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Sibel Dinez Edmonds (born 1969 in Iran) is a Turkish-American former FBI translator and founder of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC). Edmonds was fired from her position as a language specialist at the FBI's Washington Field Office in March, 2002, after she accused a colleague of covering up illicit activity involving Turkish nationals, alleging serious acts of security breaches, cover-ups, and intentional blocking of intelligence which, she thought, presented a danger to the United States' security. Since that time, court proceedings on her whistleblower claims have been blocked by the assertion of State Secrets Privilege.

Early life and education

The daughter of an Azerbaijani doctor, Edmonds lived in Iran and then Turkey until coming to the United States as a student in 1988. She became an American citizen in 1996. In addition to English, Edmonds is fluent in Turkish, Persian and Azeri. She earned her masters degree in public policy and international commerce from George Mason University, and her bachelors in criminal justice and psychology from George Washington University.

FBI career

Edmonds was hired, as a contractor, to work as an interpreter in the translations unit of the FBI on September 20, 2001.

Between December 2001 and March 2002, Edmonds reported to FBI managers various incidents of misconduct and incompetence, involving her supervisor Mike Feghali and others, that she observed while employed as a translator. In response, she claims that managers retaliated against her. She escalated her complaints to the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility and the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General. She was fired on March 22, 2002.

In June of that year, anonymous government sources asserted, in Associated Press and Washington Post reports, that Edmonds had been disruptive, breached security, and performed poorly at her job.

Litigation

Edmonds' allegations of impropriety at the FBI came to the attention of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which held unclassified hearings on the matter on June 17, 2002 and July 9, 2002. During the hearings, the FBI provided various unclassified documents and statements relating to the case, and even acknowledged that some of Edmonds' complaints, particularly regarding misconduct by her fellow translators and mismanagement within her unit, had merit. This led to two Senators sending letters, dated June 19, 2002, August 13, 2002, and October 28, 2002 — to Inspector General Glenn Fine, Attorney General Ashcroft, and FBI Director Robert Mueller, respectively — asking for explanations and calling for an independent audit of the FBI's translation unit. These documents were published on the Senators' web sites and were republished by a watchdog group, Project On Government Oversight (POGO).

Meanwhile, on July 22, 2002, Edmonds filed suit against the Department of Justice, the FBI, and several high-level officials, alleging that she was wrongfully terminated from the FBI in retaliation for reporting criminal activities committed by government officials and employees. On October 18, 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked the State Secrets Privilege in order to prevent disclosure of the nature of Edmonds' work on the grounds that it would endanger national security, and asked that the suit be dismissed.

On August 15, 2002, a separate suit, Burnett v. Al Baraka Investment & Dev. Corp., was filed by families of 600 victims of the September 11, 2001 (9/11) attacks against Saudi banks, charity organizations, and companies. Edmonds was to file a deposition in this case regarding her claim that FBI had foreknowledge of al-Qaeda's attacks against the World Trade Center.

On December 11, 2003, Attorney General Ashcroft, again invoking the State Secrets Privilege, filed a motion calling for Edmonds' deposition to be suppressed and for the entire case to be dismissed. The judge, seeking more information, ordered the government to produce any unclassified material relating to the case. In response, Ashcroft submitted further statements to justify the use of the State Secrets Privilege, and on May 13, 2004, took the unprecedented step of retroactively classifying as Top Secret all of the material and statements that had been provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2002 relating to Edmonds' own lawsuit, as well as the letters that had been sent by the Senators and republished by POGO.

On June 23, 2004, the lawfulness of the retroactive reclassification was challenged in a suit filed by POGO, citing fear that the group might be retroactively punished for having published the letters on its website. The Justice Department tried, but failed, to get the suit dismissed, and said that POGO could not prove that it was being threatened with prosecution. On February 18, 2005, the day before a hearing on the case, the Justice Department, under the leadership of a new Attorney General, backed away from its claim that those particular documents were classified, and approved their release in full. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45322-2005Feb22.html It is not clear whether this concession affects the publishability of other statements and documents relating to Edmonds; the Justice Department's gag order, of sorts, seems to remain in effect, since a court has not determined whether the department actually has the authority to retroactively reclassify the documents.

In the meantime, however, the reclassification was successful; Edmonds was barred from testifying in the 9/11 class action suit, and on July 6, 2004, her own suit was dismissed on state secrets grounds. Edmonds immediately appealed the latter decision.

The day the appeal was filed, the Inspector General released an unclassified summary of a highly classified report on an investigation that had concluded “that many of her allegations were supported, that the FBI did not take them seriously enough, and that her allegations were, in fact, the most significant factor in the FBI's decision to terminate her services. …Rather than investigate Edmonds' allegations vigorously and thoroughly, the FBI concluded that she was a disruption and terminated her contract.” *

But on April 21, 2005, in the hours before the hearing of her appeal, three judges issued a ruling that barred all reporters and the public from the courtroom. During the proceedings, Edmonds was not allowed into the courtroom for the hearing. On May 6, 2005, when her case was dismissed, no reason was provided, and no opinion cited.

On August 5, 2005, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) petitioned for the Supreme Court of the United States to review the lower courts' application of the State Secret Privilege in both lawsuits. The ACLU claims that the courts conflated the State Secrets Privilege and the Totten rule.* On November 28, 2005, the Supreme Court declined to review the decisions.

"Publish and disseminate"

Sibel Edmonds has written numerous open letters and essays addressing the events she has experienced since 2002, stemming from having been fired for whistle-blowing. Without violating the 'State Secrets Privilege' gag order placed upon her by Ashcroft, she has nonetheless remained in the public eye. She continues to demand that the public and Congress expressly consider the appropriateness, effectiveness, and ultimate insecurity afforded to the United States through keeping a lid upon her information.

May 14, 2005 open letter

In her open letter, Ms. Edmonds outlined her belief that the reasoning offered in the government's position does not rise to a level above the need for her information to be viewed and considered by the Congress and public at large. Sibel describes the government's position thus, "Reason one: To protect certain diplomatic relations - named; Reason two: To protect certain U.S. foreign business relations," adding that the 'relations' protected by the 'State Secrets Privilege' gag order are not in the interest of, or of benefit to, the majority of Americans, but instead serve and protect a small minority. Included among this minority, she contends, are those capable of imposing such a gag order.

Further disclosures: June 20, 2005

Just as news reports surfaced about a Senate panel probing allegations that FBI agents in Saudi Arabia sat on leads in the 9/11 investigation, and then destroyed piles of secret documents related to the case, Edmonds released another scathing report of her own regarding events leading up to the terror attacks. "(In) April 2001, a long-term FBI informant/asset who had been providing the bureau with information since 1990, provided two FBI agents and a translator with specific information regarding a terrorist attack being planned by Osama Bin Laden," Edmonds revealed, continuing, "For almost four years since September 11, officials refused to admit to having specific information regarding the terrorists’ plans to attack the United States. The Phoenix Memo, received months prior to the 9/11 attacks, specifically warned FBI HQ of pilot training and their possible link to terrorist activities against the US. Four months prior to the terrorist attacks the Iranian asset provided the FBI with specific information regarding the ‘use of airplanes’, ‘major US cities as targets’, and ‘Osama Bin Laden issuing the order.’ Coleen Rowley likewise reported that specific information had been provided to FBI HQ."

National Security Whistleblowers Coalition

In August, 2004, Edmonds founded the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC), an alliance of whistleblowers who have come forward to address security weaknesses of the US. The NSWBC helps national security agency whistleblowers through advocacy of governmental and legal reform, public education on whistleblowing activity, provision of comfort and fellowship to national security whistleblowers suffering retaliation and other harms, and working with other public interest organizations. NSWBC is involved in backing former intelligence analyst Russ Tice, who was dismissed by the National Security Agency (NSA) in May, 2005. On December 16, 2005, ABC reported that Tice was among the sources of a leak about illegal NSA wiretap programs, ordered by the White House and first disclosed by the New York Times.

See also

External links

1969 births | Living people | Whistleblowers | Federal Bureau of Investigation | Translators

Sibel Edmonds

 

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