An open letter to civil rights groups in the U.S.

By Jeffrey Sterling
Dear NAACP, National Action Network, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Congressional Black Caucus and others: Where were you? Where were you when I was faced with blatant discrimination at my job, when my employer told me I was “too big and too black” to do the job?

Assessing the Candidates: Obama’s Whistleblower War Leaves Dangerous Legacy for Future Presidents

Here’s the thing about President Obama’s war on whistleblowers: In bringing espionage charges in nine cases involving disclosures or alleged misuse of classified information, the current administration has set a floor, rather than a ceiling, on the number and types of whistleblower espionage cases a future President can bring. And here’s another thing: With leaders […]

Jeffrey Sterling vs. the CIA: An Untold Story of Race and Retribution

A dozen years before his recent sentencing to a 42-month prison term based on a jury’s conclusion that he gave classified information to a New York Times journalist, former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling was in the midst of a protracted and fruitless effort to find someone in Congress willing to look into his accusations about […]

Whistleblowers and the Press Heavyweights

Following the late January guilty verdicts in the espionage trial of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, more proof emerged — if any more were needed — that many elite mainstream journalists abhor whistleblowers and think they should go to prison when they divulge classified information. One would think that a business that has relied on […]

CIA Mission: Destroy the Whistleblower and Perfume the Stench of ‘Operation Merlin’

The leak trial of CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling never got near a smoking gun, but the entire circumstantial case was a smokescreen. Prosecutors were hell-bent on torching the defendant to vindicate Operation Merlin, nine years after a book by James Risen reported that it “may have been one of the most reckless operations in the […]

The Invisible Man: Jeffrey Sterling, CIA Whistleblower

  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 — […]

CIA Leak Trial: “This Case Is Not About Politics” [sic]

  Continuing to deliberate as this week gets underway, the jurors in the CIA leak trial might ponder a notable claim from the government: “This case is not about politics.” The prosecution made that claim a few days ago in closing arguments — begun with a somber quotation from Condoleezza Rice about the crucial need […]

Sterling Prosecution Long on Rhetoric, Short on Evidence

To hear the prosecution side tell it in the ongoing trial of Jeffrey Sterling, the former CIA officer who is accused of a national security leak involving Iran, Sterling has potentially (emphasis on potentially): * placed a CIA “asset” at risk; * hurt recruitment of other defectors, informants and turncoats; * scared other current “assets” […]

Leak Trial Shows CIA Zeal to Hide Incompetence

  Six days of testimony at the trial of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling have proven the agency’s obsession with proclaiming its competence. Many of the two-dozen witnesses from the Central Intelligence Agency conveyed smoldering resentment that a whistleblower or journalist might depict the institution as a bungling outfit unworthy of its middle name. Some […]

Why the CIA Is So Eager to Demolish Whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling

Midway through the trial of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, one comment stands out. “A criminal case,” defense attorney Edward MacMahon told the jury at the outset, “is not a place where the CIA goes to get its reputation back.” But that’s where the CIA went with this trial in its first week — sending […]