John Kerry (did you know he served in Vietnam?) has recently spoken out on the CIA leaker, Mary McCarthy (among other things)

On ABC’s This Week he told host George Stephanopoulos (transcript via Drudge:

HOST GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: On another — on another front, excuse me, CIA official Mary McCarthy lost her job this week for disclosing classified information according to the CIA probably about a WASHINGTON POST story which reveal revealed the existence of secret prisons in Europe. A lot of different views. Senator Pat Roberts praised action but some former CIA officers described Mary McCarthy as a sacrificial lamb acting in the finest American tradition by revealing human rights violations. What’s your view?

SEN. KERRY: Well, I read that. I don’t know whether she did it or not so it’s hard to have a view on it.

But…. 

Here’s my fundamental view of this, that you have somebody being fired from the CIA for allegedly telling the truth, and you have no one fired from the white house for revealing a CIA agent in order to support a lie. That underscores what’s really wrong in Washington, DC Here.

Immediately he clouds it by raising the spectre of a whistle blower, someone who is being punished for doing the right thing.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That’s one issue of hypocrisy but should a CIA officer be able to make decisions on his or her –

KERRY: … Of course not. Of course, not. A CIA agent has the obligation to uphold the law and clearly leaking is against the law, and nobody should leak. I don’t like leaking.

But…. 

But if you’re leaking to tell the truth, Americans are going to look at that, at least mitigate or think about what are the consequences that you, you know, put on that person.  Obviously they’re not going to keep their job, but there are other larger issues here.

I don’t like John.  I admit it.  But even with that having been said, this next comment is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard him say. 

Good. It’s about time.  I hope they prosecute her too.  I have no tolerance for people who violate security.  She knew the risks and the consequences.

CIA Officer Is Fired for Media Leaks

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.

The CIA’s statement did not name the reporters it believes were involved, but several intelligence officials said The Post’s Dana Priest was among them. This week, Priest won the Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting for articles about the agency, including one that revealed the existence of secret, CIA-run prisons in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

I am so glad that Mary was able to violate Federal Law and help Priest get a Pulitzer prize for it.

Here is some irony from the NYT:

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.