CIA fires admitted leaker--source for WaPo prison story

Fox News:

A CIA officer has been relieved of his duty after being caught leaking classified information to the media.

CIA officials will not reveal the officer's name, assignment, or the information that was leaked. The firing is a highly unusual move, although there has been an ongoing investigation into leaks in the CIA.

One official called this a "damaging leak" that deals with operational information and said the fired officer "knowingly and willfully" leaked the information to the media and "was caught."

The CIA officer was not in the public affairs office, nor was he someone authorized to talk to the media. The investigation was launched in January by the CIA's security center. It was directed to look at employees who had been exposed to certain intelligence programs. In the course of the investigation, the fired officer admitted discussing classified information including information about classified operations.

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You have to wonder if the recipient of the leak recently won a Pulitizer. The biggest case of operational details being leaked about CIA action would have to be Dana Priest's story on the CIA Euro detention facilities for al Qaeda. The NY Times release of classified information was about an NSA operation to intercept enemy communications. The prosecuters have not leaked any information on wether there is an indictment pending.

Update: The Wasington Post that the fired employee was Dana Priest's source.

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The termination of the unidentified officer was announced to CIA employees yesterday after an internal investigation of the leaks. The terminated officer failed a polygraph examination, according to an agency official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

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The information included highly classified material regarding a network of secret CIA prisons in foreign nations in which terrorist suspects were held, the official said. The prison system was revealed by The Washington Post last year. The Post's Dana Priest won the Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting this week for her stories about the secret prisons and other national security matters.

The fired employee is said to have given information not only to Priest but to other reporters as well.

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Will Dana Priest's indictment follow?

There is also this story from MSNBC which indicates Dana Priest found out about the firing from NBC reporters. She still has not divulge the name of the source.

Update II: Fox News reports that the name of the CIA officer is Mary McCarthy in the inspecter generals office who also testified before the 9-11 commission. This indicates that a Mary O. McCarthy of Bethesda Maryland contributed $2,ooo to the Kerry campaign. Hat tip the Jawa Report, which has NBC news also confirming the name.

Update III: The AP also confirms Mary McCarthy as the name of the fired employee. She is described as "a CIA veteran nearing retirement." The story also added, "In McCarthy's final position at the CIA, she was assigned to its Office of Inspector General, looking into allegations the CIA was involved in torture at Iraqi prisons...."

Update IV: The NY Times adds some biographical information on McCarthy.

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Ms. McCarthy has been a well-known figure in intelligence circles. She began her career at the agency as an analyst and then was a manager in the intelligence directorate, working at the African and Latin America desks, according to a biography by the strategic studies center. With an advanced degree from the University of Minnesota, she has taught, written a book on the Gold Coast and was director of the social science data archive at Yale University.

Public records show that Ms. McCarthy contributed $2,000 in 2004 to the presidential campaign of John Kerry, the Democratic nominee.

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Glad they found that. The Washington Post adds this to her bio:

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McCarthy began her career in government as an analyst at the CIA in 1984, public documents show. She served as special assistant to the president and senior director for intelligence programs at the White House during the Clinton administration and the first few months of the Bush administration. She later returned to the CIA. Attempts to reach her last night were unsuccessful.

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Much of this lends credence to the belief of many Republicans that rogue CIA employees have been trying to undermine the Bush White House with selective leaks. There is a belief among many Republicans that Joe Wilson and his wife were a part of the rogue elements at the agency.