Mary McCarthy: Maybe Not the CIA Leaker, But Still Really Annoying
Mary O. McCarthy, the former CIA officer who was fired last week, is denying that she leaked classified information. More specifically, McCarthy claims that she did not provide Dana Priest of the Washington Post with information about CIA prison camps in Eastern Europe.
So it looks like Mary McCarthy may not be the CIA officer whose leak generated a Pulitzer for the Post. But she's still extremely irritating to be around, according to former law school classmates of hers. After we posted McCarthy's law school facebook picture yesterday, a reader emailed us:
That picture HAS to be from the Georgetown Law facebook, right? What year did/will she graduate? I could SWEAR she was in my Capital Punishment seminar (Fall 2003 semester). If it's the same woman, she's AWFUL.
Further research confirmed that Mary McCarthy was in the same seminar as our tipster. Additional scuttlebutt appears after the jump.
Here's more from our source:
[Mary McCarthy was] the night student from hell... You know who I'm talking about -- she talked CONSTANTLY, had very little to say that was relevant to the class discussion, and was always ready to tell a lengthy anecdote about herself or her personal experiences. I don't remember if I would have known she worked at the CIA, but I know she worked for the government.
In general -- your classic gunner, but add in a dose of superiority for being older than everyone else in the room.
But hey, good for her on the leaking information. Maybe she learned a thing or two in con law...
We asked our correspondent about the types of remarks McCarthy would make in class discussion:
I honestly can't remember the subjects of her various rants. As I said, it was a cap punishment seminar, so it was already a touchy-feely class (read: lots of gunners, lots of anecdotes) -- but I remember being especially annoyed when her hand would go up. And I swear she also did that thing where she'd make a point of referring to something she'd mentioned to the professor in an email (the "look at me, I'm so diligent that I contact the professor outside of class" approach).
Interesting. If McCarthy did leak some CIA information to the press -- even if not the overseas prisons info, which apparently she lacked access to -- it may not be that surprising. She sounds a bit self-important. And one of the reasons that people engage in leaking, an activity with frequently little upside for the leaker, is to feel important.
But hey, we're not knocking leaking -- after all, we depend upon you to leak good stuff to us. Please, leak us your internal memos, early and often! We will make you feel important, influential, and well-loved.
Dismissed CIA Officer Denies Leak Role [WP]
Earlier: Couldn't Find Her on MySpace, But Here's An Old Yearbook Photo of Mary McCarthy