The CIA agent identified by the alias “Maya” in the film Zero Dark Thirty has had her name revealed. The agent, according to official accounts, played a critical role in the tracking and killing of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan by Navy Seal Team Six. According to unsurprising new reports the agent’s complicated history also includes ties to rendition and alleged torture of detained terrorist suspects. A number of media outlets have named “Maya” in reports, despite strong objections by the CIA that naming her would endanger the agent and potentially damage ongoing CIA operations.
Journalists Glenn Greenwald and Peter Maass, at their new investigative media site The Intercept, are naming the CIA agent. They explain: “The Intercept is naming [the analyst] over CIA objections because of her key role in misleading Congress about the agency’s use of torture, and her active participation in the torture program (including playing a direct part in the torture of at least one innocent detainee).” Greenwald is an advocate of total transparency. Greenwald was one of the key journalists to whom Edward Snowden entrusted his cache of NSA documents when Snowden fled the country.
