Former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling was arrested today on charges that he leaked national defense information to the media and revealed the identity of a “human asset.” The motive, according to the Justice Department, was revenge. Sterling, 43, worked for the CIA from May 1993 to January 2002, and for two years was assigned to “a classified clandestine operational program designed to conduct intelligence activities related to the weapons capabilities of certain countries,” according to the indictment. During that time, he also was handling a “human asset” associated with that program.
Sterling is charged with leaking information about that classified program and the human asset. The Justice Department said the leaks went to James Risen, a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter, in early 2003 and, later, surfaced in connection with a book Risen published in 2006.
The Associated Press reported that from the dates and other details, it is clear that case centers on leaks to Risen for his 2006 book, “State of War.” The book revealed details about the CIA’s covert spy war with Iran. The AP reported that the Justice Department twice subpoenaed Risen to force him to reveal his sources, but he refused. . . . .
Former CIA officer Jeffrey A. Sterling charged in leak probe (Washington Post, 6 Jan 2011)
A former CIA officer involved in spying efforts against Iran was arrested Thursday on charges of leaking classified information to a reporter, continuing the Obama administration’s unprecedented crackdown on the flow of government secrets to the media. Jeffrey A. Sterling, 43, of O’Fallon, Mo., was charged with 10 felony counts, including obstruction of justice and unauthorized disclosure of national defense information. A federal indictment made public Thursday in the Eastern District of Virginia accuses Sterling of leaking secrets after he was fired from the CIA and the agency refused to settle a racial discrimination claim he made. . . .
Ex-C.I.A. Officer Named in Disclosure Indictment (New York Times, 6 Jan 2011)
The Justice Department on Thursday announced the indictment of a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who is accused of disclosing classified information to a reporter, in the latest example of a crackdown by the Obama administration on leaking to journalists.
The former officer, Jeffrey Alexander Sterling, who worked at the C.I.A. from 1993 until he was fired in 2002, was arrested Thursday in St. Louis. He was indicted Dec. 22 on charges that he disclosed restricted information to a journalist about a clandestine program intended to impede the progress of unnamed countries’ weapons capabilities.
While the indictment does not identify the journalist or the intelligence operation, its details make clear that prosecutors believe Mr. Sterling was talking to James Risen, a reporter for The New York Times. Mr. Risen wrote about a C.I.A. attempt to disrupt Iranian nuclear research in his 2006 book, “State of War: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration.”
That material did not appear in The Times. The indictment says that the journalist worked on an article about the program in 2003, but the newspaper decided not to publish it after government officials told editors that such a disclosure would jeopardize national security. But Mr. Risen devoted a chapter of his book to the program, which he portrayed as a flawed operation that may have helped the Iranians gain nuclear technology. He was twice subpoenaed to divulge his source; once by the Bush administration, and, after the first grand jury investigating the case expired, again last year by the Obama administration. . . . .
. . . . Mr. Sterling, who is black, had a stormy history with the C.I.A. He accused the agency of racial discrimination and later tussled with it over permission to publish his memoirs. The indictment says he harbored “anger and resentment” against the agency and leaked as “retaliation.” In March 2002, Mr. Risen wrote a newspaper article about Mr. Sterling’s discrimination case.
In making their case against Mr. Sterling, prosecutors provided details in the indictment of phone calls between the residences of Mr. Sterling and the reporter and quoted from e-mails sent between their accounts.
No comments:
Post a Comment