The first C.I.A. agent to face jail time for leaking classified information earned two degrees from GW during the 1980s.

John C. Kiriakou, whose rise and fall as a C.I.A. operative is the subject of a sprawling front-page story in Sunday’s New York Times, graduated from the Elliott School of International Affairs with a degree in Middle East Studies in 1986.

He also completed his master’s degree in legislative affairs in 1988.

Kiriakou will begin his 30-month prison sentence later this month for emailing the name of a covert C.I.A. officer to a freelance reporter, violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.

Kiriakou, 48, claimed he believed the covert officer had retired, and was no longer in the field. The report did not include the name of the officer.

He was charged last January and pleaded guilty in October.

The Pennsylvania native had become a media focus over the past five years as an outspoken critic of waterboarding after working at the C.I.A. from 1990 to 2004.

But his time at GW piqued his interest in foreign relations and national security.

“Discovering a passion for international affairs, he scrounged scholarships to go to George Washington University, where he was recruited by a professor, a former C.I.A. psychiatrist who spotted talent for the agency,” the article read.