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 […]
Sterling Verdict Another Measure of Declining Government Credibility on Secrets
May 12, 2015
Even as Leonie Brinkema rejected the government’s claim that Jeffrey Sterling committed 7 discrete acts of Espionage, CIA’s former Directors were doubling down on frenzied claims about the importance of secrets.
Desmond Tutu Calls for Justice for Jeffrey Sterling, Citing Petraeus Deal
April 9, 2015
Desmond Tutu submitted a letter to Judge Brinkema, calling for Jeffrey Sterling to receive the same kind of justice as David Petraeus.
Jeffrey Sterling Moves for Acquittal Based on Government’s Expansive Interpretation of Spying
February 18, 2015
Jeffrey Sterling just moved for acquittal on all charges against him, largely because the government never proved that any actions he took took place in Virginia.
CIA’s Merlin Was Arranging Fake Nuclear Deals on an AOL Account Shared with His Wife and Kids
February 6, 2015
Witness after witness in the Jeffrey Sterling trial made claims about how closely held the program was. “More closely held than any other program,” Walter C, a physicist who worked on the program described. “More closely held,” David Shedd, currently head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and head of Counterproliferation Operations until just after the […]
Two Minutes and Forty Four Minutes and Eleven Seconds: The Smoky Case against Jeffrey Sterling
January 26, 2015
The evidence that Jeffrey Sterling served as a source for James Risen’s planned 2003 New York Times article on Merlin consists of two minutes and 40 four minutes and 11 seconds of calls.
CIA Leak Trial: “This Case Is Not About Politics” [sic]
January 26, 2015
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 […]
Introducing Mrs. Merlin: To Prosecute Jeffrey Sterling, CIA Exposed an Asset
January 25, 2015
The government made a big show of protecting CIA’s secrets during the Jeffrey Sterling trial. But behind the show, they were exposing another asset, Merlin’s wife.
Sterling Prosecution Long on Rhetoric, Short on Evidence
January 23, 2015
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
January 22, 2015
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 […]
