Did She Say Too Much?

Is an intel leak ever justified? Four ex-CIA officials discuss Mary McCarthy and the secret-prisons scandal

This much is known: On April 20, career CIA analyst Mary McCarthy was fired from her job 10 days before retirement. McCarthy admitted to having undisclosed contact with reporters, and a CIA spokesperson says, without identifying McCarthy, that the fired CIA officer also admitted disclosing classified information to the media. Sources said this includes the Washington Post's Dana Priest, who had just won a Pulitzer Prize for writing that the CIA secretly detained terrorists in Eastern Europe who hadn't been charged with a crime. Beyond that, the case gets murky. Government sources tell TIME that McCarthy might have helped inform the...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!