Ex-CIA officer charged over classified leaks

John Kiriakou wrote a book "The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror."

WASHINGTON: A former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer has been arrested and charged with illegally disclosing classified information to journalists, including the identity of a covert officer and details about the capture of terrorism suspect Abu Zubaydah, the US Justice Department said on Monday.

John Kiriakou, 47, worked for the CIA from 1990 to 2004 as
an intelligence officer and then was a senior staff member on
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2009 until May 2011.
He wrote the book "The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the
CIA's War on Terror."

He was accused of revealing to one journalist in 2008 the
identity of the covert CIA officer who was involved in the
agency's program to secretly capture terrorism suspects, bring
them to US-run detention facilities and interrogate them.

Kiriakou also was accused of revealing to three reporters
the identity of a second CIA officer involved in the capture and
interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, believed to be al Qaeda's field
commander who was captured in March 2002 in Pakistan.

The case emerged after their names were included in sealed
filings made by defense lawyers in the cases involving terrorism
suspects held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba, according to the criminal complaint.

The covert officer's name was never publicly revealed but
the New York Times published the second officer's name in 2008.
US authorities said they never provided that information to
the defense lawyers.

Kiriakou provided contact information for both officers as
well as details about the second officer's role in the Zubaydah
operation, it said.

Photographs of the second individual also were found among
materials held by the terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo
prison. After those incidents, US officials started an
investigation.

"Both Officer B's association with the RDI (Rendition,
Detention and Interrogation) program, and the Abu Zubaydah
operation in particular, were classified until that information
recently was declassified in order to allow this prosecution to
go forward," according to an FBI affidavit.

The Justice Department said that one of the journalists that
Kiriakou aided had provided the information about the two CIA
officers to an investigator for the defense team for detainees
at the prison.

Controversial Interrogation

Defense lawyers used the photographs in a group of
unidentified people to see if the detainees recognized anyone
who participated in the questioning of them. No charges were
filed against the defense team.

The interrogation of Zubaydah has been controversial because
interrogators used the technique known as waterboarding, which
simulates drowning, to try to obtain information from him. Two
other terrorism suspects were also subjected to waterboarding.

Kiriakou denied any wrongdoing during an interview with the
FBI last week. Kiriakou's lawyer, Plato Chacheris, who
previously represented former CIA agent and spy Aldrich Ames,
was not immediately available for comment.

The case is the latest by the Obama administration in a
bid to crack down on leaks of sensitive information to the news
media.

Kiriakou was charged with one count of revealing the
identity of a covert agent, two counts of violating the
Espionage Act for disclosing national defense information and
one count of making false statements.

The count charging illegal disclosure of a covert officer's
identity carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison,
which must be imposed consecutively to any other prison term.

The two espionage counts each carry up to 10 years in prison
while lying provides for up to five years in prison.

CIA Director David Petraeus issued a statement saying the
agency supported the investigation and reminded employees of
their obligation to keep classified information secret.

"Given the sensitive nature of many of our agency's
operations and the risks we ask our employees to take, the
illegal passage of secrets is an abuse of trust that may put
lives in jeopardy," he said.

The false statement charge involved allegations that
Kiriakou lied to the CIA's review board about details in his
book about his knowledge of an interrogation technique.

During a brief court hearing, a federal judge released
Kiriakou on a $250,000 bond and restricted him to traveling only
in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The matter was
referred to a grand jury for possible indictment.