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The Friday Office Blog Pool

Mary O. McCarthy - CIA Officer and former NSC member. Fired for leaking classified information to the press.

NOTE: This is officially the biggest story of the year, if not the decade. The CIA no longers stands for "Central Intelligence Agency" its the "Compromised Intelligence Agency". The implications involved with where this story is going are simply staggering. Be aware that since this post was originally made, many many updates have been added, so keep scrolling to pick up the latest findings.

The Story:

CIA Fires an Officer for leaking info to Media.

The Pool:

1. How long until the CIA Officer is referred to by the media to as a "whistleblower"?

2. How long until he/she shows up on Chris Matthews?

3. Rougly how many BTU's are being generated by quick fingers tapping on New York literary agents blackberrys trying to find this person, so as to sign a real hefty book deal before the competition?

Any takers?

Its a bit of a problem for the media. If they make this character to be a hero "speaking truth to power", it does make you ask why Libby is being prosecuted.

Theres much more to this story, and we havent seen the last of this for some time.

UPDATE: Fox News reports that the CIA officer is a "Mary Mccarthy" ho testified for the 9/11 commission. The 9/11 Transcripts show only this name:

"Mary McCarthy NSC senior director for intelligence, 1998-2001"
Testified on "Warning of Transnational Threats" as Mary O. McCarthy, former National Intelligence Officer for Warning, Central Intelligence Agency

Not just a deskbound "paper pusher", now is she...

My first clue on where to look for info on Mrs. McCarthy is that Porter Goss was seen today carrying a copy of the 9/11 Commission book. It turns out, she testified, and was involved at the very highest levels of National Security.

UPDATE II: More - 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.

UPDATE III: Even More - "In sending the draft MON to the CIA, the NSC's senior director for intelligence programs, Mary McCarthy, cited only the August 1998 and July 1999 MONs as relevant precedents--indicating that these new authorities were limited to using the capture and rendition approach. There was no indication that this MON authorized kill authority, although lethal force could be used in self-defense. See NSC memo, McCarthy to CIA, Dec. 1999". ( note: a MON is a " Memorandum of Notification ", apparently an ass saving device sent from the executive branch to others over areas of possible legal concern. )

Rendition? Wasnt that the issue behind the info she was leaking to Dana Priest? ( Limited in 1999 to capture and "rendition"...File under what might have been...)

UPDATE III: I just got this really wierd vibe that this is all going to lead back to Sandy Berger and Richard Clarke.

UPDATE IV: From the NBC site - "The officer flunked a polygraph exam before being fired on Thursday and is now under investigation by the Justice Department, NBC has learned."

Here's a 10 second career tip from Varifrank. When your boss walks into your office and asks you if you did "questionable things", confession is your only route to safety. Oh, you'll still get fired, but you might be able to get your boss to remember why it was he hired you in the first place if you dont treat him like a fool. It helps convert "fired, and prosecuted' into "retired for health reasons". If you make your boss tie you up to a polygraph to find out what both he and you already know to be true, it shows contempt for the system, and no one respects that.

UPDATE V: Chapter 4 9/11 Commission - "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". I toldja Berger was in this in some way...

UPDATE VI: Two documents pop up that she authored during the Clinton administration.

McCarthy, Mary O. "The Mission to Warn: Disaster Looms." Defense Intelligence Journal 7, no. 2 (Fall 1998): 17-31.

A National Security Council staffer and former NIO for Warning, Dr. McCarthy agrees with the Jeremiah and Rumsfeld studies that there is a "dangerous scarcity of specific skills, particularly technical and linguistic," among U.S. analysts. She believes that major changes are needed.

McCarthy, Mary. "The National Warning System: Striving for an Illusive Goal." Defense Intelligence Journal 3, no. 1 (Spring 1994): 5-19.

The author is National Intelligence Officer (NIO) for Warning. Her article deals with current structure and problems. "The National Warning System usually concentrates on threats judged to be about six months away or less."

Ok, scratch the "Mrs." , its "Dr. McCarthy". How could such a smart person have done such a dumbass thing? Dr.? Hmmm I wonder from where? Yale? Well, God does have a sense of humor...

UPDATE VII: Bingo. She was on the NSC with Sandy Berger during the Clinton administration.

UPDATE VIII: Biographical info from 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. 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)".

UPDATE IX: Questions, Questions, Questions. If She was fired for leaking information on "the CIA’s rumored secret prisons in Eastern Europe", yet as the EU itself now says, "We've heard all kinds of allegations, impressions; we've heard also refutations. It's up to your committee to weigh if they are true. It does not appear to be proved beyond reasonable doubt," he said. "There has not been, to my knowledge, evidence that these illegal (activities) have taken place". That means that McCarthy appears to have leaked info to a WAPO reporter (Dana Priest), who managed to get a Pulitzer for reporting a story that now appears to be both - not true and legally actionable by Mccarthys employer. She appears to be someone who is getting fired for illegally releasing information, whether or not it was actually a lie, is not the question at all. It doesnt seem to really matter in this case.

Is the original story based on truth? If its not, then just what the hell is going on here? If it was a part of a planned disinformation campaign, then to what purpose? The story of "Secret CIA prisions" nearly destroyed the remaining coalition in Europe that is working with the US. The ripples from that story still reverberate through the halls of power in the European capitals. If it was a lie, and McCarthy is the one who released it, then what was the purpose?

My other major "area of question" is this; just what is the motivation for a person to take a lifetime career and committment and turn it upside down? For what? This story, and not all the others that may have been known? That the CIA has prisons that the "average joe" knows nothing about and that on occasion they interrogate their prisoners with "questionable means"? This is news? Isnt that what we pay them for? Is this a case of 'Bush Derangement Syndrome' gone to the most extreme? Is this just more evidence of a possible "covert coup" against the Bush Administration by the "lifers" in the CIA?

She sees like a smart dedicated professional, why do something so absolutely guaranteed to go so horribly bad for everyone involved?

I don't just get it.

UPDATE X: Ok, this seems to make sense to me. It looks like someone is on the same wavelength as I am.

UPDATE XI: For the moment,I am resisting the "grand unified theory" that seems to be forming around this story and the very interesting connections that appear to exist between Dr. McCarthy and so many prominent Bush detractors. Let's see what the morning brings...

Posted @ April 21, 2006 01:35 PM | Current Affairs

Posted by: Mason at April 23, 2006 01:58 PM

Posted by: plainBill at April 24, 2006 03:17 PM