The Scriptorium

One down, many more to go. The CIA is in desperate need of some serious house cleaning. Not surprisingly, the leaker was the director for intelligence programs for Bill Clinton.

Leaking classified information is a crime, and putting your liberal politics ahead of national security is inexusible. She should be in jail. Unfortunately, once you make it to Washington in this country, you can break the law all you want without fear of prosecution – unless you’re a Republican, and then you don’t even have to break the law.

The CIA fired a long-serving intelligence officer for sharing classified information with The Washington Post and other news organizations, officials said yesterday, as the agency continued an aggressive internal search for anyone who may have discussed intelligence with the news media.

CIA officials said the career intelligence officer failed more than one polygraph test and acknowledged unauthorized contacts with reporters. The “officer knowingly and willfully shared classified intelligence, including operational information” with journalists, the agency said in a statement yesterday.

The CIA did not reveal the identity of the employee, who was dismissed Thursday, but NBC News reported last night she is Mary McCarthy. An intelligence source confirmed that the report was accurate.

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. Attempts to reach her last night were unsuccessful.