A 43 year old man by the name Jeffrey Sterling is being accused of leaking classified information to a person outside the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) unit. This person is going by the name James Risen and is a New York Times Reporter. The information was said to be about Iran's suspected weapons program. On top of that, Mr. Sterling is being charged with other counts like obstruction of justice, mail fraud, unauthorized conveyance of government, unauthorized disclosure of national defense information, among others (Perez, A. 3).
This information was intended to aide Mr. Risen in writing a book on the CIA in the Bush administration. According to a reliable source, the book had a chapter that addressed the intentions of the CIA to upset suspected nuclear weapons in Iraq and other countries. Mr. Sterling is said to have done this in order to avenge the way he claims to have been treated by the CIA as they did not give (pay) him the $180,000 in order to settle his claims of racial discrimination. The CIA's Equal Employment office looked into the matter and saw that there was not enough evidence that could support his claims (Perez, A.3).
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Mr. Ed McMahon defended Mr. Sterling as being innocent of the charges against him. An article written by Mr. Risen in the year 2002 about Mr. Sterling and the conflict between him and the CIA did not include the information Mr. Sterling is said to have leaked. Mr. Sterling had worked foe the CIA department for nine years before he left the agency in 2002 and that is how he was able to come into contact with the information he is said to have leaked. This has CIA unit on the look out as the leaking of such vital information especially by their own may lead to such a catastrophe.
The article written by Mr. Risen attracted a lot of attention especially by the top government officials. This led to a meeting between the top administration officials of the Bush government and the top New York Times officials. The government officials warned the Newspaper officials against printing any information on matters concerning the CIA especially on the leaked information. This was due to the security threat it placed on the country. One of the officials involved with this matter was Ms. Condoleezza Rice who was then the national security adviser. However, Mr. Risen's book with the information was published in 2006. Mr. Risen, through his attorney, Mr. Joel Kurzberg, has refused to confirm whether Mr. Sterling was a source during the writing of the book (Maguire, pr. 1).
Mr. Risen was also found out to have co- written an article in 2005 on National Security Agency program which was involved in eavesdropping with court warrants. This was later confirmed by the government as the Tourist Surveillance Program. The justice unit has continued to look into the matter but no one has been charged so far. The Eastern District of Virginia, Mr. Neil H. MacBride stated that the national security was in need of the protection of sensitive information. It is an offence to disclose any information that could pose any security threat to a country and especially the U.S. Mr. Sterling could spend a very long time in prison if he is found guilty.
There have been a number of cases brought to the attention of the justice department concerning the national security information leaks. These have included both the previous and the Bush administration eras. The security and justice departments are doing all what they can in putting a stop to these leaks so as to keep the country as peaceful as possible (Maguire, P.2)