Ex-CIA agent pleads guilty to leaking ID of covert operative

[NewsCaster]

/ Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, left, and his attorney John Hundley, leave federal court in Alexandria, Va., on Jan. 23. By Pete Williams, Rich Greenberg and Michael IsikoffNBC NewsFormer CIA officer John Kiriakou, accused of leaking sensitive classified information to reporters, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to  revealing the identity of a covert operative.

Kiriakou, who initially pleaded not guilty to five federal charges, pleaded guilty to a single count at a hearing at U.S. District Court in Virginia. Under a plea bargain, he is expected to serve 30 months in prison when he is formally sentenced on Jan. 25. Prosecutors, in return, agreed to ask that the Bureau of Prisons let him serve his time at a minimum security camp in Pennsylvania.


Kiriakou was accused of furnishing classified secrets to a New York Times reporter -- and lying to the government -- about another CIA officer's role in the capture of Abu Zubaydah, the former high-ranking al-Qaida leader who was waterboarded more than 80 times after his capture.

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