Court Closes FBI Case Arguments to Public (Sibel Edmonds)

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/04/21/national/w073505D40.DTL

Court Closes FBI Case Arguments to Public
By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, April 21, 2005

A federal appeals court Thursday barred the public from arguments in the case of a fired FBI contractor who alleged security breaches and misconduct at the agency.


Sibel Edmonds' lawsuit against the government was thrown out of a lower court when the Bush administration invoked the state secrets privilege, which allows the government to withhold information to safeguard national security.

....

A 32-year-old Turkish-American, Edmonds said at a news conference Wednesday that part of her job was translating wiretaps as part of the government's investigation of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Edmonds alleges she was retaliated against for telling FBI managers about shoddy wiretap translations and the possible passing of information from a wiretap to the target of an investigation.

<</SNIP>>

[BlueEyedSon]

1. I wouldn't think they were hiding something if they stopped acting

like they are.

[sabra]

3. Don't read too much in to it :-)

[Festivito]

2. What do secretivity requestors risk?

Especially when opposed. Is there some escalation method. Does everyone have to sign.

I find this upsetting.

[cascadiance]

4. There's a good article today on how state Secrecy excuse is being abused

... in the case of Sibel Edmonds and others. It makes a good case that because these "secrecy" protections are being abused and being used more to cover acts of incompetence than really protecting security, that in fact it's use reduces our security, since it encourages such ineffective government processes to persist and be covered up and not improved and in so doing improve our security.

Check:

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/1732

------------------------------------------
Threat to Public Grows With State Secrecy, Civil Libertarians Argue
by Michelle Chen

Apr 22 - Yesterday, a national security whistleblower finally had her day in court, while public interest advocates intensified their campaigns for a more open government, challenging what they see as a pattern of secrecy and impunity in the name of national security interests.

To public advocates, the case of Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator who was allegedly fired for exposing misconduct within the agency, has come to symbolize the expansion of government opacity in the post-9/11 era. The stark resistance Edmonds has faced in attempting to challenge the alleged retaliation against her, say civil libertarians, illustrates how secrecy has cast a dark net over institutions of democratic government.

"Expanded secrecy rules are allowing government agencies to hide their incompetence and to hide their failure to really adequately protect the public," warned Beth Daley, spokesperson for the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), a Washington, DC-based watchdog group. Like many other open-government advocates, Daley sees secrecy not only as detrimental to democracy, but also, ironically, a potential security threat in itself.

Rick Blum, of the national public interest coalition OpenTheGovernment.org, said that the growth in secrecy under the Bush administration -- involving the shrinking of information and oversight resources and the expansion of executive power -- is the product of a bureaucracy given a green light to keep the public in the dark whenever possible. "It’s a Great Wall being erected between government and the public," he told The NewStandard.

....

[realFedUp]

5. kick

for heroes.

[LatePeriduct]

6. Oh no you don't....

Bring it down!!!

http://houseofscandal.org

[cascadiance]

7. Here's another article from Smirkingchimp.com

Actually from the Village Voice. Interesting tidbits here are:

Sibel Edmonds was called by her supervisors "a whore" and the one who fired her said that he would see her again "in jail".

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print.php?sid=20819

-------------------------------

James Ridgeway: 'The silencing of Sibel Edmonds'
Date: Friday, April 22 @ 09:53:20 EDT
Topic: War & Terrorism

Court won't let public hear what FBI whistleblower has to say

By James Ridgeway, Village Voice

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The unsettling story of whistleblower Sibel Edmonds took another twist on Thursday, as the government continued its seemingly endless machinations to shut her up. The U.S. Court of Appeals here denied pleas to open the former FBI translator's First Amendment case to the public, a day after taking the extraordinary step of ordering a secret hearing.

Edmonds was hired after 9-11 to help the woefully staffed FBI's translation department with documents and wiretaps in such languages as Farsi and Turkish. She soon cried foul, saying the agency's was far from acceptable and perhaps even dangerous to national security. She was fired in 2002.

Ever since, the government has been trying to silence her, even classifying an interview she did with 60 Minutes.

Oral arguments in her suit against the federal government were scheduled for this morning, but yesterday the clerk of the appeals court unexpectedly and suddenly announced the hearing would be closed. Only attorneys and Edmonds were allowed in.

...