Translator alleges FBI / State Dept espionage, possible treason

[whitestar]

Translator alleges FBI / State Dept espionage, possible treason

by Tom Flocco

WASHINGTON -- APRIL 27, 2004 01:30 ET -- TomFlocco.com -- Former FBI contract linguist Sibel Dinez Edmonds did not back down regarding reported evidence she uncovered implicating espionage in the FBI and State Department when we recently asked whether she thought the explosive information would ever see the light of day.

"As you know, I cannot say much about that; but why do you think Attorney General Ashcroft asserted State Secret Privilege in my case when I decided to go public with what I had found in the translations?" she said, as we walked down the circular marble staircase from the second floor 9-11 panel hearing room to the ground floor atrium in the Hart Senate office building. Justice Department lawyers at the request of FBI Director Robert Mueller invoked the arcane legal procedure which even allows the withholding of evidence documents from the judge.

We also asked Edmonds if she thought spies in the FBI and State Department contacted al Qaeda operatives--confirmed to be living in the United States--about ongoing plans for President Bush’s new government policy directive which would authorize tightened American security, and whether espionage within the Bush administration may have played a part in accelerating the attacks which occurred just seven days later.

Sibel Edmonds will attend a court hearing today in Washington, DC where FBI lawyers will attempt to block a subpoena to have her deposed as a witness by attorney Ronald Motley who represents thousands of 9-11 family members in a $1 trillion lawsuit regarding terrorism finance.

Full Story Here


whitestar

[jus_the_facts]

1. MIHOP.....just as I've always suspected....

.....but will there ever be any justice....that is the ?

:evilfrown:

[hang a left]

2. Wasn't this hearing yesterday? n/t

[mulethree]

5. Hearing on mon 26th to block subpoena testimony on tue 27th

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=509584&mesg_id=509594&page=

Have not seen anything regarding the outcome of the hearing. The flocco article has a 1:30am time on it so references to 'today' may be to the 26th.

If I recall correctly its the same judge who was involved in the FOIA stuff and was stonewalled by needing to have all her staff cleared for classified data. I don't know if they have pursued it since the State Secret declaration. Seems like a good way to piss off a judge.

The govt case for this hearing asks to block the testimony, or to postpone it until the Govt can appeal. Judge could pass the buck to an appeals court.

Heres the best collection I've seen on this, already updated with today's article.

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Sibel_Edmonds

[whitestar]

6. From what I understand....

At far as I know the testimony for today (04/27/04) was still supposed to take place this morning. Will get in touch with Tom and then update this thread.

I believe you do have it right on the Judge.

whitestar

[hedda_foil]

3. This goes farther than anything I've seen.

Have the contents of this letter been released before or does Flocco have a scoop?

----------On April 11, 2004 Edmonds sent a letter to Grassley and the Judiciary Committee--but also the 9-11 Commission--wherein she enumerated questions for FBI Director Mueller's testimony, implying that the Bureau allowed several top targets of FBI investigations to leave the U.S. months after the attacks without questioning them.

She also raised a question directed to Mueller as to whether information from investigations concerning terrorists and their supporters' activities was intentionally blocked and whether FBI field agents re-sent blocked or mistranslated information to the Washington field office to be checked again due to suspicions about original translations.

More explosively, however, was Edmonds' question for Mueller as to whether it was true that administrative personnel, after becoming aware that translations were being intentionally blocked and mistranslated, engaged in cover-ups and never provided field agents with accurate translations.

The former wiretap translator told Democracy Now in a radio interview, "The Inspector General’s Office report was supposed to be released in October, 2002; but my sources are telling me that they are going to seal this report, and it will never be made public," adding "they are citing the reason is because this case would create substantial risks of disclosing classified and sensitive national security information that could cause serious damage to our country’s security."

Edmonds continued,hey are citing that this privilege is very rare and is asserted to prevent certain information getting--becoming public or hurting diplomatic relations. I would underline this phrase, diplomatic relations several times." Edmonds did not reveal the name of the subject-country in question.

AND WHY WAS THIS THREAD MOVED TO THIS FORUM?

[hang a left]

4. I am not sure but.............

It was posted in LBN and should be in GD. Yes it is an explosive artlcle. Somethings I have not read before.

[seemslikeadream]

7. Former FBI Translator Sibel Edmonds Calls Current 9/11 Investigation Inade

floda (43 posts) Sun May-09-04 02:14 PM
Original message
Former FBI Translator Sibel Edmonds Calls Current 9/11 Investigation Inade


(Transcript from WGDR radio)

http://baltimorechronicle.com/050704SibelEdmonds.shtml

snip

On April 30th, Sibel Edmonds was my guest for 50 minutes on WGDR radio. What follows is an edited transcript of the interview. The editing is for the sake of a more readable piece.

Sibel Edmonds is a former FBI translator. She blew the whistle on the cover-up of intelligence that names some of the culprits who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks. These culprits are protected by the Justice Department, the State Department, the FBI, the White House and the Senate Judiciary Committee. They are foreign nationals and Americans. Ms. Edmonds is under two gag orders that forbid her to testify in court or mention the names of the people or the countries involved.


THE INTERVIEW


snip

JH: So they got the word down from Mueller, probably.

SE: I cannot confirm that for sure, but I can tell you that there is so much involvement, that if they did let this information out, and if they were to hold real investigations--I'm not talking about this semi-investigation they're holding under this "Joint Inquiry"--the pure show of the 9/11 Commission that has been getting the mass media's attention. If they were to do real investigations we would see several significant high level criminal prosecutions in this country. And that is something that they are not going to let out. And, believe me; they will do everything to cover this up. And I am appalled. I am really surprised. I'm taken back by seeing the mass media's reaction to this. They are the window to our government's operation and what are they doing?

snip


JH:I don't imagine that you are allowed to say much about that.

SE: You are correct. But I can tell you that the issue, on one side, boils down to money--a lot of money. And it boils down to people and their connections with this money, and that's the portion that, even with this book, has not been mentioned to this day. Because then it starts touching some people in high places.

snip

You get to a point where it gets very complex, where you have money laundering activities, drug related activities, and terrorist support activities converging at certain points and becoming one. In certain points - and they are separating those portions from just the terrorist activities. And, as I said, they are citing "foreign relations" which is not the case, because we are not talking about only governmental levels. And I keep underlining semi-legit organizations and following the money. When you do that the picture gets grim. It gets really ugly.

snip

JH: Here's a question that you might be able to answer: What is al-Qaeda?

SE: This is a very interesting and complex question. When you think of al-Qaeda, you are not thinking of al-Qaeda in terms of one particular country, or one particular organization. You are looking at this massive movement that stretches to tens and tens of countries. And it involves a lot of sub-organizations and sub-sub-organizations and branches and it's extremely complicated. So to just narrow it down and say al-Qaeda and the Saudis, or to say it's what they had at the camp in Afghanistan, is extremely misleading. And we don't hear the extent of the penetration that this organization and the sub-organizations have throughout the world, throughout their networks and throughout their various activities. It's extremely sophisticated. And then you involve a significant amount of money into this equation. Then things start getting a lot of overlap-- money laundering, and drugs and terrorist activities and their support networks converging in several points. That's what I'm trying to convey without being too specific. And this money travels. And you start trying to go to the root of it and it's getting into somebody's political campaign, and somebody's lobbying. And people don't want to be traced back to this money.

more

http://baltimorechronicle.com/050704SibelEdmonds.shtml

Minstrel Boy (1000+ posts) Fri May-07-04 11:06 PM
Original message
Explosive new Sibel Edmonds interview

Edited on Fri May-07-04 11:31 PM by Minstrel Boy
Very important, lengthy interview with the former FBI translator published today. Get a load of this - she's pointing her finger at the BCCI/BFEE Octopus, not "al Qaeda."


JH: I understand why you can't say anything about this, but there are several books out about the Bush ties to the Saudis and the bin Ladens in particular. And in David Griffin's book, The New Pearl Harbor, there is a very good synopsis of the ISI, which is the Pakistani intelligence service. He shows the direct connections between the CIA, the ISI, and Mohamed Atta. He makes a very convincing case that the Pakistani ISI had been helping to plan 9/11 for a long time.

I don't imagine that you are allowed to say much about that.

SE: You are correct. But I can tell you that the issue, on one side, boils down to money--a lot of money. And it boils down to people and their connections with this money, and that's the portion that, even with this book, has not been mentioned to this day. Because then it starts touching some people in high places.

JH: Can you explain more about what money you are talking about?

SE: The most significant information that we were receiving did not come from counter-terrorism investigations, and I want to emphasize this. It came from counter-intelligence, and certain criminal investigations, and issues that have to do with money laundering operations.

You get to a point where it gets very complex, where you have money laundering activities, drug related activities, and terrorist support activities converging at certain points and becoming one. In certain points - and they (the intelligence community) are separating those portions from just the terrorist activities. And, as I said, they are citing "foreign relations" which is not the case, because we are not talking about only governmental levels. And I keep underlining semi-legit organizations and following the money. When you do that the picture gets grim. It gets really ugly.

JH: Let me read you a short quote from Dr. Griffin's book, quoting from War and Globalization: The Truth Behind September 11 by Michel Chossudovsky and ask you to comment on it. "...The transfer of money to Atta <$325,000>, in conjunction with the presence of the ISI chief in Washington during the week, is the missing link behind 9/11....The evidence confirms that al-Qaeda is supported by Pakistan's ISI (and it is amply documented that) the ISI owes its existence to the CIA."

SE: I cannot comment on that. But I can tell that once, and if, and when this issue gets to be, under real terms, investigated, you will be seeing certain people that we know from this country standing trial; and they will be prosecuted criminally.

http://baltimorechronicle.com/050704SibelEdmonds.shtml

whitestar (104 posts) Wed Mar-24-04 01:50 PM
Original message
DOJ Asked FBI Translator To Change Pre 9-11 Intercepts

Edited on Wed Mar-24-04 02:00 PM by whitestar
BREAKING SPECIAL REPORT FROM 9-11 HEARINGS


Washington, DC -- March 24, 2004 --12:15 EST -- FBI translator, Sibel Edmonds, was offered a substantial raise and a full time job in order to not go public that she had been asked by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to retranslate and adjust the translations of subject intercepts that had been received before September 11, 2001 by the FBI and CIA.

Edmonds, a ten year U.S. citizen who has passed a polygraph examination, speaks fluent Farsi and Turkish and had been working part time with the FBI for six months-- commencing in December, 2001.

In a 50 reporter scrum in front of some 12 news cameras, Edmonds said "Attorney General John Ashcroft told me 'he was invoking State Secret Privilage and National Security' when I told the FBI I wanted to go public with what I had translated from the pre 9-11 intercepts".

http://tomflocco.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=50

This could be the "smoking gun"

whitestar


RainDog (1000+ posts) Wed Mar-24-04 10:06 PM
Response to Reply #2

65. Gale Sheehy/NYObserver article about Edmonds



http://www.gailsheehy.com/9_11/9_11_art1_21.html

From the NY Observer in Jan.

"During her six months of work for the Bureau, Ms. Edmonds said she grew increasingly horrified by the lack of internal security she saw inside the very agency tasked with protecting our national security.

In papers filed with the F.B.I.'s internal investigative office, the Department of Justice, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and most recently with the 9/11 Commission, she has reported serious ongoing failures in the language division of the F.B.I. Washington Field Office. They include security lapses in hiring and monitoring of translators, investigations that have been compromised by incorrect or misleading translations sent to field agents; and thousands of pages of translations falsely labeled "not pertinent" by Middle Eastern linguists who were either not qualified in the target language or English, or, worse, protecting targets of investigation.

Nothing happened. Undaunted, Ms. Edmonds took her concerns to upper management. Soon afterward she was fired. The only cause given was "for the convenience of the government." The F.B.I. has not refuted any of Ms. Edmonds' allegations, yet they have accounted for none of them.

On the morning Ms. Edmonds was terminated, she said, she was escorted from the building by an agent she remembered saying: "We will be watching you and listening to you. If you dare to consult an attorney who is not approved by the F.B.I., or if you take this issue outside the F.B.I. to the Senate, the next time I see you, it will be in jail." Two other agents were present."


http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2002/10/doj101802.html


Minstrel Boy (1000+ posts) Wed Mar-24-04 02:17 PM
Response to Original message

10. Seriously, this is huge, huge, huge.


Edmonds said "My translations of the pre 9-11 intercepts included (terrorist) money laundering, detailed and date specific information enough to alert the American people, and other issues dating back to 1999 which I won't go into right now."

Incredibly, Edmonds said "The senate Judiciary Committee, and the 911 Commission have heard me testify for lengthy periods of time time (3 hours) about very specific plots, dates, airplanes used as weopons, and specific idividuals and activities."

This explosive information has been kept under wraps by the White House, CIA, FBI, and DOJ since Edmond's 60 Minutes interview segment.

The former FBI translator told tomflocco.com that "translators before me had ongoing personal relationships with the subjects or targets of the FBI and DOJ pre 9-11 investigations linked to intercepts and other intelligence in June - July - August, just prior to the attacks."

...

"This whole situation is outrageous and I am going public," said Edmonds, adding "I am currently being advised by counsel. Thank you."

http://www.tomflocco.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=50


Robbien (1000+ posts) Wed Mar-24-04 03:02 PM
Response to Reply #20

22. Yes, she has been warning about problems for over a year now


This is one brave girl who has basically been ignored. Ed Bradley even did an interview with her on 60 minutes about all the problems the red tape in the translation department which forced translators not to do their jobs.

http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/0311/attachment1.htm

RainDog (1000+ posts) Thu Mar-25-04 06:51 PM
Response to Reply #22

112. This 60 Minutes transcript is also damning


In its rush to hire more foreign language translators after September 11th, the FBI admits it has had difficulty performing background checks to detect translators who may have loyalties to other governments, which could pose a threat to US national security.

Take the case of Jan Dickerson, a Turkish translator who worked with Sibel Edmonds. The FBI has admitted that when Dickerson was hired last November, the bureau didn't know that she had worked for a Turkish organization being investigated by the FBI's own counterintelligence unit, and they didn't know...

BRADLEY: (Voiceover) ...she'd had a relationship with a Turkish intelligence officer stationed in Washington who was the target of that investigation. According to Sibel Edmonds, Jan Dickerson tried to recruit her into that organization, and insisted that Dickerson be the only one to translate the FBI's wiretaps of that Turkish official. What was her reaction when you didn't go along with--with her plan?

Ms. EDMONDS: She got very angry, and later she threatened me and my family's life.

BRADLEY: Threatened you?

Ms. EDMONDS: Correct.

Katarina (292 posts) Wed Mar-24-04 04:14 PM
Response to Original message

36. Lost In Translation - July 13, 2003


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/25/60minutes/main526954.shtml

<snip>
(CBS) This is the story of hundreds, if not thousands, of foreign language documents that the FBI neglected to translate before and after the Sept.11 attacks because of problems in its language department - documents that detailed what the FBI heard on wiretaps and learned during interrogations of suspected terrorists.

Sibel Edmonds, a translator who worked at the FBI's language division, says the documents weren't translated because the divison was riddled with incompetence and corruption.

Months before the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, one of the plotters of the attack was heard on tape having a discussion in Arabic that no one at the time knew was about how to make explosives - and he had a manual that no one at the time knew was about how to blow up buildings. None of it was translated until well after the bombing, and while the FBI has hired more translators since then, officials concede that problems in the language division have hampered the country's efforts to battle terrorism.

According to congressional investigators, this may have played a role in the inability to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks. The General Accounting Office reported that the FBI had expressed concern over the thousands of hours of audiotapes and pages of written material that have not been reviewed or translated because of a lack of qualified linguists.
_____________
It never ceases to amaze me how much information that is out there and completely ignored. It's there for people to see but they just won't open their eyes!


Minstrel Boy (1000+ posts) Wed Mar-24-04 06:30 PM
Response to Original message

41. Here's another link that's picked up the story. Good God:


From the daily briefing of "Government Executive Magazine":

A former FBI translator said Wednesday that the bureau had "real, specific" information relating to the Sept. 11 attacks before they happened. Sibel Edmonds worked for the agency working from Sept. 20, 2001 to March 2002.

Edmonds said she was hired to retranslate material that was collected prior to Sept. 11 to determine if anything was missed in the translations that related to the plot. In her review, Edmonds said the documents clearly showed that the Sept. 11 hijackers were in the country and plotting to use airplanes as missiles. The documents also included information relating to their financial activities. Edmonds said she could not comment in detail because she has been under a Justice Department gag order since October 2002.

Edmonds has testified before the Sept. 11 commission, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Select Intelligence Committee.

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0304/032404c1.htm

CNN? CBS?

Hellooooo??

MetaTrope (414 posts) Wed Mar-24-04 11:46 PM
Response to Original message

72. Department of Justice statement asserting state secrets privilege


http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2002/10/doj101802.html

I was appalled on first reading her testimony...but then again, reading it more carefully, the documents in question weren't actually translated by Edmonds until after December 2001. So there's not the culpability of Ashcroft that I'd hoped to see, just negligence in the translations not being done sooner.



RainDog (1000+ posts) Thu Mar-25-04 06:56 AM
Response to Reply #77

94. A U.S. Major and his wife involved in spying and coverup?


again, from the NY Observer article-

which you really MUST read..there is so much information in this article, and Sheehy has done quite a few great articles on the females who are trying to make our govt accountable to the American people.

...the article mentions a woman named Melek Can Dickerson, a Turkish woman married to a major in the U.S. Air Force. The woman told Edmonds that she couldn't believe America was monitoring people who were their chief "persons of interest" because Dickerson and her husband had done favors for them...shopping...

"Ms. Edmonds has told the Judiciary Committee that soon after, Ms. Dickerson tried to establish social ties with her, suggesting they meet in Alexandria and introduce their husbands to each other.

When Sibel invited the visitors in for tea, she said, Major Dickerson began asking Matthew Edmonds if the couple had many friends from Turkey here in the U.S. Mr. Edmonds said he didn't speak Turkish, so they didn't associate with many Turkish people. The Air Force officer then began talking up a Turkish organization in Washington that he described, according to the Edmondses, as "a great place to make connections and it could be very profitable."

Sibel was sickened. This organization was the very one she and Jan Dickerson were monitoring in a 9/11 investigation. Since Sibel had adhered to the rule that an F.B.I. employee does not discuss bureau matters with one's mate, her husband innocently continued the conversation. Ms. Dickerson and her husband offered to introduce the Edmondses to people connected to the Turkish embassy in Washington who belonged to this organization. ..."My husband keeps thinking he's talking about promoting business deals," Ms. Edmonds later said of the encounter. "He has no idea the man is talking about criminal activities with some semi-legitimate front."

These are classic "pitch activities" to get somebody to spy for you, according to a Judiciary Committee staffer who investigated Ms. Edmonds' claims. ...The targets of that F.B.I. investigation left the country abruptly in 2002. Later, Ms. Edmonds discovered that Ms. Dickerson had managed to get hold of translations meant for Ms. Edmonds, forge her signature, and render the communications useless."

---so apparently the FBI didn't want another scandal on its hands after Opus Dei follower Robert Hanssen was discovered spying for another govt....THIS should all be open testimony on the 9-11 commission.

I have no doubt that Breitweiser made sure Edmonds got the attention of the press on the day that Clarke testified that no one in the Bush administration took Al Qaeda as a big threat, no matter what warnings they received from the previous NSC people, nor the continuing warnings from Tenet, which, Clarke notes, indicated a GREATER THREAT than the Clinton administration had received before the Millennium bomb plot was foiled.


Minstrel Boy (1000+ posts) Thu Mar-25-04 01:47 AM
Response to Reply #80

82. And the "spy ring" she uncovered at the FBI was Turkish.

Edited on Thu Mar-25-04 02:01 AM by Minstrel Boy
I say "spy ring" because it operated with impunity and the protection of senior officials.

See this thread from an earlier story on Edmonds a few months ago: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic...

From the January New York Observer story:

Says Senator Chuck Grassley, "You basically admitted almost all that Sibel alleged, yet you say there’s no problem here. What’s wrong with this picture?"

The Bureau briefers shrugged, put on their coats, and left.

Grassley presumes that the FBI failure is explained by a security breach, but is left shaking his head at the Bureau's evident lack of concern. And the Minnesota field office joked bitterly, pre-9/11, that there must be an al Qaeda "mole" at headquarters, the styming of their investigation was so outrageous.

So, either the FBI has been deeply penetrated by a Turkish wing of al Qaeda, to which the Bureau shrugs and sacks its whistleblowers, or...?

Who are Turkey's closest allies?

With some trepidation, here's a little background, from February 27, 1999:

Continued cooperation between Turkish, Israeli intelligence

The London-based "Foreign Report" weekly news bulletin said in its most recent issue that the Israeli intelligence, the Mossad, had expanded greatly its base in Turkey and opened branches in Turkey for other two departments stationed in Tel Aviv.

The London-based al-Quds al-Arabi daily said on Friday, quoting Foreign Report, that the Mossad carried out several spy operations and plans through its elements stationed in Istanbul and Ankara, where it received support and full cooperation from the Turkish government.

The paper reported that according to the military cooperation agreement between the Mossad and its Turkish counterpart, the MAT, signed by former Turkish Foreign Minister Hekmet Citen during his visit to Israel in 1993, the Mossad had provided Turkey with plans aiding it in closing its border with Iraq as well as being involved in the arrest the chairman of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/990227/1999022749.html


O...M...G...

Edited on Thu Mar-25-04 02:13 AM by NV1962
That Turkish connection is completely new to me. Thanks for pointing to that earlier topic...

Just for the convenience of others, here's one detail-rich piece of CBS 60 Minutes, which (among other things) touches on the Turkish connection:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/25/60minutes/main526954.shtml

Devastating. This can be anything ranging from a colossal surveillance blunder within the FBI, to a covert counter-espionage operation (with probable cooperation of the MAT) that blew wide open because of Sibel's public statements, to actual infiltration of the FBI by either a foreign service and/or organized criminals... What a mess.

Do you have a link for the “original“ NY Observer article? In that other (older) DU topic the link points to the front page... Not the actual (archived) article.

Thanks again for giving so promptly an explanation for my Turkish language question.

Added later: Mossad's involvement in Öcalan's conspicuous arrest operation seems fairly obvious, but... Don't you think a counter-espionage (an attempt to find infiltrators) might be another possible (alternative) explanation? Thinking about the “usual trade” of Turkish organized crime, that would make the FBI a plausible partner / object for such an operation: to see if there are leaks / moles. But again, that's just speculation.

Good grief, what a mess.


Minstrel Boy (1000+ posts) Thu Mar-25-04 02:10 AM
Response to Reply #83

84. You can see the Observer article here:


http://www.gailsheehy.com/9_11/9_11_art1_21.html

I can't believe I'm still up, and still posting. But this story and its implications has really spooked me.


NV1962 (1000+ posts) Thu Mar-25-04 03:30 AM
Response to Original message

88. Here's another: “Ex-Spook Sirrs: Early Osama Call Got Her Ejected”

Edited on Thu Mar-25-04 03:34 AM by NV1962
This is the introduction of an article published on March 15 in the New York Observer, available here:

http://www.gailsheehy.com/9_11/9_11_art3_11.html

President George W. Bush has a bold plan: to gradually shift American intelligence operatives—now free from hunting down Saddam Hussein—to Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden.

To Julie Sirrs, it’s a case of too little, too late. A former military analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency, Ms. Sirrs was the first intelligence officer to report on the significance of Osama bin Laden moving his terrorist operation from the Sudan into Afghanistan. She wasn’t listened to five years ago, and though she’d like to speak before the Congressional 9/11 commission, it is unlikely that she will be listened to now. Her story is a tableau of tangled politics and internal wrangling that got in the way of vital intelligence-gathering leading up to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

*Please* read the whole article!

Minstrel Boy (1000+ posts) Thu Mar-25-04 07:52 PM
Response to Reply #115

116. Just in case you haven't seen this link already:


From Government Executive Magazine's Daily Briefing, March 24:

A former FBI translator said Wednesday that the bureau had "real, specific" information relating to the Sept. 11 attacks before they happened. Sibel Edmonds worked for the agency working from Sept. 20, 2001 to March 2002.

Edmonds said she was hired to retranslate material that was collected prior to Sept. 11 to determine if anything was missed in the translations that related to the plot. In her review, Edmonds said the documents clearly showed that the Sept. 11 hijackers were in the country and plotting to use airplanes as missiles. The documents also included information relating to their financial activities. Edmonds said she could not comment in detail because she has been under a Justice Department gag order since October 2002.

Edmonds has testified before the Sept. 11 commission, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Select Intelligence Committee.

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0304/032404c1.htm


RainDog (1000+ posts) Thu Mar-25-04 08:48 PM
Response to Reply #115

117. Here are the links in mostly chronological order, with exerpts


Edmonds came to the attention of Americans via a 60 minutes report in October, 2002.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/25/60minutes/main526954.shtml

"According to congressional investigators, this may have played a role in the inability to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks. The General Accounting Office reported that the FBI had expressed concern over the thousands of hours of audiotapes and pages of written material that have not been reviewed or translated because of a lack of qualified linguists."

Here is a link to the 60 minutes transcript via the DOJ. --

http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/0311/attachment1.htm

BRADLEY: (Voiceover) Edmonds says that the supervisor, in an effort to slow her down, went so far as to erase completed translations from her FBI computer after she'd left work for the day...

BRADLEY: (Voiceover) Critical shortages of experienced Middle Eastern language translators have plagued the FBI and the rest of the US intelligence community for years. Months before the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, one of the plotters of the attack was heard on tape having a discussion in Arabic that no one at the time knew was about how to make explosives, and he had a manual that no one at the time knew was about how to blow up buildings. None of it was translated until well after the bombing, and while the FBI has hired more translators since then, officals concede that problems in the language division have hampered the country's efforts to battle terrorism, and according to congressional investigators, may have played a role in the inability to prevent the September 11th attacks. Earlier this year, the General Accounting Office reported that the FBI had expressed concern over the thousands of hours of audiotapes and pages of written material that have not been reviewed or translated because of a lack of qualified linguists...


BRADLEY: {Voice over) In its rush to hire more foreign language translators after September 11th, the FBI admits it has had difficulty performing background checks to detect translators who may have loyalties to other governments, which could pose a threat to US national security.

Take the case of Jan Dickerson, a Turkish translator who worked with Sibel Edmonds. The FBI has admitted that when Dickerson was hired last November, the bureau didn't know that she had worked for a Turkish organization being investigated by the FBI's own counterintelligence unit, and they didn't know...

BRADLEY: (Voiceover) ...she'd had a relationship with a Turkish intelligence officer stationed in Washington who was the target of that investigation. According to Sibel Edmonds, Jan Dickerson tried to recruit her into that organization, and insisted that Dickerson be the only one to translate the FBI's wiretaps of that Turkish official.

What was her reaction when you didn't go along with--with her plan?

Ms. EDMONDS: She got very angry, and later she threatened me and my family's life.

BRADLEY: Threatened you?

Ms. EDMONDS: Correct.

BRADLEY: Did--did you take her threat seriously?

Ms. EDMONDS: Oh, yes. She said, Why would you want to place your life and your family's life in danger translating these tapes?'

----

The gag order on Ms Edmonds, at the request of the FBI Director, dates from Oct. 18, 2002...The 60 Minutes report aired in Oct. 2002. I don't know when it was taped, but the transcript for the show is dated Oct 25th.

http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2002/10/doj101802.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2002
WWW.USDOJ.GOV AG
[phone]
TDD [phone]

STATEMENT OF BARBARA COMSTOCK, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS,
REGARDING TODAY’S FILING IN SIBEL EDMONDS V. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE:


“To prevent disclosure of certain classified and sensitive national security information, Attorney General Ashcroft today asserted the state secrets privilege in Sibel Edmonds v. Department of Justice. This assertion was made at the request of FBI Director Robert Mueller in papers filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Department of Justice also filed a motion to dismiss the case, because the litigation creates substantial risks of disclosing classified and sensitive national security information that could cause serious damage to our country’s security.

“The state secrets privilege is well-established in federal law. It has been recognized by U.S. courts as far back as the 19th century, and allows the Executive Branch to safeguard vital information regarding the nation’s security or diplomatic relations. In the past, this privilege has been applied many times to protect our nation’s secrets from disclosure, and to require dismissal of cases when other litigation mechanisms would be inadequate. It is an absolute privilege that renders the information unavailable in litigation.”

----

Gail Sheehy, in her continuing reports on females who are fighting for truth, tells more of Edmonds' story in The New York Observer in Jan. 04-

http://www.gailsheehy.com/9_11/9_11_art1_21.html

From the NY Observer in Jan.

"In papers filed with the F.B.I.'s internal investigative office, the Department of Justice, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and most recently with the 9/11 Commission, she has reported serious ongoing failures in the language division of the F.B.I. Washington Field Office. They include security lapses in hiring and monitoring of translators, investigations that have been compromised by incorrect or misleading translations sent to field agents; and thousands of pages of translations falsely labeled "not pertinent" by Middle Eastern linguists who were either not qualified in the target language or English, or, worse, protecting targets of investigation.
Nothing happened. Undaunted, Ms. Edmonds took her concerns to upper management. Soon afterward she was fired. The only cause given was "for the convenience of the government." The F.B.I. has not refuted any of Ms. Edmonds' allegations, yet they have accounted for none of them.

On the morning Ms. Edmonds was terminated, she said, she was escorted from the building by an agent she remembered saying: "We will be watching you and listening to you. If you dare to consult an attorney who is not approved by the F.B.I., or if you take this issue outside the F.B.I. to the Senate, the next time I see you, it will be in jail." Two other agents were present."

and...

"Ms. Edmonds has told the Judiciary Committee that soon after, Ms. Dickerson tried to establish social ties with her, suggesting they meet in Alexandria and introduce their husbands to each other.

When Sibel invited the visitors in for tea, she said, Major Dickerson began asking Matthew Edmonds if the couple had many friends from Turkey here in the U.S. Mr. Edmonds said he didn't speak Turkish, so they didn't associate with many Turkish people. The Air Force officer then began talking up a Turkish organization in Washington that he described, according to the Edmondses, as "a great place to make connections and it could be very profitable."

Sibel was sickened. This organization was the very one she and Jan Dickerson were monitoring in a 9/11 investigation. Since Sibel had adhered to the rule that an F.B.I. employee does not discuss bureau matters with one's mate, her husband innocently continued the conversation. Ms. Dickerson and her husband offered to introduce the Edmondses to people connected to the Turkish embassy in Washington who belonged to this organization. ..."My husband keeps thinking he's talking about promoting business deals," Ms. Edmonds later said of the encounter. "He has no idea the man is talking about criminal activities with some semi-legitimate front."

These are classic "pitch activities" to get somebody to spy for you, according to a Judiciary Committee staffer who investigated Ms. Edmonds' claims. ...The targets of that F.B.I. investigation left the country abruptly in 2002. Later, Ms. Edmonds discovered that Ms. Dickerson had managed to get hold of translations meant for Ms. Edmonds, forge her signature, and render the communications useless..."

(much more)

-----
Mention of Edmonds' statement to the press on 3-24-04-

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0304/032404c1.htm

"A former FBI translator said Wednesday that the bureau had "real, specific" information relating to the Sept. 11 attacks before they happened. Sibel Edmonds worked for the agency working from Sept. 20, 2001 to March 2002.

Edmonds said she was hired to retranslate material that was collected prior to Sept. 11 to determine if anything was missed in the translations that related to the plot. In her review, Edmonds said the documents clearly showed that the Sept. 11 hijackers were in the country and plotting to use airplanes as missiles. The documents also included information relating to their financial activities. Edmonds said she could not comment in detail because she has been under a Justice Department gag order since October 2002.

Edmonds has testified before the Sept. 11 commission, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Select Intelligence Committee."
-----

the press conference is noted here, as well:

http://tomflocco.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=50

Washington, DC -- March 24, 2004 --12:15 EST -- FBI translator, Sibel Edmonds, was offered a substantial raise and a full time job in order to not go public that she had been asked by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to retranslate and adjust the translations of subject intercepts that had been received before September 11, 2001 by the FBI and CIA.

Edmonds, a ten year U.S. citizen who has passed a polygraph examination, speaks fluent Farsi and Turkish and had been working part time with the FBI for six months-- commencing in December, 2001.

In a 50 reporter scrum in front of some 12 news cameras, Edmonds said "Attorney General John Ashcroft told me 'he was invoking State Secret Privilage and National Security' when I told the FBI I wanted to go public with what I had translated from the pre 9-11 intercepts".


RainDog (1000+ posts) Thu Mar-25-04 09:09 PM
Response to Reply #117

119. A letter from Grassley and Leahy to the DOJ


Dated August, 2002.

http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200208/081302.html

"...Ms. Edmonds first raised concerns about security problems and the integrity of important translations earlier this year. Unfortunately, nearly every person at the FBI who was notified of the situation reacted by questioning why Ms. Edmonds was Acausing trouble.@ Indeed, the FBI=s first internal security action in this case focused on Ms. Edmonds, instead of the allegations she raised in good faith as a whistleblower which bore on national security and the war against terrorism.

Ms. Edmonds has made a number of serious allegations, some of which the FBI verified were not unfounded during an unclassified briefing for Judiciary Committee staff on June 17. First, Ms. Edmonds has alleged that a contract monitor in her unit (Amonitor@) chose not to translate important, intelligence-related information, instead limiting her translation to unimportant and innocuous information. The FBI has verified that this monitor indeed failed to translate certain material properly, but has attributed the failure to a lack of training as opposed to a malicious act.

That conclusion is directly related to Ms. Edmund=s second allegation. Ms. Edmonds alleged that the same contract monitor once worked for an organization associated with a counter-intelligence investigation and that the monitor had contacts with a foreign national who was a member of the target institution. Additionally, Ms. Edmonds states that some of the mistranslated recordings on which the monitor actually worked contained conversations by this same person with whom the monitor had such contacts and concerned matters pertinent to the investigation.

Even after verifying some of these allegations, the FBI downplayed the importance of this matter and seemed to imply that it had ceased looking into the complaints as a security matter until after the Inspector General finished their investigation. Anyone who remembers the long-time treachery of former FBI Supervisor Robert Hanssen, would be concerned at this reaction. For years, Hanssen=s bizarre actions were also written off as minor security breaches and unworthy of serious consideration. If even routine diligence had been exercised earlier, Hanssen could have been stopped from doing untold damage. The FBI needs to learn from its mistakes."


There is another world, but it is in this one. --Paul Eluard


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RainDog (1000+ posts) Thu Mar-25-04 09:20 PM
Response to Reply #119

122. From a WaPo article, 6-19-02, via memoryhole


http://www.thememoryhole.org/spy/edmonds.htm

>>> From the original article on the subject, "2 FBI Whistle-Blowers Allege Lax Security, Possible Espionage" by James V. Grimaldi, Washington Post, 19 June 2002:
...

The allegations of one of the whistle-blowers have prompted two key senators -- Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) -- to pose critical questions about the FBI division working on the front line of gathering and analyzing wiretaps.

That whistle-blower, Sibel Edmonds, 32, a former wiretap translator in the Washington field office, raised suspicions about a co-worker's connections to a group under surveillance.

Under pressure, FBI officials have investigated and verified the veracity of parts of Edmonds's story, according to documents and people familiar with an FBI briefing of congressional staff. Leahy and Grassley summoned the FBI to Capitol Hill on Monday for a private explanation, people familiar with the briefing said.

The FBI confirmed that Edmonds's co-worker had been part of an organization that was a target of top-secret surveillance and that the same co-worker had "unreported contacts" with a foreign government official subject to the surveillance, according to a letter from the two senators to the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General. In addition, the linguist failed to translate two communications from the targeted foreign government official, the letter said....









There is another world, but it is in this one. --Paul Eluard


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RainDog (1000+ posts) Thu Mar-25-04 09:30 PM
Response to Reply #122

123. Press releases, statement, complaint Edmonds v. Ashcroft, et al




http://www.thememoryhole.org/spy/edmonds.htm#complaint

SIBEL EDMONDS,

Plaintiff,

v.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
10th Street and Constitution Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530

and

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION,
9TH Street and Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20535

and

JOHN ASHCROFT,
in his official capacity as Attorney General,
U.S. Department of Justice
10th Street and Constitution Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530

and


ROBERT S. MUELLER, III,
in his official capacity as Director,
Federal Bureau of Investigation
9th Street and Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20535

and





THOMAS FRIELDS,
in his official capacity as Supervisory Agent
in Charge, Washington Field Office,
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Fourth and F Streets, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20535

and

GEORGE STUKENBROKER,
in his official capacity as Chief of Security,
Washington Field Office
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Fourth and F Streets, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530

Defendants.
__________________________________________


COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND
INJUNCTIVE RELIEF AND FOR DAMAGES

This is an action seeking declaratory relief and damages against Defendants U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation, pursuant to the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, et seq., for violations as a result of, inter alia, the wrongful disclosure of confidential information about Plaintiff that is contained in Privacy Act systems of records. This is also an action under the Administrative Procedures Act as well as the First and Fifth Amendments of the United States Constitution for declaratory and injunctive relief to enjoin the above named Defendants from depriving Plaintiff of her Constitutional rights.

------

Edmonds' statement and her lawyers' press release, again via the memory hole blog...

Press release from attorneys for Sibel Edmonds
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For additional information contact: Stephen M. Kohn, David K. Colapinto, or Kris Kolesnik, [phone]

STATEMENT OF THE ATTORNEYS FOR FBI WHISTLEBLOWER SIBEL EDMONDS
Washington, D.C., June 19, 2002. The following statement was released today by Stephen M. Kohn, David K. Colapinto and Michael D. Kohn, the attorneys representing FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds.

"We represent Sibel Edmonds, who is a former translator for the FBI. Prior to her illegal termination, our client reported to FBI management, the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and DOJ Inspector General that there were serious lapses in the FBI translations unit that is assigned to handle September 11th-related counter-terrorism investigations, there were major breaches in the FBI security program, and that there was other serious national security related misconduct. "This serious FBI misconduct has the potential of undermining its current anti-terrorist efforts and directly threatens national security in the aftermath of September 11th.

"In addition, after being notified of these serious matters by our client in early 2002, FBI senior management failed to take corrective action. Instead the FBI engaged in severe retaliation against our client as part of a cover-up of these serious problems. Among the critical concerns reported by our client are the following:

• FBI employees have on numerous occasions inaccurately translated intelligence information which threatens ongoing investigations related to post-September 11th counter-terrorist investigations and ongoing law enforcement investigations. This is the result of both willful misconduct and incompetence.

• The FBI granted a top-secret security clearance to at least one individual who has had direct association with the target of an ongoing law enforcement investigation.

• The FBI failed to investigate credible allegations of breaches in the FBI security program and that one of its own employees had improper contact with a target of an ongoing law enforcement investigation and whose information was being translated by the very employee who was suspected of having these improper contacts.

• The FBI's failure to take corrective action in response to our client's serious and valid allegations of security breaches has resulted in threats being carried out to the personal safety and security of our client and her family.

"Since our client reported these allegations to the FBI earlier this year the FBI has engaged in an ongoing unethical and illegal cover-up. Only after being pressured by the Senate Judiciary Committee has the FBI apparently finally admitted that our client's major whistleblower concerns have been confirmed. "However, in January and February of this year, when our client first disclosed these major security problems, the FBI failed to properly investigate our client's allegations. She was instructed by high level FBI management not to purse any complaints, and threatened with retaliation if she continued to report wrongdoing.

"When our client persisted in raising her allegations through the chain of command she was subjected to a retaliatory security investigation which resulted in her passing a lie-detector test in early March.

"Shortly after her management learned that our client continued to raise her concerns up the chain of command, (including filing reports with FBI OPR as well as to Dale Watson, FBI Executive Assistant Director for Counter-Terrorism/Counter-Intelligence and James T. Caruso, Deputy Executive Director for Counter-Terrorism/Counter-Intelligence), our client’s employment was terminated on March 22, 2002.

"The front-line of the war on terrorism has been directly undermined by the FBI's failures to act on our client's reports. The FBI failed to promptly correct these problems and instead waged war against its own whistleblower. This is unforgiveable in the post-9/11 world."

-----

Press release from Sibel Edmonds, 19 June 2002

"I am appalled that to this date the government has not taken any action against the persons responsible for security violations. It is horrific that my family members in a foreign country were threatened and targeted, and that I can never return to the country of my birth.

"Although the Attorney General and FBI Director were urgently notified in May about the foreign arrest warrant targeting a member of my family, to this date, no response has been received and no action has been taken by the U.S. government to correct this problem or protect my family.

"It appears that the responsible officials are intentionally refraining from facing the facts and their serious implications, both nationally and internationally."

RainDog (1000+ posts) Thu Mar-25-04 11:08 PM
Response to Original message

124. NEW Salon Article --March 26--


watch the ad, read the article...

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/03/26/translator/index_np.html

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
By Eric Boehlert

March 26, 2004 |

A former FBI wiretap translator with top-secret security clearance, who has been called "very credible" by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has told Salon she recently testified to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States that the FBI had detailed information prior to Sept. 11, 2001, that a terrorist attack involving airplanes was being plotted.

Referring to the Homeland Security Department's color-coded warnings instituted in the wake of 9/11, the former translator, Sibel Edmonds, told Salon, "We should have had orange or red-type of alert in June or July of 2001. There was that much information available." Edmonds is offended by the Bush White House claim that it lacked foreknowledge of the kind of attacks made by al-Qaida on 9/11. "Especially after reading National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice where she said, we had no specific information whatsoever of domestic threat or that they might use airplanes. That's an outrageous lie. And documents can prove it's a lie."

Edmonds' charge comes when the Bush White House is trying to fend off former counterterrorism chief Richard A. Clarke's testimony that it did not take serious measures to combat the threat of Islamic terrorism, and al-Qaida specifically, in the months leading up to 9/11.

Minstrel Boy (1000+ posts) Fri Mar-26-04 03:43 PM
Response to Reply #137

138. Fuck Tucker


She's unimpeachable. And her story is so devastating, that's all he has: an upturned nose at "conspiracy theories."


After her meeting, Senator Chuck Grassley, the Republican vice-chair of the Judiciary Committee to whom Ms. Edmonds appealed, had his investigators check her out. Then they, along with staffers for Senator Patrick Leahy, called for a joint briefing in the summer of 2002. The F.B.I. sent a unit chief from the language division and an internal security official.

In a lengthy, unclassified session that one participant describes as bizarre, the windows fogged up as the session finished; it was that tense, "None of the F.B.I. officials’ answers washed, and they could tell we didn’t believe them." He chuckles remembering one of the Congressional investigators saying, "You basically admitted almost all that Sibel alleged, yet you say there’s no problem here. What’s wrong with this picture?"

The Bureau briefers shrugged, put on their coats, and left.
http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=8516



paulthompson (1000+ posts) Mon Mar-29-04 04:08 PM
Response to Original message

158. A new article about this


It's not much, but there's a Scripps Howard newswire story that has a couple of Sibel Edmonds tidbits:

Spectators attend 9-11 hearing for a variety of reasons

By Marta Lillo Bustos - Scripps Howard Foundation Wire

http://www.axcessnews.com/national_032804a.shtml

Sibel Edmonds, 34, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation translator, by contrast, was at the hearings to listen to the questions the commissioners were asking. That's because, she said, she testified before the commission in private and hoped the members would use the information she had given them to confront the government's witnesses.

Edmonds, who was fired from the FBI and is suing as a whistleblower, said she believes the government had detailed information "maybe not saying 'September 11, at 8:30 a.m.,' but specific enough that in July 2001 we should have issued our ‘orange code' and have alerted the people."

She said she hopes the commission will publicly question FBI Director Robert Mueller, Attorney General John Ashcroft and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice about information she says she gave the commission.

---

There's some

whitestar (104 posts) Mon Mar-29-04 06:05 PM
Response to Original message

160. Update:


Just to let you know that Tom Flocco is in the process of writing a follow up to this story that has the potential to blow the whole lid off this commission fiasco. It should be done and posted to his site in the next day or so.

In the meantime this story is filtering throughout the internet and radio talk shows. Tom had one interview this morning and has one scheduled for Wednesday.

Radio Shows:

Monday, March 29, 6:30--6:55 am Eastern, Doug Stephan's "Good Day" Show,
DougStephan.com (listen live: internet stream from website or via 310 radio stations throughout the United States)

Wednesday, March 31, 6--7:00 pm Eastern, Dr. Stan Monteith's "Radio Liberty Show," Genesis Communications Radio Network, RadioLiberty.com (listen live: internet stream from website, or via 121 radio stations throughout the United States)
I am not sure if either has transcripts available.


I would also like to remind people of the WORLDWIDE 9-11 PHONE, FAX, EMAIL CAMPAIGN at either link:

http://septembereleventh.org
http://tomflocco.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=1

We really need to stay right down their throats on this campaign.


And last, but certainly not least, thanks to all of you that have helped to keep this fire burning.

We will succeed in getting this out to the public!

whitestar

Minstrel Boy (1000+ posts) Mon Mar-29-04 06:32 PM
Response to Reply #160

163. thanks for the update, whitestar


Looking forward to Tom's follow-up.

Here's some new words from Sibel I just found:

Sibel Edmonds, 34, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation translator, by contrast, was at the hearings to listen to the questions the commissioners were asking. That's because, she said, she testified before the commission in private and hoped the members would use the information she had given them to confront the government's witnesses.

...

She said she hopes the commission will publicly question FBI Director Robert Mueller, Attorney General John Ashcroft and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice about information she says she gave the commission.

...

"While I was working there, it was just incredible. The inaccuracies and the uncertainties, intentional inaccuracies," Edmonds said.

The former FBI translator said she is prohibited from giving details.

"They offered me a raise, they offered me a full-time position, to just drop the case," Edmonds said. She said she has been threatened with jail if she speaks about the specifics.

http://www.axcessnews.com/national_032804a.shtml


RainDog (1000+ posts) Tue Mar-30-04 07:13 PM
Response to Original message

175. related FBI/Grassley report of abuses by agents



On Wednesday, Grassley released a report the FBI wanted to be kept from the publc which shows that Edmonds' accusations against Jan Dickinson have a precedence in other agents' activities, and apparently the FBI thinks it is more important to protect their reputation than it is to tell the truth.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5714.htm
NEWS YOU WON'T FIND ON
FBI report: Agents attempted murder, stole money

Curt Anderson

02/19/04: (Associated Press) WASHINGTON, D.C. -- An internal FBI report kept under wraps for three years details dozens of cases of agents fired for egregious misconduct and crimes, including drug trafficking, attempted murder, theft, misuse of informants and consorting with prostitutes.

The report, released Wednesday by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, found that about one in 1,000 agents was dismissed for serious misconduct or criminal offenses by the FBI during the period examined, from 1986 to 1999. The average was between eight and nine per year.

The report lists the circumstances -- minus names, dates and locations -- of more than 70 dismissals, including... Agents who disclosed sensitive or classified material to outsiders, including representatives of foreign governments and criminal enterprises.

The report concluded that some of these agents were hired even though a background check had revealed negative information about them. Sometimes the check itself was not thorough enough. Before their firings, some agents exhibited "markers" for potential misconduct, such as a history of emotional or psychological problems or evidence of substance abuse.


Minstrel Boy (1000+ posts) Wed Mar-31-04 12:15 PM
Response to Original message

177. Democracy Now interview with Sibel Edmonds:


Haven't heard/seen it yet, just found the link:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/31/1616221


RainDog (1000+ posts) Wed Mar-31-04 02:23 PM
Response to Reply #177

178. thanks for this one, Minstrel Boy


because it helps to clarify some things. She talks about financing

here are some interesting quotes:

... During this short tenure that I had over there, I became aware of several investigations that were ongoing investigation dating back to a year or -- some of them actually years before 9-11 that contained significant amount of information about various activities. I would like to emphasize again, we are talking about money laundering activities directed toward these terrorist activities. We are looking at counter-intelligence activities, so, as I said it, is not categorized under counter-terrorism. This information was pouring in dating back as early as 2000."

After noting that agents had sent information to be translated which was then summarized, with much left out, Edmonds also says about these documents:

"My question is how about the ones that we had before? How about the information we had before that were pretty specific and they were pretty accurate, and they came from real reliable sources assets. What happened to that information? That is my question, and I'm hoping that through this investigation by the 9-11 Commission, we will get to hear these questions being asked specifically and directly. "

..."Attorney General Ashcroft on October 18, 2002, personally asserted State Secret Privilege in my case. I would read two sentences here: “To prevent disclosure of certain classified and sensitive national security information, Attorney General Ashcroft today asserted the State Secret Privilege in Sibel Edmonds' case. This assertion was made at the request of the F.B.I. Director Robert Mueller,” in papers filed today, and they are citing the reason that because this case would create substantial risks of disclosing classified and sensitive national security information that could cause serious damage to our country's security. They are citing that this privilege is very rare and is asserted to prevent certain information getting -- becoming public or hurting diplomatic relations. I would underline this phrase, diplomatic relations several times. "

"...They have -- during their meetings with Senator Grassley and Senator Leahy's office, these authorities have confirmed all of my reports and allegations and have denied none. However, as I said, Inspector General's Office’s report was supposed to be out in October, 2002. Here we are sitting in March 2004, and my sources are telling me they are going to seal this report, and it will be never made public. Now, to protect certain diplomatic relations? -- that is the question. What diplomatic relations? To this date, I have been waiting to see this information to be available, and become available and be out there, but it's not getting there. And there's so much that the public just simply doesn't know. About what went wrong, what we had, and my last hope right now is this Commission. 9-11 Commission is my last hope because I have pursued all possible authority channels that I could have pursued. I have gone to the Senate. I have provided testimony to the Inspector General's Office and the F.B.I. They have confirmed these allegations, however, this information is being prevented from becoming public. It needs to be public because first we have to acknowledge the facts before we go about fixing these problems."


paulthompson (1000+ posts) Wed Mar-31-04 03:30 PM
Response to Reply #178

180. Another source


Strangely, super conservative WorldNetDaily is also covering this in a sympathetic way:

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37826

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36492

I think they like the bashing of Muslims angle. They're into the "evil Muslims are infiltrating our government" meme and this story jibes with that.


whitestar (104 posts) Wed Mar-31-04 06:33 PM
Response to Original message

182. Update


There is an update to this story about the commission, etc. It is in this LBN thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&a...

The Commission is compromised beyond belief.


WheresWaldo (221 posts) Mon Apr-05-04 09:52 AM
Response to Reply #184

186. LINK to GD thread


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&...

for reference sake.

has WSJ article "Kamikaze Terrorism Wasn't a New Idea" excerpts.

if others have come across other threads or articles, please post here.

Condi testifies this Thursday, got to make as much of a storm as possible.

WheresWaldo (221 posts) Mon Apr-05-04 02:27 PM
Response to Original message

187. LINK to thread "Ex-FBI worker challenges 9/11 `lie' (Sibel Edmonds )"


original thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&a...