Mary O'Neil McCarthy (born 1945) is a former United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee who last worked in the Office of the Inspector General.
The 9/11 Commission Report found that, in April 2000, the National Security staff reviewed the intelligence and agreed that al-Shifa was used in chemical weapons development.
[17] The same Newsweek article reported that a "counter-terrorism official ... acknowledged that in firing McCarthy, the CIA was not necessarily accusing her of being the principal, original, or sole leaker of any particular story".
[citation needed] According to David Johnston and Scott Shane of the New York Times, "In an effort to stem leaks, the Bush administration launched several initiatives this year [2006] targeting journalists and national security employees.
They include FBI probes, extensive polygraphing inside the CIA and a warning from the Justice Department that reporters could be prosecuted under espionage laws.
[20] According to David Johnston and Scott Shane of The New York Times, "In an effort to stem leaks, the Bush administration launched several initiatives this year [2006] targeting journalists and national security employees.
They include FBI probes, extensive polygraphing inside the CIA and a warning from the Justice Department that reporters could be prosecuted under espionage laws".
According to the Los Angeles Times, "In the last several months, the agency has conducted dozens of 'single-issue' polygraph examinations in which senior officers were asked exclusively about contacts with news organizations and disclosures of classified information".
Former CIA officer Melissa Boyle Mahle while appearing on MSNBC's Countdown on April 24, 2006, that many in the agency consider the leak investigation a "witch hunt".
She observed that Director of Central Intelligence Porter Goss focused on leaks from "the first day [he] came over to the CIA" and suggests that "employees feel targeted" by what is widely perceived as a witch hunt.
[22][23] On November 14, 2004, Newsday quoted a former senior CIA official on the political implications of Goss's focus on leaks: "The agency is being purged on instructions from the White House.
[citation needed] On April 21, 2006, NBC reported that the "leak pertained to stories on the CIA's rumored secret prisons in Eastern Europe", commonly known as "black sites".
[25] The article added that the original Washington Post report, authored by Dana Priest, "caused an international uproar, and government officials have said it did significant damage to relationships between the U.S. and allied intelligence agencies".
[26] A day later the New York Times reported, "Intelligence officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said that the dismissal resulted from "a pattern of conduct" and not from a single leak, but that the case involved in part information about secret CIA detention centers that was given to The Washington Post".
Newsweek reported that "Intelligence officials privately acknowledge that key news stories about secret agency prison and "extraordinary rendition" operations have been based, at least in part, upon information available from unclassified sources.
Some former colleagues stressed the illegality and impropriety of leaking classified documents, while others praised the act of alerting the public to possible misconduct within the CIA.
[8] The Washington Post quoted a former senior intelligence official who claimed to have discussed the matter with former colleagues on the previous day as saying, "A majority of CIA officers would probably find the action taken [against McCarthy] correct.
[30]Robert David Steele, a former intelligence officer associated with the open-source intelligence movement, issued a press release praising McCarthy's actions in leaking information, stating that "There is absolutely no question that Mary acted in the finest traditions of the Republic, helping reveal and reduce terrible violations of international law and human rights by the CIA."
"[31] Ray McGovern, who worked as a CIA analyst for 27 years, suggested that if McCarthy leaked the information about "black sites", "if she's in the chain of command and she sees these kinds of crimes being perpetrated, under Nuremberg and other international law, she is required ... to do something".
"[32] Terrorism expert Rand Beers, a Democratic campaign advisor, commented that "Goss and company were just looking for someone to fire to prove that they were serious about leak investigation.