http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/07/05/translator_in_eye_of_storm_on_retroactive_classification?mode=PF
> Published on Monday, July 5, 2004 by the Boston Globe > Translator in Eye of Storm on Retroactive Classification > by Anne E. Kornblut > > WASHINGTON -- Sifting through old classified materials in the days > after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, FBI translator Sibel Edmonds > said, she made an alarming discovery: Intercepts relevant to the > terrorist plot, including references to skyscrapers, had been > overlooked because they were badly translated into English. > > Edmonds, 34, who is fluent in Turkish and Farsi, said she quickly > reported the mistake to an FBI superior. Five months later, after > flagging what she said were several other security lapses in her > division, she was fired. Now, after more than two years of > investigations and congressional inquiries, Edmonds is at the center > of an extraordinary storm over US classification rules that sheds > new light on the secrecy imperative supported by members of the Bush > administration. > > > Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds [CBS] > > In a rare maneuver, Attorney General John Ashcroft has ordered that > information about the Edmonds case be retroactively classified, even > basic facts that have been posted on websites and discussed openly > in meetings with members of Congress for two years. The Department > of Justice also invoked the seldom-used ''state secrets" privilege > to silence Edmonds in court. She has been blocked from testifying in > a lawsuit brought by victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and was allowed > to speak to the panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks only behind > closed doors. > > > Meanwhile, the FBI has yet to release its internal investigation > into her charges. And the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees > the bureau, has been stymied in its attempt to get to the bottom of > her allegations. Now that the case has been retroactively > classified, lawmakers are wary of discussing the details, for fear > of overstepping legal bounds. > > ''I'm alarmed that the FBI is reaching back in time and classifying > information it provided two years ago," Senator Charles E. Grassley, > a Republican from Iowa and a leading advocate for Edmonds, said last > Friday. ''Frankly, it looks like an attempt to impede legitimate > oversight of a serious problem at the FBI." > > Edmonds, a naturalized US citizen who grew up in Turkey and Iran, > said in an interview last week that the ordeal has made her grow > disillusioned with the ''magical system of checks and balances and > separation of powers" that had made her so drawn to the United > States. ''What I came to see is that it exists only in name," > Edmonds said. ''Where is the oversight? Who is there to stop him > [Ashcroft]?" > > In a development that legal analysts say is disturbing, a pattern of > retroactive classifications has begun to emerge in recent years, all > of them pertaining to -- but not limited to -- national security. > For example, Representative John F. Tierney, Democrat of > Massachusetts, is locked in an ongoing battle with the Defense > Department over testing requirements for a national missile defense > system that were made public in 2000 but have since been declared > classified. > > Bush administration officials argue that the three-year campaign > against terrorism has required unprecedented levels of > confidentiality, especially inside intelligence and law enforcement > agencies. Critics do not dispute the need for heightened secrecy in > the current environment. Edmonds is careful not to discuss standard > classified information, such as methods the FBI used to obtain the > material she translated. > > But she and a growing number of her defenders -- who include a > government watchdog group, some Sept. 11 families, and Grassley, a > Bush administration ally -- maintain that the secrecy imposed on her > case has jeopardized national security. One of Edmonds's assertions > to her superiors included suspicions of espionage within the FBI, > which she said the bureau has not addressed. > > ''Their [the administration's] mantra seems to be that secrecy > promotes safety, and I don't think that's true," said David Vladeck, > a Georgetown University law professor who is representing the > watchdog group Project on Government Oversight in a lawsuit > challenging the retroactive classification. ''At times, I think > secrecy breeds suspicion." > > Edmonds's native skills drew her to languages. Born in Istanbul, > raised for seven years in Tehran, with Azerbaijani relatives on her > father's side, she speaks three languages crucial to intelligence- > gathering in the Middle East. She does not speak Arabic. But her > specialty languages were no less important after Sept. 11, 2001, > when investigators began tracking Al Qaeda and other terrorist > connections in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran. > > She had a job application at the FBI before Sept. 11, and it was > accelerated after the attacks so she could start work Sept. 20. One > of her main assignments, she said, was to expedite requested > translations from field agents, including material that a field > agent in Arizona submitted for retranslation on a suspicion that it > had not been examined thoroughly before Sept. 11. > > ''After I retranslated it verbatim, I went to my supervisor to > say, 'I need to talk to this agent over a secure line because what > we came across in this retranslating is gigantic, it has specific > information about certain specific activity related to 9/11,' " > Edmonds recalled. ''The supervisor blocked this retranslation from > being sent to the same agent. The reasoning this [supervisor] gave > me was, 'How would you like it if another translator did this same > thing to you? The original translator is going to be held > responsible.' " > > In the end, Edmonds said, the field agent who requested a > reinterpretation of the intelligence material ''knew there were > things that were missing, and yet he was reassured by the Washington > field office that the original translation was fine." > > Edmonds said the intercept jumped out at her because it contained > references to skyscrapers and the US visa application process. Such > references might have triggered suspicions at Immigration and > Naturalization Services before Sept. 11 if they had been correctly > translated, she said, but they seemed unrelated before the attacks, > in part because they were gathered during the course of a criminal > investigation. > > [A Phoenix FBI agent was the source of a memo before the attacks > warning about Middle Easterners taking flying lessons. Edmonds does > not know whether the same agent is related to her case.] > > Edmonds said she made another troubling discovery: One of her > colleagues admitted being a member of an organization with ties to > the Middle East that was a target of an FBI investigation. The > colleague, also a Turkish translator, invited Edmonds to join the > group, assuring her that her FBI credentials would guarantee > admission. Edmonds declined to name the organization, because she > said it has been under surveillance. > > Two months later, Edmonds said, one of the agents she worked with > found hundreds of pages of translation that her Turkish-speaking > colleague had stamped ''not pertinent" and had therefore gone > untranslated. > > The agent asked Edmonds to retranslate her colleague's work. ''We > came across 17 pieces of extremely specific and important > information that was blocked, and at that point, this agent and I > went to the FBI security department in the Washington field office, > and found out my supervisor had not reported my original > complaints," she said. > > Edmonds said she was repeatedly warned that she would be opening > a ''can of worms" if she kept filing security complaints, but she > continued reporting lapses to ever-higher levels of management > until, in March 2002, she wrote a letter to FBI Director Robert S. > Mueller III, she said. She also contacted the Senate Judiciary > Committee. In response, the FBI confiscated her home computer, > challenged her to take a polygraph test, which she said she passed, > and terminated her contract. > > A Justice Department spokesman did not respond to a request for > comment. Previously, officials have said Edmonds was fired for > disruptive behavior on the job. > > Over the summer of 2002, the Senate Judiciary Committee requested > and received unclassified briefings about her case by FBI officials, > in which Senate aides said the FBI confirmed much of what Edmonds > had alleged. Senators Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, and > Grassley, the Republican, wrote letters to Ashcroft, Mueller, and > Glenn A. Fine, the inspector general at the Department of Justice, > requesting immediate attention to Edmonds's case. They posted their > letters on their websites, and Edmonds went public with her story, > which was featured in a segment on ''60 Minutes" in October 2002. > > Edmonds also filed suit against the Justice Department on First > Amendment grounds. That prompted Ashcroft to invoke the rare ''state > secrets" privilege, arguing ''the litigation creates substantial > risks of disclosing classified and sensitive national security > information," a Department of Justice news release said. > > Edmonds's lawsuits have since been stalled in court, but other Sept. > 11-related cases, involving the independent panel's investigation > and civil lawsuits involving victims' relatives, have put her saga > back in the spotlight. The Senate Judiciary Committee recently e- > mailed staff members informing them the FBI now considers the > information related to Edmonds classified and warning them not to > disseminate it anymore. > > Grassley's and Leahy's offices have removed their letters to Justice > officials from their websites, though the letters are still > available on the Internet.
