CIA agent convicted of leaking classified information

The former agent was fired from his position and leaked classified information as revenge.

A former CIA officer was convicted of leaking classified information about a plan to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. 

Jeffery Sterling, 47, was convicted of nine counts of unauthorized transferring of national security information and other charges of leaking information that according to the claim could “endanger lives and put one of the only plans that America has against Iran’s nuclear program at risk."  

Photo Credit: Channel 2 News/AP

Sterling was first accused in 2010 of leaking classified information to Pulitzer Prize winning journalist James Risen.  The prosecution claimed that Sterling wanted revenge against the CIA so he shared the information about an operation aimed to thwart Iran’s nuclear program.  Sterling, who was fired from his job in 2000, sued the agency for alleged discrimination and even spoke to his colleagues about publishing a memoir that described some of his work as a CIA agent.  

The Obama administration suffered the most from the leaked information out of all of the previous administrations.  The federal prosecutor thought about forcing the journalist James Risen to testify against his will, but in the end decided not to put him on the stand.  Risen said that he would rather go to jail than testify against the source. 

The prosecution claimed in court that Sterling’s actions severely damaged the interests of the United States.  Not only because the plan now has to be canceled, but the prosecutor even claimed that the leaked information also endangered Russian scientists who were working to provide faulty materials to Iran.  “What happened here is a most serious matter,” said the prosecutor.  

The prosecutor also claimed that Sterling was the only person who had a relationship with Risen and that he was the only person to have a motive to leak such information.  

The defense argued that it was unlikely that Sterling leaked the information and some of the cases in the book took place after Sterling left the agency or contained information that he did not know.  Sterling’s sentence is expected to take place on the 24th of April and until then, he remains free.