*** Welcome Michelle Malkin readers! Make sure to check out the links coming in to the comments to see what other bloggers are saying on this matter. ***

Update: Keep an eye on the comments for links coming in from readers and other blogs. This comment a Free Republic is also quite intriguing. Note: BTW, the facetious side of me get’s me in trouble constantly. The Mollohan update was definitely part tongue in cheek. I believe I said it was a wild coincidence. Go figure.

Addendum: Mac Ranger predicted these would be coming.

Update: More details are coming out. Now the news is claiming the CIA officer in question was one Mary McCarthy from the CIA’s Inspector General’s office – the supposed watchdog for illegal activities inside the agency.

NBC News identified the accused officer as Mary McCarthy, and said she worked in the CIA Inspector General’s office before being “marched out” of the spy agency on Thursday.

Also, the Department of Justice said they have DOZENS of leak investigations ongoing. This number is much larger than than any I have heard to date, and is, sadly, stunning. But back to McCarthy. I did find this interesting bio for one Mary McCarthy, CIA Officer:

Mary McCarthy, a CIA officer,is currently a visiting fellow at The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Prior to joining CSIS in August 2001, Mary O. McCarthy was a senior policy adviser to the CIA’s deputy director for science and technology. Until July 2001, she served as special assistant to the president and senior director for intelligence programs on the National Security Council (NSC) Staff, under both Presidents Clinton and Bush. From 1991 until her appointment to the NSC, McCarthy served on the National Intelligence Council. She began her government service as an analyst, then manager, in CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence, holding positions in both African and Latin American analysis. From 1979 to 1984 she was employed by BERI, S.A., conducting financial, operational, and political risk assessments for multinational companies and banks. Previously she had taught at the University of Minnesota and was director of the Social Science Data Archive at Yale University. She is the author of Social Change and the Growth of British Power in the Gold Coast (University Press of America, 1983). McCarthy has a B.A. and M.A. in history from Michigan State University, an M.A. in library science from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Minnesota.

This Mary McCarthy had a very sensitive position at near the top of the government. And I found this in the 9/11 Report where she is sited in discussions during the Clinton years. In section 4.2 of the report, on page 117, we find this:

Two days before the embassy bombings, Clarke’s staff wrote that Bin Ladin “has invested in and almost certainly has access toVX produced at a plant in Sudan.”43 Senior State Department officials believed that they had received a similar verdict independently, though they and Clarke’s staff were probably relying on the same report. Mary McCarthy, the NSC senior director responsible for intelligence programs, initially cautioned Berger that the “bottom line” was that “we will need much better intelligence on this facility before we seriously consider any options.” She added that the link between Bin Ladin and al Shifa was “rather uncertain at this point.”

This confirms the contents of the bio above. On Page 210 she is mentioned as one of the people working with Condi Rice to plan for dealing with the Taliban before 9-11:

In March 2001, Rice asked the CIA to prepare a new series of authorities for covert action in Afghanistan. Rice’s recollection was that the idea had come from Clarke and the NSC senior director for intelligence, Mary McCarthy, and had been linked to the proposal for aid to the Northern Alliance and the Uzbeks.

In what is becoming a bad trend for Mary, she is now linked with Sandy Berger and Richard Clarke. Especially this strange reference (again from the 9-11 report):

9. See Joint Inquiry briefing by Mike, Sept. 12,2002.For briefings to the NSC,see NSC email,Clarke to Berger, “Threat Warning: Usama bin Ladin,” Mar. 7, 1998; Mary McCarthy interview (Dec. 8, 2003); CIA memos, summary of weekly Berger/Tenet meeting, May 1, 1998.

She apparently came to the defense of Richard Clarke once. If she is one in the same, this person has betrayed a lot of people with her actions. Maybe she will be turning on some compatriots. Addendum: more bio information here (note: please reference this site if you are using my work in your news products. Be professionally courteous). The other item to watch is the fact she sent memos to Berger and Clarke – maybe her name is on Berger’s infamous memos!

Update: Could there be a connection between the CIA firing and and the news that a key Democrat Hill Representative from West VA resigning his poston the House Ethics Committee? Coincidence? Seems like it. Except for the fact one name keeps propping up in the NSA leak investigation: one Senator Rockefeller from West VA. Probably just coincidence…

Update: Here is the just released Washington Post story on the news (which is interesting because they should know who the agent was that leaked to their reporter). We can understand some interesting dynamics on how this news from yesterday did not really break until this afternoon:

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.

Notice a whole day went by without a leak. Maybe the signal being sent is finally being recieved?

Update: I should have been clear in my comments to the NY Times leak. That story started a broad investigation that came to include the CIA prison story as well. I did not intend to imply the firing was due to the NSA leak. I simply was pointing out the NSA leak started the investigation into many recent leaks.

Update: Fox has extended it’s original story (h/t Wizbang) and has more details in implications for a prosecution:

A senior law enforcement official said the person fired failed a polygraph test, which was given as part of the agency’s internal investigation into media leaks. As to which or how many questions the person failed, the official said they didn’t know.

On the subject of potential prosecution, the official said if the person admitted to leaking classified information, it would be almost negligent not to prosecute them for breaking the law. Failing a polygraph in and of itself does not qualify a person for prosecution but an admission does.

And Fox News is confirming the story is that this was related to the CIA Prison stories:

A second law enforcement official confirmed said the CIA officer had provided information that contributed to a Washington Post story last year saying there were secret U.S. prisons in Eastern Europe.

More when it comes out!

Update: As others have posted while I was in a meeting, apparently the leak was associated with the CIA secret prison story in the Washington Post. Jim at Protein Wisdom noted that criminal charges for the media should not be thrown out casually. He is correct of course. But in the NSA leak the NY Times went to the government and was warned. My guess is the Washington Post checked with the Feds and were given the same fair warning.

And the CIA is warning ‘This is just the beginning’. Hopefully there are a couple of Senators taking note as well.

End Update

In the aftermath of the NSA leak to the NY Times (who also were able to totally screw up the entire story EXCEPT the classified details useful to terrorists to avoid detection here in America) there was talk of investigations and high placed targets.

Well apparently the investigation nabbed its first criminal as Fox News is reporting on the firing of a CIA officer for leaking to the press highly classified material:

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.”

I am heading to a meeting, so more on this later. But I hope this leads to criminal charges for the CIA leaker and identification and charges against any reporter the leaker tried to get to publish this information. We need to know who in the media is willing to trade in our national security for their pulitzers.