CIA Officer Fired—Unauthorized Leaking

A CIA officer has been fired “after being caught leaking classified information to the media.”^[1] Details are sketchy at this time. For example, Fox News states that it is a “damaging leak” dealing with operational information, and that the investigation into the unauthorized leak was launched in January to look at employees who had been exposed to “certain intelligence programs.”^[2] According to Fox, the investigation is ongoing, and there is not confirmation whether criminal charges will be filed against the individual.^[3]

The story is largely similar in the AP’s initial version of the announcement,^[4] as well as in CNN’s version.^[5] NBC, however, has a far more detailed version of events, and it is the version that makes the most sense. According to NBC, the CIA officer allegedly failed a polygraph test and then admitted giving a reporter classified information about the CIA’s rumored “Black Sites.”^[6] This information was given to Dana Priest, of the Washington Post, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting.^[7] According to NBC, the fired individual is currently being investigated by the US DOJ for disclosing classified information.^[8] Since the story initially broke, the AP has since reported what NBC has reported.

Under 18 U.S.C. § 793(d), whoever possesses or has access to, any document, writing, sketch, photograph, or other such document, knowing that such information could potentially injure the United States if divulged, divulges that information to anyone not entitled to receive it, can be punished by a fine, imprisonment for up to 10 years, or both.

To sustain a conviction under this section, the government will have to prove that the initial possessor of the information—the CIA officer—“had reason to believe [it] could be used to the injury of the United States.” In other words, the government must prove that the information about the Black Sites could injure the United States somehow, and that the officer knew that telling Ms. Priest could thus injure the US.

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[1] See CIA Officer Fired For Leaking Classified Info to Media, Fox News, Apr. 21, 2006; see also, Katherine Shrader, CIA Fires Employee for Alleged Leak, Associated Press, Apr. 21, 2006; Robert Windrem, et al., NBC: CIA Officer Fired After Admitting Leak, NBC News, Apr. 21, 2006; Pam Benson, CIA Cans Agent Over Leak to Media, CNN, Apr. 21, 2006.
[2] Fox, supra note 1.
[3] Id.
[4] Shrader, supra note 1.
[5] Benson supra note 1.
[6] Windrem, supra note 1.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.