'State secrets privilege' blocks fired translator from suing FBI

By Catherine Rampell
USA Today
Nov. 25, 2006

Sibel Edmonds, who formed the 100-plus member National Security whistle-blowers Coalition in 2002, began working as a linguist for the FBI the week after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.

Several months into her contract, she discovered "shoddy" translations relevant to 9/11 created by translators who had "failed the proficiency exams," she says.

A report by the Justice Department's inspector general subsequently confirmed that at least one translator had failed the FBI's language proficiency exams. Edmonds says the translator was sent to Guantanamo Bay to translate "the most sensitive terrorist-related information" from interviews of detainees.

Edmonds also notified her superiors that a co-worker was responsible for translating wiretaps of a company the latter used to work for. The co-worker "was blocking the intelligence coming from her family members and friends," Edmonds says.

Edmonds took a polygraph test and was investigated for typing her allegations — which contained classified information — on her home computer, even though her supervisor had given permission for her to do so, the inspector general's report said.

The Middle Eastern language specialist was fired in March 2002. When Edmonds asked why, she received a letter saying her contract had been "terminated completely for the government's convenience," according to legal briefings her lawyers filed in the lawsuit contesting her firing.

In its final report, the inspector general concluded that "we believe that many of (Edmonds') allegations were supported, that the FBI did not take them seriously enough, and that her allegations were, in fact, the most significant factor in the FBI's decision to terminate her services."

The same month the report was released, Edmonds' lawsuit to contest her firing was dismissed. Legal briefs show the government had invoked the so-called state secrets privilege, arguing that the lawsuit would jeopardize national security.

The state secrets privilege — a series of U.S. legal precedents — has been cited by the federal government at least 18 times since 9/11 and at least 81 times since the privilege was first recognized in 1953, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

"Instead of protecting and standing up for whistle-blowers, this is just giving the complete green light to retaliate," says Edmonds, who lost her appeal.

FBI spokesperson Bill Carter declined to comment, citing privacy concerns.