CIA Leaker Mary O. McCarthy - Kerry Donor

Mary O Mccarthy
Analyst
U.S. Government John Kerry - $2,000

6825 Wilson Ln (map)
Bethesda, MD 20817

Update: 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. 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. She is the author of Social Change and the Growth of British Power in the Gold Coast (University Press of America, 1983).

Man Clinton just keeps on giving, doesn't he?

The C.I.A. would not identify the officer, but several government officials said it was Mary O. McCarthy, a veteran intelligence analyst who until 2001 was senior director for intelligence programs at the National Security Council, where she served under President Bill Clinton and into the Bush administration.

At the time of her dismissal, Ms. McCarthy was working in the agency's inspector general's office, after a stint at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an organization in Washington that examines global security issues.

The dismissal of Ms. McCarthy provided fresh evidence of the Bush administration's determined efforts to stanch leaks of classified information. The Justice Department has separately opened preliminary investigations into the disclosure of information to The Post, for its articles about secret prisons, as well as to The New York Times, for articles last fall that disclosed the existence of a program of domestic eavesdropping without warrants supervised by the National Security Agency. Those articles were also recognized this week with a Pulitzer Prize.

And this is real nice: Could a point of failure be considered to be leaking sensitive information? You bet. This political hack apparently has no shame.

Statement of Mary O. McCarthy before the National Commission Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
October 14, 2003

It is my privilege to be here today to contribute in any way that I can to your important work. In your quest to determine the points of failure in our Government that permitted our national tragedy of September 11, 2001, and thereby to shape remedies that will enable our citizens to have renewed confidence in their Government's ability to protect them in the future, you have rightly identified, as an area of inquiry, the question of the Intelligence Community's capabilities to provide persuasive and timely intelligence warning. It is on this question of warning capabilities that I wish to focus my remarks.

Comments

[Phoenix]

I'm too tired to raise a big stink, but the first thought that came to me after reading this: Bush didn't stand a chance. He inherited so much crap, and then, boom, 9/11. God.

[Laertes]

She's a National hero. I hope the next President, of either party, gives her the Medal of Freedom.

[Rick Moran]

Great job.

My only concern at this point is; McCarthy was in charge of the CIA investigation into torture. In this respect, was it her job to cover up CIA malfeasance or to actually ferret out lawbreakers and have them punished?

If it was to cover up lawbreakers, she would indeed be a whistelblower although her leaks to Dana Priest revealed an operation not against any American law and did great damage to our relations with European countries. From her perspective, the best that could be said is that she took it upon herself to change a policy that troubled her conscience - no excuse but when she appears on 60 Minutes or wherever, that explanation will rally the left to her cause.

It's baldfaced hubris just about any way you look at it.

[COLUMBO]

must read-Zell Miller:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1514509/posts

BTW: in case anybody is unaware, there's a culture of corruption in D.C:

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/04/21/D8H4KC1G9.html

[splashtc]

I certainly hope she is tried for treason! Shame on her and her family!

[John Poindexter]

Slick move, there, posting Mary's contact information.

Y'know, Mary stil has friends -- LOTS of friends -- in the intelligence community. The kind of friends you wouldn't want to meet in a back alley. The kind of friends who don't cotton to this sort of Michelle-Malkin-style cheap-shot tactic (of tacitly encourages people to go after Mary). The kind of friends who need only make a phone call to find out your address, the addresses of you, your friends and your relatives.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander, pal.

Hope you have eyes in teh back of your head, Riehl...

[John Poindexter]

It's donor, not doner.

But I think you'll be amused by this: Larry Johnson was no friend of Mary:

The case against the CIA Intelligence Officer, Mary McCarthy, fired for her alleged role in leaking information about secret prisons to the Washington Post's Dana Priest smells a little fishy. Let me state at the outset that the officer in question, Mary McCarthy, is an old acquaintance. I hasten to add that I do not consider her a friend. She was my immediate boss in 1988-89 and was instrumental in my decision to leave the CIA and take a job at the State Department's Office of Counter Terrorism. Mary, in my experience, was a terrible manager. I left the CIA in 1989 despite having received two exceptional performance awards during my last eight months on the job because I could not stand working under her.

That said, I take no delight in the news that she was fired. In fact, there are some things about the case that puzzle me. For starters, Mary never worked on the Operations side of the house. In other words, she never worked a job where she would have had first hand operational knowledge about secret prisons. She worked the analytical side of the CIA and served with the National Intelligence Council. According to press reports, she subsequently worked at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) from 2001 thru 2005. That is a type of academic/policy wonk position and, again, would not put her in a position to know anything first hand about secret prisons.

Sometime within the last year she returned to CIA on a terminal assignment. I've heard through the grapevine that she was attending the seminar for officers who are retiring while working with the Inspector General (IG). Now things get interesting. She could find out about secret prisons if Intelligence Officers involved with that program had filed a complaint with the IG or if there was some incident that compelled senior CIA officials to determine an investigation was warranted. In other words, this program did not come to Mary's attention (if the allegations are true) because she worked on it as an ops officer. Instead, it appears an investigation of the practice had been proposed or was underway. That's another story reporters probably ought to be tracking down.

I am struck by the irony that Mary McCarthy may have been fired for blowing the whistle and ensuring that the truth about an abuse was told to the American people. There is something potentially honorable in that action; particularly when you consider that George Bush authorized Scooter Libby to leak misleading information for the purpose of deceiving the American people about the grounds for going to war in Iraq. While I'm neither a fan nor friend of Mary's, she may have done a service for her country. She was a lousy manager in my experience, but she is not a traitor and has not betrayed the identity of an undercover intelligence officer. That dirty work was done by the minions of George Bush and Dick Cheney. It is important to keep that fact in the forefront as the judgment on Mary McCarthy's acts is rendered.

[Dan]

Slick move, there, posting Mary's contact information.

lol Linking public records is hardly that. Don't trip over your cloak, moron. You might fall on your dagger.

[John Poindexter]

ranted. In other words, this program did not come to Mary's attention (if the allegations are true) because she worked on it as an ops officer. Instead, it appears an investigation of the practice had been proposed or was underway. That's another story reporters probably ought to be tracking down.

I am struck by the irony that Mary McCarthy may have been fired for blowing the whistle and ensuring that the truth about an abuse was told to the American people. There is something potentially honorable in that action; particularly when you consider that George Bush authorized Scooter Libby to leak misleading information for the purpose of deceiving the American people about the grounds for going to war in Iraq. While I'm neither a fan nor friend of Mary's, she may have done a service for her country. She was a lousy manager in my experience, but she is not a traitor and has not betrayed the identity of an undercover intelligence officer. That dirty work was done by the minions of George Bush and Dick Cheney. It is important to keep that fact in the forefront as the judgment on Mary McCarthy's acts is rendered.

[John Poindexter]

"Linking public records is hardly that."

No duh -- but doing so in such a Malkinwesque way is an invitation for Riehl to experience the joys of amateur proctology.

And don't think it's going unnoticed, dumbass.

[Dan]

And don't think it's going unnoticed, dumbass.

If you're so up on this stuff, you might want to brush up on current Federal Law and on line harassment given more than a few of your comments by now, especially when you're using a traceable static IP.

I knew John Poindexter - and you're no John Poindexter. LOL

[Laertes]

Dan, you're coming off like a jackass here. Mr. "Poindexter" is carrying himself like a grown-up, and you're acting like a petulant 14-year-old.

[Mike Hunt]

"If you're so up on this stuff, you might want to brush up on current Federal Law and on line harassment..."

Translation: "WAAAH BWAA BWAA BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!I can dish it out, but I can't take it! I can implicitly suggest that readers harass Mary McCarthy like a brigade of Joe McCarthyites, but how DARE someone suggest that her allies might just administer a molten lead enema to me for attacking someone who has worked tirelessly to defend and protect the United States?"

Crybaby!

[dave]

Ha ha.

Ha ha ha.

Whooo hooo haa ha ha.

Yeah this guy is too too much.

What a right wing fucking blowhard.

[LibraryLady]

Be forewarned

Your site has been posted on the radically liberal website, Democrat Underground with instructions to "turn the heat up on you"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x996301

It's a motley collection of basement dwellers, aging hippies and drug addled losers that thinks they are some sort of underground activists.

[Laertes]

Hey Dan, when you get tired of Poindexter mopping the floor with your ass, there's a new story on CNN about your Duke lacrosse players.

Looks like the witness ID process was totally screwed up.

[Bob Dobbs]

Your mom wants to know what you want for lunch and if you will be eating in the basement again.

[Mary Mary]

You guys are a trip. PUT DOWN THE KOOLAID!! The prez himself leaked classified info - and admitted it! Yet you wnat to throw the book at this woman?? Talk about an idiotic double standard.

[John Poindexter]

Here's a little more about Mary McCarthy...

Colleagues Say C.I.A. Analyst Played by Rules
By DAVID S. CLOUD

WASHINGTON, April 22 — Mary O. McCarthy, the intelligence officer dismissed on Friday after being accused of leaking information to reporters about the Central Intelligence Agency's overseas prisons, once was responsible for guarding some of the nation's most sensitive secrets.

As a senior National Security Council aide for intelligence from 1996 to 2001, Ms. McCarthy was known as a low-key professional who paid special attention to preventing White House leaks of classified information and covert operations, several current and former government officials said.

When she disagreed with decisions on intelligence operations, they say, she registered her complaints through internal government channels.

...

... former colleagues who worked with her at the C.I.A. and the White House say they had trouble fathoming her as a leaker. Some said they flatly refused to believe the accusations.

"We're talking about a person with great integrity who played by the book and, as far as I know, never deviated from the rules," said Steven Simon, a National Security Council aide in the Clinton administration who worked closely with Ms. McCarthy.

Full story at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/washington/23mccarthy.html?hp&ex=1145764800&en=b2c0a9f955c9fcaa&ei=5094&partner=homepage

One thing's certain: she's done more for our nation on an average day than Riehl Koolaid Central could do in ten lifetimes.

[Innocent Bystander]

OMG, really? Someone in government was a Kerry supporter? This is hugh 111!!!! I'm series here. Someone check her papers, she might be a demoncrap, two. I think our Maximum Leader better start investigations into this and see if there are any other Democrats who might be telling the truth. Can we make them sign loyalty oaths to us?

I'm still worried about those domino's falling, how come we don't hear about that anymore?

[aquart]

If someone uses this info to bring harm to Ms McCarthy or her family, what precisely is your liability? Criminal? Civil? Can they sue the pants right off you?

[Mike Hunt]

"If someone uses this info to bring harm to Ms McCarthy or her family, what precisely is your liability?"

Good question. But either way, I could imagine a certain conservative blogger incurring some riehlly substantial legal bills in the process of answering that question...

[Innocent Bystander]

"Bush didn't stand a chance. He inherited so much crap, and then, boom, 9/11. God."

I'm with you. I was burnt out with all that peace and prosperity, too. Lucky for us, the Republicans, spending 8 years and $70MM of our taxpayer money trying to impeach Bill's willy, made the 2000 election close enough to steal.

But I wonder about 9/11. I know God talks to George and George spent 40% of his time on vacation before 9/11. Do you think God was mad at George? Was he teaching him a lesson? We all know that idle time is the Devil's tool. Did the devil make George forget about the 8/6/01 PDB and the Hart-Rudman Commission Report?

[Dan]

"If someone uses this info to bring harm to Ms McCarthy or her family, what precisely is your liability?"

None, actually - what you would need to do is change Federal Law requiring political donation info be public. Why dont you take it up with the Kerry idiots who put up the page I linked. Oh, I forget, the one thing liberals are good at is not taking responsibility for yourselves.

Too bad.

[sf]

David Cloud's NYTimes piece on Mary ("Colleagues Say C.I.A. Analyst Played by Rules") is a standard "rehab" presser--the kind of article a rag runs when they want to spread the impression that someone charged with a crime is really innocent...but without actually *saying* that, and risking being found wrong later.

Example: The piece informs us that McCarthy "once was responsible for guarding some of the nation's most sensitive secrets." This is a statement with no substance, a generality almost totally devoid of significance, but which most laypeople will interpret as showing she is of sterling character.

The piece notes that "When she disagreed with decisions on intelligence operations, they say, she registered her complaints through internal government channels." Ah. Next the author will tell us that she got good grades in college. Equally relevant to the current charge.

"former colleagues who worked with her at the C.I.A. and the White House say they had trouble fathoming her as a leaker. Some said they flatly refused to believe the accusations." Ah, the famous "some said." The nameless co-workers who don't believe the charges. So how can one believe she could be guilty of these things?

But not all McCarthy's defenders are nameless: "We're talking about a person with great integrity who played by the book and, as far as I know, never deviated from the rules," said Steven Simon, a National Security Council aide in the Clinton administration who worked closely with Ms. McCarthy."

You say the rehab witness was a Clinton appointee? Sure clears things up.

[hobo]

Laertes: I rarely stoop to this level of responding to a poster, especially one of your (almost) exquisite writing style, but concerning your position on McCarthy, give me the match and I will gladly burn both your sorry asses. You for your support on her part and her for breaking the oath of secrecy she undertook when she went to work for the government. I assure you, if I were in such a position of authority, I would cause her a life of eternal grief for "outing" the condition. Where you are concerned, I don't know how to make an idiot suffer, but I'm willing to learn.

[John Poindexter]

Well, looky looky at today's Wapo:

"The White House also has recently barraged the agency with questions about the political affiliations of some of its senior intelligence officers, according to intelligence officials."

And the first one over the side was the one who blew the whistle on Administration lawbreaking.

I got a real chuckle from the claim by sf (which surely must stand for science fiction) claiming yesterday's Keller Times piece was a so-called (cue laugh track) rehab piece. Yeah, right. Have another helping of Kool-aid...

And as for "breaking her oath of secrecy," hobo? If laws are broken, that's out the window, especially given that she blew the whistle on illegal activities.

Oh, that's right -- the "rule of law" is only important if you're arguing in favor of the dimwtiied former Texas Governor, his handlers and his reactionary Neocon allies. Help yourself to more Kool-aid, hobo...

[Raoul Duke]

It's time again for... FUN WITH NUMBERS!

169!

That's the number of days that have elapsed between the publication of Dana Priest's PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING article on secret prisons and the firing of the ALLEGED leaker.

Got that, Dan? ALLEGED. It means something. Although far be it from a Neocon apologist to givi a flying Cheney. After all, it's Neocon policy to declare sentence before trial...

... and then there's...

1,014!

That's the number of days that have elapsed since Valerie Plame Wilson's identity was published and her cover -- along with that of more than a dozen COVERT CIA operatives -- was blown. So far, nobody's been fired -- despite the promise of the President of the United States...

... oh, that's right: they'd be fired for leaking -- make that convicted. Flip... flop... flip... flop... (cue Neil Young)

[Jerry T.]

Mary McCarthy knew the risks but she felt being a whistleblower on activities by the US government that were in violation of international law were more important.

She'll be tarred and feathered by the desperate on the far-right, much like Jeffrey Wigand was threatened by big business Brown-Williamson.

[Bandit]

At least now we know what treason is.

[Innocent Bystander]

"At least now we know what treason is."

True that, bandit. As GHW Bush said, there is no greater treasonous act that outing a CIA NOC. This, along with the warcrimes and the domestic spying on American citizens, should be enough to warrant public hangings in the front of the Capitol. We need to send a message to future would-be dictators that we take our Constitution seriously.

[cpc]

In an October 2003 article, Nicholas Kristof wrote that her cover had been blown by Alderich Ames sometime before his 1994 arrest for spying. The NYT's reporter said that even before the Ames affair, "she was moving away from 'noc' – which means non-official cover." He argued that Democrats were being dealing in "hyperbole" in saying that the leak had "destroyed her career."

As Wilson himself admitted, Plame was not undercover at the time of her outing. In an interview with CNN Wilson said, "My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity." Special prosecutor Fitgerald must have agreed.

The media involved in the investigation even maintained that her cover had been blown long before the Novak column, stating so in their brief filed to support the reporters being questioned in the probe. The earlier outings occured with both the Russians, by way of a spy tip off and Castro's Cuba in an error made by the CIA itself.

No one was hurt by the "revelation" that Plame worked with the CIA. The leak of "prisons" that may have not existed and if they did hurt our ability to fight the GWOT and damaged our allies and our ability to get nations to work with us to ensure the defeat of actual bad guys is an illegal treasonous act. That McCarthy possibly was responsible for refering the Plame matter to justice links her to what appears to be a conspiracy to undermine the CIC during war time.