[Vision2020] Institute for Public Accuracy: CIA Whistleblower Sentenced to 30 Months

[Ted Moffett]

Institute for Public Accuracy
980 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 *

http://www.accuracy.org

ipa at accuracy.org
_______________________________________________________

        Friday, January 25, 2013

        CIA Whistleblower Sentenced to 30 Months

KEVIN GOSZTOLA, kevin.gosztola at firedoglake.com,
@kgosztola<https://twitter.com/kgosztola>
    Gosztola just wrote the piece "CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou,
Sentenced to 30 Months in Jail, Wears Conviction as ‘Badge of
Honor'<http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/01/25/cia-whistleblower-john-kiriakou-sentenced-to-30-months-in-jail-wears-conviction-as-badge-of-honor/>,"
which states: "A former CIA officer, who was the first member of the agency
to publicly acknowledge that torture was official U.S. policy under the
administration of President George W. Bush, has been sentenced to 30 months
in jail. He was convicted in October of last year of violating the
Intelligence Identities Protection Act when he provided the name of an
officer involved in the CIA’s Rendition, Detention and Interrogation
program to a reporter.

    "Kiriakou granted Firedoglake an interview the day before his
sentencing.

    "He was initially indicted for allegedly releasing classified
information to journalists that included the identities of a 'covert CIA
officer' and details on the role of 'another CIA employee in classified
activities.' The Justice Department also charged him with three counts of
violating the Espionage Act and one count for 'allegedly lying to the
Publications Review Board of the CIA' so he could include classified
information in his book in addition to the charge of violating the IIPA.

    "The Justice Department under President Barack Obama wanted to convict
him under the Espionage Act, as they have tried but thus far failed to do
in the prosecution of a record number of alleged leakers or whistleblowers.
In fact, Kiriakou described how the FBI tried to set him up in 2010:

    "'In the summer of 2010, a foreign intelligence officer offered me cash
in exchange for classified information. I turned down the pitch and I
immediately reported it to the FBI. So, the FBI asked me to take the guy
out to lunch and to ask him what information he wanted and how much
information he was willing to give me for it. They were going to put two
agents at a nearby table. They ended up canceling the two agents but they
asked me to go ahead with the lunch so I did. After the lunch, I wrote a
long memo to the FBI -- and I did this four or five times.

    "'It turns out -- and we only learned this three or four weeks ago --
there never was a foreign intelligence officer. It was an FBI agent
pretending to be an intelligence officer and they were trying to set me up
on an Espionage Act charge but I repeatedly reported the contact so I
foiled them in their effort to set me up.'

    "He addressed the fact that government prosecutors in their sentencing
filing showed they were upset that he had supporters and media calling him
a 'whistleblower.'

    "'There is a legal definition of whistleblower and I meet that legal
definition,' Kiriakou declared. 'I was the first person to acknowledge that
the CIA was using waterboarding against al Qaeda prisoners. I said in 2007
that I regarded waterboarding as torture and I also said that it was not
the result of rogue CIA officers but that it was official U.S. government
policy. So, that’s whistleblowing. That’s the definition of whistleblowing.'

    "The Justice Department fervently disagrees. ..."

    Gosztola tweeted<https://twitter.com/kgosztola/status/294834069286563840>
today:
"John Kiriakou's wife was harassed by CIA when he published op-eds. IRS
audited him every year since '07. Today, DoJ put him in prison." Gosztola
is co-author of *Truth & Consequences: The U.S. vs. Bradley Manning*. His
recent pieces include "‘Rise of the Drones’ Is Mostly a PBS Infomercial for
the Military Defense
Industry<http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/01/24/rise-of-the-drones-is-mostly-a-pbs-infomercial-for-the-military-defense-industry/>
."

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
--------------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20130125/9c502ea7/attachment.html>