termination in a message to agency employees circulated Thursday. This is the first time since he took over in August 2004,
that an intelligence officer was dismissed for speaking with reporters.
continued
According to spokesman Paul Gimigliano,
“The officer has acknowledged unauthorized discussions with the media and the unauthorized sharing of classified information. That is a violation of the secrecy agreement that everyone signs as a condition of employment with the CIA.”
In addition, a law enforcement official, speaking anonymously, confirmed there was a criminal investigation under way, that did not involve the fired CIA officer. Government officials claim that Priest’s story did damaged relationships between the U.S. and allied intelligence agencies.
Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. wrote on the WaPo site:
“We don’t know the details of why (the CIA employee) was fired, so I can’t comment on that. But as a general principle, obviously I am opposed
to criminalizing the dissemination of government information to the press.”
However, another anonymous government official said the fired officer had failed a lie-detector test. But, it is not clear if the lie detector test was a routine, as is required, or if it was one of those ordered by Goss to discover the who was leaking information.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the firing and refused to state whether this was referred to federal prosecutors for criminal charges. According to one law enforcement official, there were dozens of leak investigations under way. Another second said there had been no referral from the CIA re: the fired employee, which normally proceeds a criminal investigation.
Update:AP More comments:
Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., encouraged vigorous investigation of other open cases.
“Those guilty of improperly disclosing classified information should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., stated those in the administration who leaked information about Iraq intelligence and outed undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame should be held to the same standards.
“Apparently, President Bush doesn’t believe what’s good for the CIA is good for the White House.”
CIA Director Porter Gosss stated in February,
“The damage has been very severe to our capabilities to carry out our mission….a federal grand jury should be impaneled to determine who is leaking this information.”
Update: via TPM Cafe, by Larry Johnson.
“The case against the CIA Intelligence Officer, Mary McCarthy, fired for her alleged role in leaking information about secret prisons to the Washington Post’s Dana Priest smells a little fishy…”
“…she never worked a job where she would have had first hand operational knowledge about secret prisons. She worked the analytical side of the CIA and served with the National Intelligence Council. According to press reports, she subsequently worked at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) from 2001 thru 2005. That is a type of academic/policy wonk position and, again, would not put her in a position to know anything first hand about secret prisons.”
“Sometime within the last year she returned to CIA on a terminal assignment. I’ve heard through the grapevine that she was attending the seminar for officers who are retiring while working with the Inspector General (IG). Now things get interesting. She could find out about secret prisons if Intelligence Officers involved with that program had filed a complaint with the IG or if there was some incident that compelled senior CIA officials to determine an investigation was warranted. In other words, this program did not come to Mary’s attention (if the allegations are true) because she worked on it as an ops officer. Instead, it appears an investigation of the practice had been proposed or was underway. That’s another story reporters probably ought to be tracking down.”
“There is something potentially honorable in that action; particularly when you consider that George Bush authorized Scooter Libby to leak misleading information for the purpose of deceiving the American people about the grounds for going to war in Iraq…she is not a traitor and has not betrayed the identity of an undercover intelligence officer. That dirty work was done by the minions of George Bush and Dick Cheney. It is important to keep that fact in the forefront as the judgment on Mary McCarthy’s acts is rendered.”