ALEXANDRIA, VAA former CIA officer, John Kiriakou, was charged today
with repeatedly disclosing classified information to journalists, including
the name of a covert CIA officer and information revealing the role of another
CIA employee in classified activities, Justice Department officials announced.
The charges result from an investigation that was triggered by a classified
defense filing in January 2009, which contained classified information the
defense had not been given through official government channels, and, in
part, by the discovery in the spring of 2009 of photographs of certain government
employees and contractors in the materials of high-value detainees at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba. The investigation revealed that on multiple occasions, one of
the journalists to whom Kiriakou is alleged to have illegally disclosed
classified information, in turn, disclosed that information to a defense
team investigator, and that this information was reflected in the classified
defense filing and enabled the defense team to take or obtain surveillance
photographs of government personnel. There are no allegations of criminal
activity by any members of the defense team for the detainees.
Kiriakou, 47, of Arlington, Va., was a CIA intelligence officer between 1990
and 2004, serving at headquarters and in various classified overseas assignments.
He is scheduled to appear at 2 p.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Judge John
F. Anderson in federal court in Alexandria.
Kiriakou was charged with one count of violating the Intelligence Identities
Protection Act for allegedly illegally disclosing the identity of a covert
officer and two counts of violating the Espionage Act for allegedly illegally
disclosing national defense information to individuals not authorized to
receive it. Kiriakou was also charged with one count of making false statements
for allegedly lying to the Publications Review Board of the CIA in an
unsuccessful attempt to trick the CIA into allowing him to include classified
information in a book he was seeking to publish.
The four-count criminal complaint, which was filed today in the Eastern District
of Virginia, alleges that Kiriakou made illegal disclosures about two CIA
employees and their involvement in classified operations to two journalists
on multiple occasions between 2007 and 2009. In one case, revealing the
employees name as a CIA officer disclosed classified information as
the employee was and remains covert (identified in the complaint as Covert
Officer A). In the second case, Kiriakou allegedly disclosed the name
and contact information of an employee, identified in the complaint as
Officer B, whose participation in an operation to capture and
question terrorism subject Abu Zubaydah in 2002 was then classified.
Kiriakous alleged disclosures occurred prior to a June 2008
front-page
story in The New York Times disclosing Officer Bs alleged role
in the Abu Zubaydah operation.
Safeguarding classified information, including the identities of CIA
officers involved in sensitive operations, is critical to keeping our
intelligence officers safe and protecting our national security, said
Attorney General Eric Holder. Todays charges reinforce the Justice
Departments commitment to hold accountable anyone who would violate
the solemn duty not to disclose such sensitive information.
Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of
Illinois, who was appointed Special Attorney in 2010 to supervise the
investigation, said: I want to thank the Washington Field Office of
the FBI and the team of attorneys assigned to this matter for their hard
work and dedication to tracing the sources of the leaks of classified
information. Mr. Fitzgerald announced the charges with James W. McJunkin,
Assistant Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, and they thanked the Central Intelligence Agency
for its very substantial assistance in the investigation, as well as the
Air Force Office of Special Investigations for its significant assistance.
Protecting the identities of Americas covert operatives is one
of the most important responsibilities of those who are entrusted with roles
in our nations intelligence community. The FBI and our intelligence
community partners work diligently to hold accountable those who violate
that special trust, said Mr. McJunkin.
The CIA filed a crimes report with the Justice Department on March 19, 2009,
prior to the discovery of the photographs and after reviewing the Jan. 19,
2009, classified filing by defense counsel for certain detainees with the
military commission then responsible for adjudicating charges. The defense
filing contained information relating to the identities and activities of
covert government personnel, but prior to Jan. 19, 2009, there had been no
authorized disclosure to defense counsel of the classified information. The
Justice Departments National Security Division, working with the FBI,
began the investigation. To avoid the risk of encountering a conflict of
interest because of the pending prosecutions of some of the high-value detainees,
Mr. Fitzgerald was assigned to supervise the investigation conducted by a
team of attorneys from the Southern District of New York, the Northern District
of Illinois, and the Counterespionage Section of the National Security Division
who were not involved in pending prosecutions of the detainees.
According to the complaint affidavit, the investigation determined that no
laws were broken by the defense team as no law prohibited defense counsel
from filing a classified document under seal outlining for a court classified
information they had learned during the course of their investigation. Regarding
the 32 pages of photographs that were taken or obtained by the defense team
and provided to the detainees, the investigation found no evidence the defense
attorneys transmitting the photographs were aware of, much less disclosed,
the identities of the persons depicted in particular photographs and no evidence
that the defense team disclosed other classified matters associated with
certain of those individuals to the detainees. The defense team did not take
photographs of persons known or believed to be current covert officers. Rather,
defense counsel, using a technique known as a double-blind photo lineup,
provided photograph spreads of unidentified individuals to their clients
to determine whether they recognized anyone who may have participated in
questioning them. No law or military commission order expressly prohibited
defense counsel from providing their clients with these photo spreads.
Further investigation, based in part on e-mails recovered from
judicially-authorized search warrants served on two e-mail accounts associated
with Kiriakou, allegedly revealed that:
-
Kiriakou disclosed to Journalist A the name of Covert Officer A and the fact
that Covert Officer A was involved in a particular classified operation.
The journalist then provided the defense investigator with the full name
of the covert CIA employee;
-
Kiriakou disclosed or confirmed to Journalists A, B, and C the then-classified
information that Officer B participated in the Abu Zubaydah operation and
provided two of those journalists with contact information for Officer B,
including a personal e-mail address. One of the journalists subsequently
provided the defense investigator with Officer Bs home telephone number,
which the investigator used to identify and photograph Officer B; and
-
Kiriakou lied to the CIA regarding the existence and use of a classified
technique, referred to as a magic box, in an unsuccessful effort
to trick the CIA into allowing him to publish information about the classified
technique in a book.
Upon joining the CIA in 1990 and on multiple occasions in following years,
Kiriakou signed secrecy and non-disclosure agreements not to disclose classified
information to unauthorized individuals.
Regarding Covert Officer A, the affidavit details a series of e-mail
communications between Kiriakou and Journalist A in July and August 2008.
In an exchange of e-mails on July 11, 2008, Kiriakou allegedly illegally
confirmed for Journalist A that Covert Officer A, whose first name only was
exchanged at that point, was the team leader on [specific
operation]. On August 18, 2008, Journalist A sent Kiriakou an e-mail
asking if Kiriakou could pick out Covert Officer As last name from
a list of names Journalist A provided in the e-mail. On Aug. 19, 2008, Kiriakou
allegedly passed the last name of Covert Officer A to Journalist A by e-mail,
stating It came to me last night. Covert Officer As last
name had not been on the list provided by Journalist A. Later that same day,
approximately two hours later, Journalist A sent an e-mail to the defense
investigator that contained Covert Officer As full name. Neither Journalist
A, nor any other journalist to the governments knowledge, has published
the name of Covert Officer A.
At the time of Kiriakous allegedly unauthorized disclosures to Journalist
A, the identification of Covert Officer A as the team leader on [specific
operation] was classified at the Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented
Information (SCI) level because it revealed both Covert Officer As
identity and his association with the CIAs Rendition, Detention, and
Interrogation (RDI) Program relating to the capture, detention, and questioning
of terrorism subjects. The defense investigator was able to identify Covert
Officer A only after receiving the e-mail from Journalist A, and both Covert
Officer As name and association with the RDI Program were included
in the January 2009 classified defense filing. The defense investigator told
the government that he understood from the circumstances that Covert Officer
A was a covert employee and, accordingly, did not take his photograph. No
photograph of Covert Officer A was recovered from the detainees at Guantanamo.
In a recorded interview last Thursday, FBI agents told Kiriakou that Covert
Officer As name was included in the classified defense filing. The
affidavit states Kiriakou said, among other things, How the heck did
they get him? . . . [First name of Covert Officer A] was always undercover.
His entire career was undercover. Kiriakou further stated that he never
provided Covert Officer As name or any other information about Covert
Officer A to any journalist and stated Once they get the names, I mean
this is scary.
Regarding Officer B, the affidavit states that he worked overseas with Kiriakou
on an operation to locate and capture Abu Zubaydah, and Officer Bs
association with the RDI Program and the Abu Zubaydah operation in particular
were classified until that information was recently declassified to allow
the prosecution of Kiriakou to proceed.
In June 2008, The New York Times published an article by Journalist B entitled
Inside
the Interrogation of a 9/11 Mastermind, which publicly identified
Officer B and reported his alleged role in the capture and questioning of
Abu Zubaydahfacts which were then classified. The article attributed
other information to Kiriakou as a source, but did not identify the source(s)
who disclosed or confirmed Officer Bs identity. The charges allege
that at various times prior to publication of the article, Kiriakou provided
Journalist B with personal information regarding Officer B, knowing that
Journalist B was seeking to identify and locate Officer B. In doing so, Kiriakou
allegedly confirmed classified information that Officer B was involved in
the Abu Zubaydah operation. For example, Kiriakou allegedly e-mailed Officer
Bs phone number and personal e-mail address to Journalist B, who attempted
to contact Officer B via his personal e-mail in April and May 2008. Officer
B had provided his personal e-mail address to Kiriakou, but not to Journalist
B or any other journalist. Subsequently, Kiriakou allegedly revealed classified
information by confirming for Journalist B additional information that an
individual with Officer Bs name, who was associated with particular
contact information that Journalist B had found on a website, was located
in Pakistan in March 2002, which was where and when the Abu Zubaydah operation
took place.
After The New York Times article was published, Kiriakou sent several e-mails
denying that he was the source for information regarding Officer B, while,
at the same time, allegedly lying about the number and nature of his contacts
with Journalist B. For example, in an e-mail dated June 30, 2008, Kiriakou
told Officer B that Kiriakou had spoken to the newspapers ombudsman
after the article was published and said that the use of Officer Bs
name was despicable and unnecessary and could put Officer B in
danger. Kiriakou also denied that he had cooperated with the article and
claimed that he had declined to talk to Journalist B, except to say that
he believed the article absolutely should not mention Officer Bs name.
[W]hile it might not be illegal to name you, it would certainly be
immoral, Kiriakou wrote to Officer B, according to the affidavit.
From at least November 2007 through November 2008, Kiriakou allegedly provided
Journalist A with Officer Bs personal contact information and disclosed
to Journalist A classified information revealing Officer Bs association
with the RDI Program. Just as Journalist A had disclosed to the defense
investigator classified information that Kiriakou allegedly imparted about
Covert Officer A, Journalist A, in turn, provided the defense investigator
information that Kiriakou had disclosed about Officer B. For example, in
an e-mail dated April 10, 2008, Journalist A provided the defense investigator
with Officer Bs home phone number, which, in light of Officer Bs
common surname, allowed the investigator to quickly and accurately identify
Officer B and photograph him. Both Officer Bs name and his association
with the RDI Program were included in the January 2009 classified defense
filing, and four photographs of Officer B were among the photos recovered
at Guantanamo.
In the same recorded interview with FBI agents last week, Kiriakou said he
absolutely considered Officer Bs association with the Abu
Zubaydah operation classified, the affidavit states. Kiriakou also denied
providing any contact information for Officer B or Officer Bs association
with the Abu Zubaydah operation to Journalists A and B prior to publication
of the June 2008 New York Times article. When specifically asked whether
he had anything to do with providing Officer Bs name or other information
about Officer B to Journalist B prior to the article, Kiriakou stated
Heavens no.
As background, the affidavit states that sometime prior to May 22, 2007,
Kiriakou disclosed to Journalist C classified information regarding Officer
Bs association with Abu Zubaydah operation, apparently while collaborating
on a preliminary book proposal. A footnote states that Journalist C is not
the coauthor of the book Kiriakou eventually published.
Prior to publication of his book, The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the
CIAs War on Terror, Kiriakou submitted a draft manuscript in July 2008
to the CIAs Publication Review Board (PRB). In an attempt to trick
the CIA into allowing him to publish information regarding a classified
investigative technique, Kiriakou allegedly lied to the PRB by falsely claiming
that the technique was fictional and that he had never heard of it before.
In fact, according to a transcript of a recorded interview conducted in August
2007 to assist Kiriakous coauthor in drafting the book, Kiriakou described
the technique, which he referred to as the magic box, and told
his coauthor that the CIA had used the technique in the Abu Zubaydah operation.
The technique was also disclosed in the June 2008 New York Times
article
and referred to as a magic box.
In his submission letter to the PRB, Kiriakou flagged the reference to a
device called a magic box, stating he had read about it in the
newspaper article but added that the information was clearly
fabricated, as he was unaware of and had used no such device. The affidavit
contains the contents of an August 2008 e-mail that Kiriakou sent his coauthor
admitting that he lied to the PRB in an attempt to include classified information
in the book. The PRB subsequently informed Kiriakou that the draft manuscript
contained classified information that he could not use, and information regarding
the technique that Kiriakou included in the manuscript remained classified
until it was recently declassified to allow Kiriakous prosecution to
proceed.
Upon conviction, the count charging illegal disclosure of Covert Officer
As identity to a person not authorized to receive classified information
carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, which must be imposed
consecutively to any other term of imprisonment; the two counts charging
violations of the Espionage Act each carry a maximum term of 10 years in
prison; and making false statements carries a maximum prison term of five
years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000.
A complaint contains only allegations and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant
is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government
has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The government is being represented in court by Assistant U.S. Attorneys
Iris Lan (Southern District of New York) and Mark E. Schneider (Northern
District of Illinois), and DOJ trial attorney Ryan Fayhee, of the
Counterespionage Section of the National Security Division. Assistant U.S.
Attorney Lisa Owings (Eastern District of Virginia) will assist in the matter
under local court rules.