Freedom Rider: Jeffrey Sterling: A Black Man and the CIA
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
“Everything changed for Sterling when he filed a discrimination complaint in 2000.”
The Espionage Act was a nearly 100 year-old historic relic until Barack Obama came to office. The legislation was used by his predecessors in only three whistle blower prosecutions after it was enacted in 1917. Obama has used it in seven prosecutions in six years in office and never for actual instances of espionage.
Jeffrey Sterling is a former CIA case officer who stands accused of giving classified information to New York Times reporter James Risen. Risen’s book State of War included a chapter detailing how the CIA attempted to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. Sterling was arrested in 2011 but his trial was delayed by a four year-long effort to force Risen to name his sources.
Sterling became a CIA employee in 1993. He was the case officer in charge of a Russian born agent who passed flawed nuclear plans to the Iranian government. As often happens to black people, everything changed for Sterling when he filed a discrimination complaint in 2000. The CIA successfully argued in court that Sterling couldn’t prove his discrimination claim without revealing classified information. His top secret security clearance was revoked in retaliation and he was placed on administrative leave until his termination in 2002.
The attention on this case had focused on Risen and the Obama administration’s insistence that he reveal his sources. The prosecution admitted defeat when they suddenly announced they wouldn’t call Risen to testify, but what they gave with one hand they took with the other. They requested that the defense actually be prevented from calling Risen to testify. Fortunately the judge rejected that request, but Sterling’s troubles are far from over.
“Sterling is in particularly dangerous waters.”
The odds are against any black person on trial in this country but Sterling is in particularly dangerous waters. One of his former CIA colleagues, John Kiriakou, is serving a two and a half year sentence for revealing information about torture at Guantanamo. So far he is the only person to have been prosecuted in regards to government-sanctioned torture. The architects of the program and the torturers themselves are all free men and women.
Whether Sterling is guilty or innocent of the charges filed against him is actually less important than the fact that he is in court at all and charged with violating the Espionage Act. All presidents complain about leaks and whistle blowing but the Obama administration has exceeded all of its predecessors in the level of its zeal.
They do maintain historical precedent in one regard. They continue the practice of selective prosecutions and going after the smaller fish only. The three most recent CIA directors, Leon Panetta, David Petraeus and John Brennan all leaked to the media at various moments they considered opportune. David Petraeus was forced to resign in 2012 following revelations of an affair with a woman who was also his biographer. He was not just accused of adultery but of sharing classified information with her.
Despite the serious nature of the accusation, Petraeus never lost his security clearance and, according to some media reports, continued to advise the Obama administration. Despite an FBI recommendation of federal prosecution, Dianne Feinstein, former chairwoman of the senate intelligence committee, says that Petraeus has “suffered enough” and should be let off the hook. No powerful person has vouched for Sterling.
“All presidents complain about leaks and whistle blowing but the Obama administration has exceeded all of its predecessors in the level of its zeal.”
Jeffrey Sterling has impressive credentials. He is an attorney and he learned the Farsi language in order to undertake his mission against the Iranian government. But he isn’t a general with medals on his chest and he isn’t white. In the end, he was done in by naivete, the destroyer of many a black person.
The purpose of the CIA is to further the interests of American foreign policy, which is never on the side of self-determination or sovereignty of other nations. The CIA has overthrown governments in Iran, Guatemala and Vietnam to name just three. Patrice Lumumba in Congo and Salvador Allende in Chile died because of CIA interventions in their countries. The CIA lied about WMD in Iraq in order to make the case for war and the inevitable mass death that came along with it.
The CIA’s crimes aren’t limited to destabilizing foreign governments. The CIA charter specifically prohibits surveillance within the United States but that rule has been violated many times since the organization was founded in 1947. Its “Operation Chaos” was dedicated to spying on peace activists in the 1960s. As recently as 2011, the CIA worked hand in hand with the NYPD to spy on Muslims in New York City.
Sterling lay down with dogs and got up with fleas. He is like many black people who make what appear to be good career choices by taking supposedly prestigious jobs. Inevitably the prestige doesn’t filter down to them and the missed promotions, salary inequities and various forms of mistreatment surface. The discrimination complaint is usually the last straw of suffering.
“He was done in by naivete, the destroyer of many a black person.”
In Sterling’s case not only did it end his career but immediately made him a suspect in the leak investigation. Whether he passed information to Risen or not, Sterling is surely innocent of espionage. He is not however entirely innocent because his former employer is guilty of many crimes and Sterling was an accessory.
It is easy to feel the pull of racial solidarity when a black man is in a Virginia courtroom with his fate in the hands of an all white jury. Of course feelings of solidarity have given cover to the biggest criminal of all, the current president Barack Obama. Ironically, the bigger criminal will escape punishment. Barring some unforeseen stroke of luck, Sterling is on his way to jail. Obama is on his way to book deals, corporate speeches, and a lifetime of ease and big money. The cogs in the machine must never forget they are just that. They pay a huge price when they step out of line. Just ask Jeffrey Sterling.
Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.
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