9/11 News - A small victory for Sibel Edmonds

Subject: 9/11 News - A small victory for Sibel Edmonds
From: webmaster@septembereleventh.org
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 19:25:04 -0800 (PST)
To: announce@lists.911visibilityproject.org

URL: http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=17527&c=206

Administration Blinks; Admits Retroactively Classified Information Not
Harmful to National Security
February 22, 2005

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department admitted today that information it had
retroactively classified could be released to the public and did not pose
a threat to national security. The American Civil Liberties Union said the
revelation could aid government whistleblowers in their efforts to fight
unlawful dismissals.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: media@aclu.org

Decision Likely to Have Significant Impact on Sibel Edmondsâ€™ Appeal,
Says ACLU

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department admitted today that information it had
retroactively classified could be released to the public and did not pose
a threat to national security. The American Civil Liberties Union said the
revelation could aid government whistleblowers in their efforts to fight
unlawful dismissals.

"The Justice Department's long-overdue admission goes to the core of the
ACLU's allegations that the government is going all out to silence
whistleblowers to protect itself from political embarrassment," said ACLU
Associate Legal Director Ann Beeson, who is representing former FBI
translator Sibel Edmonds in a lawsuit challenging her termination. "This
is hardly an isolated case, as numerous national security whistleblowers
can attest. The government is taking extreme steps to shield itself while
gambling with our safety."

In May 2004, the Justice Department retroactively classified information
presented two years earlier by the FBI to the Senate Judiciary Committee
during two unclassified briefings regarding Edmonds, who had repeatedly
reported serious security breaches and misconduct in the agency's
translation program. An executive summary of the Justice Department's
Inspector General report into her termination concluded that Edmonds was
fired for reporting the misconduct, and that her allegations, if true,
could have potentially damaging consequences for the FBI.

Edmonds, a former Middle Eastern language specialist hired by the FBI
shortly after 9/11, challenged her retaliatory dismissal by filing a law
suit in federal court, but her case was dismissed last July after Attorney
General John Ashcroft invoked the so-called "state secrets privilege." It
was at that time that the Justice Department retroactively classified the
two-year old briefings in attempt to bolster its "state secrets" claim.
The ACLU is representing Edmonds in her appeal.

The government will file its response to Edmonds' appellate brief on
February 24th, and has indicated that portions of its response will be
classified and unavailable for review by Edmonds or her attorneys. The
ACLU's Beeson said that this use of secrecy is highly suspicious in light
of the Justice Department's admission that the information retroactively
classified does not pose a threat to national security.

Today's actions came as a result of a separate lawsuit filed by the
Project On Government Oversight (POGO) against Attorney General Ashcroft
and the Justice Department, charging that the retroactive classification
in Edmonds' case was unlawful and violated POGO's right to free speech.
When forced to defend its extreme step of retroactively classifying
information, the government was unable to do so and admitted the
information could be released to the public without harm to national
security.

Today's development also follows the Justice Department's release of the
full Inspector General report on Edmonds' dismissal at 5:00 p.m. on
Friday, February 18, at the beginning of a holiday weekend. The ACLU said
that the executive summary released last month actually revealed more
information than the full 106-page Inspector General report, as the bulk
of it was redacted.

The ACLU said that the Edmonds case is part of a larger pattern by the
government to silence employees who expose national security blunders.
Coleen Rowley, Manny Johnson, Robert Woo, Ray McGovern, Mel Goodman,
Bogdan Dzakovic, and Mike German are just a few of the other national
security whistleblowers who were vilified and retaliated against.

For a web feature on the Sibel Edmonds case and more information on
national security whistleblowers, go to http://www.aclu.org/whistleblower.

© ACLU, 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, NY 10004 This is the Web
site of the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU Foundation.
Learn more about the distinction between these two components of the ACLU.
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... Sibel Edmonds is a former FBI translator.
She blew the whistle on the cover-up of FBI
HTTP://www.apfn.org/movies/911-2.ppt

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War Helps Recruit Terrorists, Hill Told
Intelligence Officials Talk Of Growing Insurgency

By Dana Priest and Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 17, 2005; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28876-2005Feb16?language=printer