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Jacquelyn Martin/ AP file
Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, left, and defense attorney John Hundley, leave federal court in Alexandria, Va., in January 2012.
A former CIA agent was sentenced to 30 months in prison on Friday for revealing the identity of CIA operative involved in the agency’s harsh handling of alleged terrorists.
John Kiriakou, 48, who was among the first government officials to confirm the CIA’s use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation measures, had been accused of disclosing classified information to reporters and lying about the source of other information he published in a book.
But Kiriakou pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by leaking the identity of an agent to a reporter.
The sentencing in federal court in Alexandria, Va., was the result of a plea deal between defense and prosecutors. Kiriakou's defense team failed to persuade the judge that his release of information was the act of a whistle blower concerned about practices used in the war on terrorism in the name of the United States.
"I think 30 months is way too light," said U.S. District Court Judge Leonie M. Brinkema in Alexandria, Va. She went on to describe the damage that Kiriakou had caused the agency and the agent whose cover was made public, according to The New York Times' account.
"This is not a case of a whistleblower," Brinkema said. "This is a case of a man who betrayed a solemn trust."
Many of the details of Kiriakou’s alleged disclosures were kept under wraps by the Justice Department in its original criminal filing, the Washington Post reported. But the complaint suggested that he provided information that was the basis for stories by the Times and other news organizations in 2008 and 2009 about sensitive post-9/11 CIA operations, it said.
The information included the capture and interrogation, including waterboarding, of key suspects, including Abu Zubaida and Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
Information and photographs supplied to journalists by Kiriakou ultimately came into play in the defense of these high-value detainees, the Justice Department said.
Kiriakou worked for the CIA from 1990 to 2004.
After a 2007 interview with ABC News, during which Kiriakou provided a description of the waterboarding of Abu Zubaida, he was frequently sought out by the media for interviews.
He went on to publish his memoir, "The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror," in 2010.
Prosecutors accused Kiriakou of using media attention to get consulting work and sell copies of his book, the Post reported.
The FBI arrested him on Jan. 23, 2012, and he pleaded guilty to a violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.
Kiriakou did not speak at Friday’s proceedings. However, Kiriakou’s lawyer, Robert Trout, said his client did not intend to harm the United States or "cause injury to anyone."
"He was concerned about certain practices that were employed in the war against terror," Trout said.
Since 2009, the Obama administration has charged five other current or former government officials with leaking classified information, the Times reported.
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This is what should have happened to all those involved in the leaking the name of a covert CIA agent Valerie Plame! But of course, Republicans arent about to investigate and indict Republicans. Nor are Republicans likely to impeach a Republican president!
Liberals sure do know their history! Republican Houses of Representatives have impeached one Democrat President (Bill Clinton) and one Republican President (Andrew Johnson). Democratic Houses of Representatives have impeached ..... no one. Senates have convicted .... no one. Having said that, sometimes I wish the world I live in were as simple as yours.
On July 11, 2006, Robert Novak confirmed that Rove was his second source for his article that revealed the identity of Valerie Plame as a CIA agent...
The disclosure was made in a Washington Post column titled "Mission to Niger" written by Robert Novak, and published on July 14, 2003.[4]..
Novak also claims to have learned Mrs. Wilson's maiden name "Valerie Plame" from Joe Wilson's entry in Who's Who In America,[50] though it was her CIA status rather than her maiden name which was a secret.
On August 30, 2006, the New York Times reported that the lawyer and other associates of Mr. Armitage confirmed he was Novak's "initial and primary source" for Plame's identity.[39]
How about:
Nah, the DOJ is too busy taking to court individuals, companies, and looking out for this administration.
Tom, the minute I saw the headline, the same thought went through my mind. The worse thing about it though, is that he got in trouble for outing an agent involved in torture, while Valerie Plame was outed to get even with her husband. The entire administration should have faced, not only censure, but criminal indictments.
If they jailed all the leakers, it would be a crowded jail.
Tom in NH-294381, you have hit the nail squarely on the head. Why wasn't Bush II and the rest of his White House minions charged not to mention violating the Geneva Convention and torture not to mention kidnapping across international borders. Instead they cover it up, Cheney goes on to suck more money out of the US coffers through his company and Dubya goes on to finally get a full retirement. Rove and company continue to undermine Democracy in this country with his PAC blood money and more. Enough already.
Exactly. Put him in a celll next to Cheney- the worst disaster ever as a vice President.
Kiriakou got off light. He got lucky that no one wanted this to go to a trial so he was able to strike a very lenient plea deal. What he did endangered the lives of active CIA agents and he deserves a much longer prison sentence than the one he received. His reasons for revealing the info had nothing to do with being a whistle blower, it was about self promotion to make a name for himself and bolster sales of his book, nothing more. He is a POS that deserves to be in prison.
The Today Show's right leaning bias, once again, neglects to confront the hypocrisy this case reflects. The Nuremberg Trials convicted criminals of torture not those who exposed them. Why is it so difficult for Americans to see that our military, secret services, and leaders should be held to the same standards? Karl Rove, Cheney, and Ashcroft clearly meet this standard of needing to be held accountable for exposing Valerie Plame, yet they all got a pat on the back. This wasn't even Rove's first time of leaking government secrets, he was fired by Reagan for leaking secrets to Robert Novak. The same goes for our heroic whistle blowers Julian Assange and Bradly Manniing, their information was a slap in the face to some really really bad people, and yet who is being punished? We are upside down in enforcing accountability. We have criminal bankers responsible for creating our economic collapse receiving the highest paychecks than ever in history and single Mom's caught with a joint of marijuana in prison for 30 years. We have the most deplorable environmental polluters getting protected and subsidized while protesters are being beaten, tazed, and thrown in jail, and lastly we have the most craziest of teanderthals highjacking common sense and reason.....How Orwellian we have become, War is Peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
VP Chaney should have been impeached and charged with the same crime as this man. His crime, in fact, ws worse than Kiriakou's as he had the "bully pulpit" and could affect Ms. Plame and her co-workers much more. He also had more responsibility to keep the information secret as the Vice President of the US!
Cheney had nothing to do with Ms. Plame. And it just doesn't matter what happened years ago.
And I own a condo on Mars.
Criminal politicians love that attitude.
Doesn't matter???? The outing of Plame was directly tied to revenge against her husband, who let it be known that those "yellowcake uranium" documents tied to Saddam Hussein's WMD were "signed" by a Nigerian official who had been dead for TEN YEARS.
Dick Cheney outed covert CIA agent Valerie Plame. When he was questioned by the FBI he invoked the "I don't recall" defense 72 times but also admitted that he rewrote talking points for his staff so that her identity would be discussed by his staff and members of the press corps. He claimed that he did not do it intentionally however the FBI found his explanation to be implausible. In other words there was no reason anyone should be discussing Valerie Plame's identity with members of their staff and the press corps unless that reason was to out her. What is more is that it would have had to been malicious. Dick Cheney's crime qualifies as being an act of treason according to our laws which is why our government took this incident very seriously. The FBi saw no point in prosecuting Dick Cheney knowing full well that George Bush would have pardoned him just as he commuted the sentence of convicted felon Scooter Libby for his role in the same matter.
And Holder get nothing.
I'm impatiently waiting for the White House and Justice Department to release the results of their investigation into who leaked the information about the Bin Laden raid that resulted releasing sensitive tactical information about our anti-terror operations to our enemies and the jailing (33 years) of the Pakistani doctor who assisted in identifying Bin Laden. Well I guess CIA agents can be sent to jail but Obama's associates go free.
stevephoenix-4019717, you are comparing apples with oranges. The revenge outing of Ms. Plame was an act of treason by a sitting or so called sitting VP under the guidance of the rocket scientist Dubya. How can you sit there with a straight face and even try to make a connection between the two? The Plame incident was done in revenge for her husban refusing to embellish the lies Dubya and Cheney among other of those idiot minions were spewing to the world to start a war for vengeance.
You are so out in left field it is no wonder the Republican Party is still in denial of being Old White Men who are afraid of change that they cannot stop. We are now a diverse nation and not 90% whites like back in the fifties. Get over yourself already and move out to Utah or Idaho. They like your kind out there with special clubs for your ilk.
Should of been a banker and stole Billions then the do nothing against the rich Feds would not of prosecuted...
You can run but you can't hide from big brother ha !!
This guy gets time but the banks and RepukliCONs walk without anything. It is far PAST time for them to pay for their actions.
Now Obama should pardon him, because he is one of the good guys.
Damned if outing felons isn't a crime these days.
I'd say 30 months is appropriate only if the criminal CIA agent he outed gets sentenced to 30 years.
He gets 30 months for this but Obama and the current administration get nothing for Fast and Furious, Bengazei where they new what was going on and didnt do nothing. There are 60,000 Mexican citizens and I Border Patrolman dead from the first one and the second 4 Americans citizens dead from the Second. Oh and What does it matter now according to Hillery Clinton. A whole lot matters if your and your Leader made the decissions that caused their deaths. The People need to stand up and not take no for an answer.
All I can say is I'm surprised he didn't come down with the "flu" and is still breathing. As for the waterboarding I myself would never trust anything anyone said under those conditions. Who here wouldn't be willing to admit they were the second shooter on the grassy knoll, or be willing to tell the interrogator what they wanted to hear? May sound harsh but if I wanted to get something from someone I would get the suspects family in the next room.
Jail all the leakers. Even the ones on Obama's staff.
Jail costs us a lot of money and people who are not a threat to others should not be sentenced to jail. House arrest, probation, furlough programs all properly run and supervised impose enough restrictions to punish without shifting the major cost onto the tax payer. This man did not maliciously "out" another agent but he did misspeak and identified another agent as a source a writer might contact for more information. He should sit in his house except to go to a job and perform necessities like food shopping and doctors appointments. He should be supporting himself, paying taxes and paying supervision fees to DOJ to offset some of the costs of supervising him. He does not need to be babysat in a $50,000 a year jail cell at taxpayer expense. We want the government to cut spending - here is somewhere they can do so if the US justice system and our citizens get over their belief that the only punishment that counts is jail.
Bernie Madoff should not be in jail. He should be living on his social security in a cheap apartment in an outer burough of NY with no access to computers, bank accounts or anyone in the financial sector and he should be sending 10% of his SS to the court as restitution. It won't pay victims back much of anything but the idea is punishment - there is no rehabilitation involved. His punishment should not be living on our dime getting the best medical care available and activities to keep him busy at our expense. His punishment should be to live no better than most of his victims ended up.
Rush ,with enough weight of dope for a "MANDATORY" 30 years in prison ,did not do 30 seconds in prison..Cheney should have gotten life,this guy must have the wrong political connections...
Dick Chaney deserves to have a jury of his peers placing his evil a@# on the gallows.
I would think we should look at the bigger picture. The US was looked up to, but now we show we are just as bad as everyone else. Today, we condone torture, assassinations and so on.
I think a big problem is that Bush said we are at war with terror, but the government defines who is a terrorist. If you openly stand up against the government, they would define you a terrorist and you would lose all the rights the constitution has given us. We need to hold past and present govenments to the letter of the law and not keep letting the skirt around it.
My question today is, is the US the good guys?
A worried US Citizen.
Many people on these blogs have labelled me a terrorist or traitor, because I openly oppose the government. If the government were allowed to go after me for my speech, I have no doubt they would. We are headed for this sort of tyranny in the near future, where political opponents are labelled as terrorists, and will have their civil liberties revoked without a fair trial. And the left will endorse this whole heartedly.
The left hates freedom of speech.
Oh, and the US has not been "the good guys" for a very long time. Bush gets some of the blame, but the blame goes all of the way back to Lincoln.
"Harsh" handling. That's what MSNBC is clling torture now?
"This is not a case of a whistleblower," Brinkema said. "This is a case of a man who betrayed a solemn trust."... uh, um, what is a greater betrayal of trust, a man trying to be honest about unacceptable behavior by people who seem above the law, or the torture commited by same said a holes. Hey judge Brinkema, you suck. Not as bad as Americans committing torture, but still all the same, you really do suck.