Posted on January 7, 2011

Ex-CIA Officer Charged With Leak to Times Reporter

Adam Goldman, WTOP-FM (Washington, D.C.), January 6, 2011

A former CIA officer has been indicted on charges of disclosing national security secrets after being accused of leaking classified information about Iran to a New York Times reporter.

Federal prosecutors charged Jeffrey Sterling with 10 counts related to improperly keeping and disclosing national security information.

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Sterling served on the Iranian desk at the CIA and handled Iranian spies who had defected to the United States. In Chapter 9 of the book “A Rogue Operation,” Risen detailed how a CIA officer mistakenly revealed the CIA’s network in Iran in 2004.

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During the brief hearing in St. Louis, Sterling said little beyond answering yes-or-no questions. He appeared to move with great difficulty and limped as he approached the bench to address the judge. It wasn’t clear why he appeared to be in pain.

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Sterling worked for the CIA from 1993 to 2002. His final posting was in New York beginning in 2002. According to the indictment, Sterling left the CIA an embittered man.

Sterling, who is black, filed a complaint against the CIA in 2000, claiming racial discrimination and later sued the agency unsuccessfully. He also submitted his memoirs to the CIA to be published and was extremely unhappy with the review process.

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