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.
LOL.
I have never watched that show. I am on Satelite and watch the documentary channel, or Fox News.
I did try to watch one of those goofy survivor shows once, I laughed so hard I cried. It was so stupid!!!
......There were no secret prisons, she was given that bogus information to prove that she was the leaker.....
The events of yesterday point to that simple fact.
The Ratmole was screwed.
News
USIS Washington File
17 June 1998
TEXT: BERGER APPOINTS MCCARTHY SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR INTELLIGENCE
(And senior director on NSC Staff for intelligence programs) (370)
Washington -- National Security Advisor Samuel R. Berger announced
June 16 the appointment of Mary O'Neil McCarthy as Special Assistant
to the President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs.
She succeeds Rand Beers in that post, an announcement by the office of
the White House Press Secretary said.
Mary McCarthy had been Director of Intelligence Programs on the
National Security Council Staff since July 1996. Previously, said the
White House, Mrs. McCarthy served as the National Intelligence Officer
for Warning from 1994-1996 and as the Deputy National Intelligence
Officer for Warning from 1991-1994. She began government service in
1984 as an analyst in the Directorate of Intelligence of the Central
Intelligence Agency.
McCarthy has a B.A. and M.A. in history from Michigan State University
and an M.A and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
Following is the White House text:
(begin text)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
June 16, 1998
STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY
National Security Advisor Samuel R. Berger announced today the
appointment of Mary O'Neil McCarthy as Special Assistant to the
President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs. Mrs. McCarthy
succeeds Rand Beers.
Mary McCarthy had been Director of Intelligence Programs on the
National Security Council Staff since July 1996. Previously, Mrs.
McCarthy served as the National Intelligence Officer for Warning from
1994-1996 and as the Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Warning
from 1991-1994. She began government service in 1984 as an analyst in
the Directorate of Intelligence of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Prior to her government service, Mrs. McCarthy held positions in both
the private sector and academia. She was a Director, then Vice
President of BERI, SA, a firm conducting financial and political risk
assessments, from 1979-1984. Previously, she had taught at the
University of Minnesota and was Director of the Social Science Data
Archive at Yale University.
Mrs. McCarthy has a B.A. and M.A. in history from Michigan State
University and an M.A and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. She
and her husband Michael McCarthy have a son, Michael.
(end text)
http://www.fas.org/irp/news/1998/06/98061701_tpo.html
You just have to turn off your brain for a while. Come on...won't hurt a bit...
I'm not disputing that. I'm just saying that we're better off with the Republicans than we ever would be with the Democrats. Has this admin missed the mark on things I wanted to see done? You bet they have.
On the other hand, they've brought just a bit more dignity to the office, more balance to the USSC, and they did a lot more about terrorism than Clinton's missile strikes against empty tents in the desert. The economy is good, whether the media wants to admit it or not. Just to name a few things I AM happy about.
Maybe for you it's not enough to say "it could be worse"--but knowing full well it WOULD HAVE BEEN WORSE if we had a Kerry admin, I'm going to say this admin has not done everything wrong, not by a longshot.
I understand this is about a CIA leak.
I handled highly classified documents for several years and am totally P.O.'d about the way the administration is handling this crap.
And that anger is just on top of all the other stuff that the administration is washing its hands of.
Sandy Berger should be in jail. Does anyone here question that?
Pinch Sulzberger should be in jail. Go ahead and dispute that.
Jow Wilson should be in jail along with his wife, the CIA clerk.
But the president doesn't want to upset anybody and create a hostile work environment in DC.
It's all a big joke.
They have no guts.
I wonder how many classified information she leaked?
I wonder how many classified information she leaked?
Ok. Now you are on topic and I agree with you. Nothing makes me more P.O.'d than Berger walking around free.
Let's see what happens with this latest "leak". Maybe this will be the straw that broke the camel's back. We can hope.
why did he let tenet continue at the cia?
answers to these questions would tell a lot about what went wrong in the bush administration.
but why did bush let her stay in the cia???
they should tap her skull, until she talks.
"You just have to turn off your brain for a while. Come on...won't hurt a bit..."
LOL. My leisure activities consist of freepin, fishin, and gardening. Occasionally I get to play out the role of survivor, when I go camping.
17 June 1998
TEXT: BERGER APPOINTS MCCARTHY SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR INTELLIGENCE
(And senior director on NSC Staff for intelligence programs) (370)
Washington -- National Security Advisor Samuel R. Berger announced
June 16 the appointment of Mary O'Neil McCarthy as Special Assistant
to the President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs.
She succeeds Rand Beers in that post, an announcement by the office of
the White House Press Secretary said.
Mary McCarthy had been Director of Intelligence Programs on the
National Security Council Staff since July 1996. Previously, said the
White House, Mrs. McCarthy served as the National Intelligence Officer
for Warning from 1994-1996 and as the Deputy National Intelligence
Officer for Warning from 1991-1994. She began government service in
1984 as an analyst in the Directorate of Intelligence of the Central
Intelligence Agency.
McCarthy has a B.A. and M.A. in history from Michigan State University
and an M.A and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
Following is the White House text:
(begin text)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
June 16, 1998
STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY
National Security Advisor Samuel R. Berger announced today the
appointment of Mary O'Neil McCarthy as Special Assistant to the
President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs. Mrs. McCarthy
succeeds Rand Beers.
Mary McCarthy had been Director of Intelligence Programs on the
National Security Council Staff since July 1996. Previously, Mrs.
McCarthy served as the National Intelligence Officer for Warning from
1994-1996 and as the Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Warning
from 1991-1994. She began government service in 1984 as an analyst in
the Directorate of Intelligence of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Prior to her government service, Mrs. McCarthy held positions in both
the private sector and academia. She was a Director, then Vice
President of BERI, SA, a firm conducting financial and political risk
assessments, from 1979-1984. Previously, she had taught at the
University of Minnesota and was Director of the Social Science Data
Archive at Yale University.
Mrs. McCarthy has a B.A. and M.A. in history from Michigan State
University and an M.A and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. She
and her husband Michael McCarthy have a son, Michael.
(end text)
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