Ex-FBI, CIA Worker Admits Taking Classified Information

Before joining the CIA in 2003, the FBI employed Prouty as a special agent, starting in 1999.

(ABCNEWS)

In an embarrassing twist, the investigation has also uncovered that Prouty fraudulently obtained U.S. citizenship, admitting in court documents that she paid a man to marry her in 1990 so she could obtain citizenship after her student visa expired.

Sources told ABC News that officials at the highest levels of government have been briefed on the case, which is seen as an embarrassment for two of the nation's top intelligence agencies. Both the FBI and the CIA have launched internal reviews looking at organizational security procedures.

The case raises important questions about how careful and effective the vetting of employees is at the nation's premier law enforcement and intelligence agencies. FBI agents are supposed to be regularly polygraphed and take lie detector tests before obtaining a CIA job.

"This is a failure of three systems," Clarke said. "It's a failure of the FBI background system, including polygraphs. It's a failure of the CIA hiring system, including polygraphs. And it's a failure of the FBI's computer system security, because she was able to obtain information that she shouldn't have had access to about Hezbollah, which she probably passed on to Hezbollah, a terrorist group."

As part of the investigation, the government is conducting a damage assessment. Officials told ABC News the amount of information they suspect was leaked appears to be limited, but investigators are checking all the ex-agent's contacts within both agencies and looking to see what databases she might have tapped into.

CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield issued a statement on the investigation, saying that the CIA cooperated with the investigation and that Prouty "was a midlevel employee who came to us in 2003 from the FBI where she had been a special agent. The naturalization issue occurred well before she was hired by the Bureau."

Mansfield confirmed that Prouty resigned from the CIA as part of her plea agreement.