CIA fires source of leaks for prize-winning stories

WASHINGTON — The CIA has fired a senior officer for leaking classified information to the media, including material for Pulitzer Prize-winning stories in The Washington Post that said the agency maintained a secret network of prisons overseas for high-ranking terrorism suspects.

The termination, announced Friday, marks the latest in a series of high-profile crackdowns on spy agency and Bush administration officials accused of unauthorized disclosures of classified information.

The CIA would not identify the fired officer, citing Privacy Act protections.

But current and former intelligence officials identified her as Mary McCarthy, a former White House aide who until this week held a senior position in the CIA's Inspector General's Office.

CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said only that an unnamed individual had admitted to having contacts with the media and discussing classified information.

"That is a violation of the secrecy agreement that everyone signs as a condition of employment with the CIA," Gimigliano said.

U.S. intelligence officials, who requested anonymity, said McCarthy's admission came after she failed a polygraph test conducted as part of several CIA investigations into leaks. She was fired Thursday and escorted from the agency's Langley campus in McLean, Va., the officials said.

The officials said McCarthy could face criminal prosecution, and the Justice Department has been apprised of developments.

One U.S. official indicated she had engaged in a "pattern of contacts" with more than one reporter.

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.

In her final position at the CIA, she was assigned to its Office of Inspector General, looking into claims the CIA was involved in torture at Iraqi prisons, according to a former colleague who spoke on condition of anonymity.

McCarthy holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Minnesota and had taught there; she also worked at Yale University before joining the government.

Attempts to reach her Friday night were unsuccessful. Her husband would not confirm her firing.

The CIA did not name the reporters it believes were involved, but several intelligence officials said The Washington Post's Dana Priest was among them.

This week, Priest won the Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting for articles about the agency, including one that revealed the existence of secret CIA-run prisons in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

The story caused an international uproar, and government officials have said it did significant damage to relationships between the U.S. and allied intelligence agencies.

Priest, who also won the George Polk Award and a prize from the Overseas Press Club this week for her articles, declined to comment Friday.

Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. said people who provide citizens the information they need to hold their government accountable should not "come to harm for that."

"The reporting that Dana did was very important accountability reporting about how the CIA and the rest of the U.S. government have been conducting the war on terror," Downie said.

It was unclear if Priest or any other reporters who spoke to McCarthy would be brought into an investigation. Post spokesman Eric Grant said no reporter at the paper had been subpoenaed or had spoken to investigators about the matter.

A former senior CIA officer said agency director Porter Goss sent an e-mail Friday, saying the dismissed employee had failed a polygraph test and subsequently admitted making unauthorized disclosures.

Washington has been racked by a series of high-profile leaks and subsequent investigations in recent years.

The White House recently was forced to acknowledge that Bush had authorized the declassification of sensitive material that was shared with a reporter as part of the administration's effort to rebut criticism of its case for war in Iraq.

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, has been indicted as part of a probe into whether administration officials leaked the identity of former CIA officer Valerie Plame.

And intelligence officials are investigating the source of leaks that Bush had authorized the wiretapping of U.S. residents — without court warrants — as part of the administration's counterterrorism efforts after Sept. 11.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.