Posted on 04/22/2006 4:22:36 AM PDT by pookie18
McCarthy served as assistant to Clinton, senior director for intelligence programs
WASHINGTON – A CIA officer fired for leaking classified information was appointed as special assistant to President Clinton and senior director for intelligence programs by former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, who pleaded guilty to stealing highly classified documents.
Mary McCarthy
Mary O'Neil McCarthy was fired Thursday for reportedly leaking classified information that contributed to a Washington Post report about alleged secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe.
She most recently worked for the CIA inspector general's office and served as a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Public records show McCarthy, a veteran CIA officer, had served as a special assistant to Clinton and, later, President Bush – a tenure that stretched from 1998 to 2001. She testified to the commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks.
The CIA acknowledged the dismissal of an officer over a media leak is extremely rare. It resulted from a 3-month investigation.
The Washington Post report in November about secret CIA prisons for terrorism suspects prompted an international controversy over U.S. detainee policies and also won a Pulitzer Prize.
The CIA would not say what the leak involved, and declined to identify the officer or describe the officer's duties at the agency, saying that such disclosures would violate the Privacy Act of 1974.
"This CIA officer acknowledged having unauthorized discussions with the media in which the officer knowingly shared classified intelligence, including operational information," CIA spokeswoman Michele Neff said.
Neff said the officer's actions violated a secrecy agreement that CIA employees sign when they begin working for the agency.
The Washington Post reported that the CIA operated a network of secret prisons for terrorism suspects in countries overseas, including Eastern Europe. The report spawned a number of investigations in Europe that have yet to produce definitive evidence that the secret prisons existed.
McCarthy succeeded Rand Beers in the job of special assistant to the president and senior director for intelligence programs. Ironically, she was named to the position by Berger, who pleaded guilty last fall to stealing classified information from the National Archives while preparing Clinton to testify to the 9-11 commission.
Sandy Berger
Last September, a judge ordered Berger to pay a $50,000 fine for his crime. Berger avoided prison time under the punishment handed down by U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson.
In addition to the fine, which exceeded the $10,000 recommended by government lawyers, he was prohibited from access to classified government materials for three years.
"The court finds the fine is inadequate because it doesn't reflect the seriousness of the offense," Robinson said as Berger stood before her.
During the hearing, Berger described his crime as a lapse of judgment.
"I let considerations of personal convenience override clear rules of handling classified material," Berger said. "I believe this lapse, serious as it is, does not reflect the character of myself. In this case, I failed. I will not again."
The stolen documents were copies of highly secret memoranda, possibly with handwritten notes, that allegedly were critical of the Clinton administration's response to the "Millennium 2000" terror plot to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport.
Berger, who was an adviser to the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry when the scandal broke, has held multiple national security jobs since the Carter administration and recently was a foreign policy adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Public records show that McCarthy contributed $2,000 in 2004 to the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee.
Berger initially said he took copies of the classified documents regarding terrorism from the National Archives by "accident" and then misplaced them in what he described as an "honest mistake." He later admitted, however, that after pilfering the documents, he destroyed three of the five with scissors at the office of his consulting firm.
Is everyone in D.C. a eunech. Ever heard of a sturdy rope and a lamp post?
Berger Stole Classified information from the Archives so Clinton would not go to jail for allowing the 911 attack. Why was their no jury trial for Berger? How did the GOP let this one get away....
I'm a good person, so the "rules" didn't apply to me.
Maybe Ms. McCarthy will spill a few beans to the feds about Burglar.
SHE SHOULD BE IN JAIL, NOT WALKING THE STREETS WITH MOUNTAINS OF CLASSIFIED INFO IN HER UGLY LITTLE LIBERAL HEAD!!
Because they did is the reason this mole had no problem disclosing the existence of the secret terrorist prisons to the press.
Unless the administration puts her away for 20 years and arrest the journalists this will be meaningless.
W let Berger walk, there is just no excuse for that.
Freeper timeout found the connection between traitor Mary and Joe Wilson.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1619050/posts?page=998#998
Sounds like the CIA has another candidate for the Fort Marcy Syndrome. RIP Miss McCarthy and say "Hi" to Vince Foster when you see him. Hillary sends her love. (;^D)
Berger needs to get out of the illegal disclosure business because him or none of his recruits are very good at it.
You know I was pretty PO'd about this until I read your response, maybe there will be some good come of this after all. I swear the Dems have to morals when it comes to our security. the whole get Bush ideology is so crippling. But I think what bothers me more is there appears to be no blood lust to get these POS dems.
Where's the outrage?
This POS leaked information and all she gets is fired!
WTF?
Phocking Martha Stewart got sent to jail for less.
Can you say 900 FBI files?
I knew you could.
Another bleeding heart liberal willing to DESTROY her country so she could get HER job and power back and then claim she did it FOR her country.
Seems like she learned a lot from the Clinton Gang.
As someone said on another thread: they are probably tapping her phone to see who she calls.
That's the million dollar question re: Berger. And NOTHING makes me madder.
That would be sweeeeet....
Marty Robbins...thanks for the link. :-)
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