Norm Solomon: The Invisible Man: Jeffrey Sterling, CIA Whistleblower

[99th_Monkey]

The Invisible Man: Jeffrey Sterling, CIA Whistleblower
by Norman Solomon * Common Dreams * Jan 27, 2015

The mass media have suddenly discovered Jeffrey Sterling — after his conviction Monday afternoon as a CIA whistleblower.

Sterling’s indictment four years ago received fleeting news coverage that recited the government’s charges. From the outset, the Justice Department portrayed him as bitter and vengeful — with the classic trash-the-whistleblower word “disgruntled” thrown in — all of which the mainline media dutifully recounted without any other perspective.

Year after year, Sterling’s case dragged through appellate courts, tangled up with the honorable refusal of journalist James Risen to in any way identify sources for his 2006 book State of War. While news stories or pundits occasionally turned their lens on Risen, they scarcely mentioned Sterling, whose life had been turned upside down — fired by the CIA early in the Bush administration after filing a racial discrimination lawsuit, and much later by the 10-count indictment that included seven counts under the Espionage Act.

Sterling was one of the very few African American case officers in the CIA. He became a whistleblower by virtue of going through channels to the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2003 to inform staffers about the CIA’s ill-conceived, poorly executed and dangerous Operation Merlin, which had given a flawed design for a nuclear weapons component to Iran back in 2000.

Long story short, by the start of 2011, Sterling was up against the legal wall. While press-freedom groups and some others gradually rallied around Risen’s right to source confidentiality, Sterling remained the Invisible Man. ~snip~

As the whistleblower advocate Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project has said: “When journalists become targets, they have a community and a lobby of powerful advocates to go to for support. Whistleblowers are in the wilderness. … They’re indicted under the most serious charge you can level against an American: being an enemy of the state.”

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/01/27/invisible-man-jeffrey-sterling-cia-whistleblower

[elias49]

1. And all because the CIA was embarrassed. nt

[Maedhros]

2. What's frightening about the Obama Administration's unprecedented abuse

of the Espionage Act is that they're not targeting people who gave intel to rival governments, but instead is seeking to punish and silence patriotic Americans who are trying to inform the citizenry of abuses by their own government.

This behavior by the President directly undermines the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution.

[99th_Monkey]

4. True dat.

Actually, it's so brazen, makes me wonder if Bush could have gotten away with it.

And meanwhile Republican war criminals and torturers walk free from any prosecution or accountability.

[Maedhros]

6. Once Obama took office any criticism of the government became criticism of Obama

in the eyes of the Democratic rank-and-file, and anyone who criticized the Government became a "libertarian troll."

One benefit of the Democrats losing the White House would be that the rank-and-file would pretend to care about Constitutional abuses again.

[Blue_Tires]

3. this quote:

From the outset, the Justice Department portrayed him as bitter and vengeful — with the classic trash-the-whistleblower word “disgruntled” thrown in — all of which the mainline media dutifully recounted without any other perspective.


I still have yet to read any hard (or even soft) proof anywhere to refute that characterization...If anyone has it, I'd love to see it...

[99th_Monkey]

5. Behind your question, there's a premise.

You appear to favor secret trials to punish whistleblowers.

[Blue_Tires]

7. Forget I asked, then

It's moot anyway since Sterling continues to maintain he wasn't the source of the leak...If there's another source and Sterling was conveniently made out to be the fall guy, then I'm willing to explore that...Of course that means he was never any "hero" since he didn't leak anything; just a railroaded patsy...

Of course, if Sterling *was* the source of the leak, then the law is pretty clear....It doesn't cut both ways...