-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Edmonds: For Sale - West's Deadly Nuclear Secrets
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
sent by anon@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- Jan 8, 2008
The Times of London - Jan 6, 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3137695.ece
For sale: West's deadly nuclear secrets
A WHISTLEBLOWER has made a series of extraordinary claims about how
corrupt government officials allowed Pakistan and other states to
steal nuclear weapons secrets.
Sibel Edmonds, a 37-year-old former Turkish language translator for
the FBI, listened into hundreds of sensitive intercepted conversations
while based at the agency's Wa****ngton field office.
She approached The Sunday Times last month after reading about an
Al-Qaeda terrorist who had revealed his role in training some of
the 9/11 hijackers while he was in Turkey.
Edmonds described how foreign intelligence agents had enlisted the
sup****t of US officials to acquire a network of moles in sensitive
military and nuclear institutions.
Among the hours of covert tape recordings, she says she heard
evidence that one well-known senior official in the US State
Department was being paid by Turkish agents in Wa****ngton who were
selling the information on to black market buyers, including Pakistan.
The name of the official - who has held a series of top government
posts - is known to The Sunday Times. He strongly denies the claims.
However, Edmonds said: "He was aiding foreign operatives against
US interests by passing them highly classified information, not
only from the State Department but also from the Pentagon, in
exchange for money, position and political objectives."
She claims that the FBI was also gathering evidence against senior
Pentagon officials - including household names - who were aiding
foreign agents.
"If you made public all the information that the FBI have on this
case, you will see very high-level people going through criminal
trials," she said.
Her story shows just how much the West was infiltrated by foreign
states seeking nuclear secrets. It illustrates how western government
officials turned a blind eye to, or were even helping, countries
such as Pakistan acquire bomb technology.
The wider nuclear network has been monitored for many years by a
joint Anglo-American intelligence effort. But rather than shut it
down, investigations by law enforcement bodies such as the FBI and
Britain's Revenue & Customs have been aborted to preserve diplomatic
relations.
Edmonds, a fluent speaker of Turkish and Farsi, was recruited by
the FBI in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Her previous
claims about incompetence inside the FBI have been well do***ented
in America.
She has given evidence to closed sessions of Congress and the 9/11
commission, but many of the key points of her testimony have remained
secret. She has now decided to divulge some of that information
after becoming disillusioned with the US authorities' failure to
act.
One of Edmonds's main roles in the FBI was to translate thousands
of hours of conversations by Turkish diplomatic and political targets
that had been covertly recorded by the agency.
A backlog of tapes had built up, dating back to 1997, which were
needed for an FBI investigation into links between the Turks and
Pakistani, Israeli and US targets. Before she left the FBI in 2002
she heard evidence that pointed to money laundering, drug im****ts
and attempts to acquire nuclear and conventional weapons technology.
"What I found was damning," she said. "While the FBI was investigating,
several arms of the government were ****elding what was going on."
The Turks and Israelis had planted "moles" in military and academic
institutions which handled nuclear technology. Edmonds says there
were several transactions of nuclear material every month, with the
Pakistanis being among the eventual buyers. "The network appeared
to be obtaining information from every nuclear agency in the United
States," she said.
They were helped, she says, by the high-ranking State Department
official who provided some of their moles - mainly PhD students -
with security clearance to work in sensitive nuclear research
facilities. These included the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory in New
Mexico, which is responsible for the security of the US nuclear
deterrent.
In one conversation Edmonds heard the official arranging to pick
up a $15,000 cash bribe. The package was to be dropped off at an
agreed location by someone in the Turkish diplomatic community who
was working for the network.
The Turks, she says, often acted as a conduit for the Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's spy agency, because they were less
likely to attract suspicion. Venues such as the American Turkish
Council in Wa****ngton were used to drop off the cash, which was
picked up by the official.
Edmonds said: "I heard at least three transactions like this over
a period of 2 years. There are almost certainly more."
The Pakistani operation was led by General Mahmoud Ahmad, then the
ISI chief.
Intercepted communications showed Ahmad and his colleagues stationed
in Wa****ngton were in constant contact with attachs in the Turkish
embassy.
Intelligence analysts say that members of the ISI were close to
Al-Qaeda before and after 9/11. Indeed, Ahmad was accused of
sanctioning a $100,000 wire payment to Mohammed Atta, one of the
9/11 hijackers, immediately before the attacks.
The results of the espionage were almost certainly passed to Abdul
Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani nuclear scientist.
Khan was close to Ahmad and the ISI. While running Pakistan's nuclear
programme, he became a millionaire by selling atomic secrets to
Libya, Iran and North Korea. He also used a network of companies
in America and Britain to obtain components for a nuclear programme.
Khan caused an alert among western intelligence agencies when his
aides met Osama Bin Laden. "We were aware of contact between A Q
Khan's people and Al-Qaeda," a former CIA officer said last week.
"There was absolute panic when we initially discovered this, but
it kind of panned out in the end."
It is likely that the nuclear secrets stolen from the United States
would have been sold to a number of rogue states by Khan.
Edmonds was later to see the scope of the Pakistani connections
when it was revealed that one of her fellow translators at the FBI
was the daughter of a Pakistani embassy official who worked for
Ahmad. The translator was given top secret clearance despite protests
from FBI investigators.
Edmonds says packages containing nuclear secrets were delivered by
Turkish operatives, using their cover as members of the diplomatic
and military community, to contacts at the Pakistani embassy in
Wa****ngton.
Following 9/11, a number of the foreign operatives were taken in
for questioning by the FBI on suspicion that they knew about or
somehow aided the attacks.
Edmonds said the State Department official once again proved useful.
"A primary target would call the official and point to names on the
list and say, `We need to get them out of the US because we can't
afford for them to spill the beans'," she said. "The official said
that he would `take care of it'."
The four suspects on the list were released from interrogation and
extradited.
Edmonds also claims that a number of senior officials in the Pentagon
had helped Israeli and Turkish agents.
"The people provided lists of potential moles from Pentagon-related
institutions who had access to databases concerning this information,"
she said.
"The handlers, who were part of the diplomatic community, would
then try to recruit those people to become moles for the network.
The lists contained all their `hooking points', which could be
financial or ***ual pressure points, their exact job in the Pentagon
and what stuff they had access to."
One of the Pentagon figures under investigation was Lawrence Franklin,
a former Pentagon analyst, who was jailed in 2006 for passing US
defence information to lobbyists and sharing classified information
with an Israeli diplomat.
"He was one of the top people providing information and packages
during 2000 and 2001," she said.
Once acquired, the nuclear secrets could have gone anywhere. The
FBI monitored Turkish diplomats who were selling copies of the
information to the highest bidder.
Edmonds said: "Certain greedy Turkish operators would make copies
of the material and look around for buyers. They had agents who
would find potential buyers."
In summer 2000, Edmonds says the FBI monitored one of the agents
as he met two Saudi Arabian businessmen in Detroit to sell nuclear
information that had been stolen from an air force base in Alabama.
She overheard the agent saying: "We have a package and we're going
to sell it for $250,000."
Edmonds's employment with the FBI lasted for just six months. In
March 2002 she was dismissed after accusing a colleague of covering
up illicit activity involving Turkish nationals.
She has always claimed that she was victimised for being outspoken
and was vindicated by an Office of the Inspector General review of
her case three years later. It found that one of the contributory
reasons for her sacking was that she had made valid complaints.
The US attorney-general has imposed a state secrets privilege order
on her, which prevents her revealing more details of the FBI's
methods and current investigations.
Her allegations were heard in a closed session of Congress, but no
action has been taken and she continues to campaign for a public
hearing.
She was able to discuss the case with The Sunday Times because, by
the end of January 2002, the justice department had shut down the
programme.
The senior official in the State Department no longer works there.
Last week he denied all of Edmonds's allegations: "If you are calling
me to say somebody said that I took money, that's outrageous . . .
I do not have anything to say about such stupid ridiculous things
as this."
In researching this article, The Sunday Times has talked to two FBI
officers (one serving, one former) and two former CIA sources who
worked on nuclear proliferation. While none was aware of specific
allegations against officials she names, they did provide overlapping
corroboration of Edmonds's story.
One of the CIA sources confirmed that the Turks had acquired nuclear
secrets from the United States and shared the information with
Pakistan and Israel. "We have no indication that Turkey has its own
nuclear ambitions. But the Turks are traders. To my knowledge they
became big players in the late 1990s," the source said.
How Pakistan got the bomb, then sold it to the highest bidders
1965 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's foreign minister, says: "If
India builds the bomb we will eat grass . . . but we will get one
of our own"
1974 Nuclear programme becomes increased priority as India tests a
nuclear device
1976 Abdul Qadeer Khan, a scientist, steals secrets from Dutch
uranium plant. Made head of his nation's nuclear programme by Bhutto,
now prime minister
1976 onwards Clandestine network established to obtain materials
and technology for uranium enrichment from the West
1985 Pakistan produces weapons-grade uranium for the first time
1989-91 Khan's network sells Iran nuclear weapons information and
technology
1991-97 Khan sells weapons technology to North Korea and Libya
1998 India tests nuclear bomb and Pakistan follows with a series
of nuclear tests. Khan says: "I never had any doubts I was building
a bomb. We had to do it"
2001 CIA chief George Tenet gathers officials for crisis summit on
the proliferation of nuclear technology from Pakistan to other
countries
2001 Weeks before 9/11, Khan's aides meet Osama Bin Laden to discuss
an Al-Qaeda nuclear device
2001 After 9/11 proliferation crisis becomes secondary as Pakistan
is seen as im****tant ally in war on terror
2003 Libya abandons nuclear weapons programme and admits acquiring
components through Pakistani nuclear scientists
2004 Khan placed under house arrest and confesses to supplying Iran,
Libya and North Korea with weapons technology. He is pardoned by
President Pervez Musharraf
2006 North Korea tests a nuclear bomb
2007 Renewed fears that bomb may fall into hands of Islamic extremists
as killing of Benazir Bhutto throws country into turmoil
***
The Huffington Post - Jan 6, 2008
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larisa-alexandrovna/sibel-edmonds-speaks_b_80077.html
Sibel Edmonds Speaks...
by Larisa Alexandrovna
Sibel Edmonds, the FBI whistle-blower who has been gagged for years by
the Bush administration over intercepts she translated while at the
bureau, was willing to go to prison to get her story told. She spent
years trying to get her day in court, but the State Secrets gag against
her prohibited her from telling her story even to a FISA judge. After
years of trying to fight her way to through the maze of the US court
system, Sibel Edmonds finally decided to tell her story no matter the
consequences and offered to do so to any interested US media outlets.
Today, part of that story runs, but not in the United States, where not
a single cor****ate outlet was willing to displease the White House and
give Edmonds a platform. The Sunday Times Online, however, proved up to
the task - somewhat. Here are the snips from that article:
"A WHISTLEBLOWER has made a series of extraordinary claims about
how corrupt government officials allowed Pakistan and other states to
steal nuclear weapons secrets.
Sibel Edmonds, a 37-year-old former Turkish language translator for
the FBI, listened into hundreds of sensitive intercepted conversations
while based at the agency's Wa****ngton field office.
She approached The Sunday Times last month after reading about an
Al-Qaeda terrorist who had revealed his role in training some of the
9/11 hijackers while he was in Turkey.
Edmonds described how foreign intelligence agents had enlisted the
sup****t of US officials to acquire a network of moles in sensitive
military and nuclear institutions.
<snip>
Among the hours of covert tape recordings, she says she heard
evidence that one well-known senior official in the US State Department
was being paid by Turkish agents in Wa****ngton who were selling the
information on to black market buyers, including Pakistan.
The name of the official - who has held a series of top government
posts - is known to The Sunday Times. He strongly denies the claims.
However, Edmonds said: "He was aiding foreign operatives against US
interests by passing them highly classified information, not only from
the State Department but also from the Pentagon, in exchange for money,
position and political objectives."
Let me help the Times here. The person against whom these allegations
are being made is Marc Grossman. The Times could have published the
name and also provided the denial from Grossman's camp. I find it
incredibly disturbing that they would not name the official.
"She claims that the FBI was also gathering evidence against senior
Pentagon officials - including household names - who were aiding
foreign agents.
"If you made public all the information that the FBI have on this
case, you will see very high-level people going through criminal
trials," she said.
Her story shows just how much the West was infiltrated by foreign
states seeking nuclear secrets. It illustrates how western government
officials turned a blind eye to, or were even helping, countries such
as Pakistan acquire bomb technology."
Those senior DOD officials who are not mentioned in the Times article,
all but one are no longer in government. They are alleged to be Doug
Feith, Richard Perle, among others. There is also one person who is
part of these allegations, still serving in a high level position at
the DOD. His last name begins with an E.
I have tried getting someone in broadcast and print media to run this
story. My sources did not include Edmonds, but because of the sensitive
nature of the information, I was concerned that she would go to jail
anyway, unless I proved she was not a source - which would require me
to reveal my sources.
I thought if I approached a big enough news outlet, the pressure
generated by the public response would spare Edmonds jail time and I
would not be pressured to reveal sources - something I would not have
done anyway. Even a former high ranking CIA officer offered to byline
the article with me if that would help sell a broadcaster/publication
on running the story. No one was interested.
That the Times ran these allegations (she is under a state secrets gag
folks, so it is not like she is gagged for lying) is encouraging. But
that they omitted all names from the allegations is unethical. The
point of a free press is not to protect the powerful against the weak,
but to protect the public from the powerful. The Times was willing to
stick a toe in, but was not willing to risk upsetting a foreign
government (This is, after all, a British paper).
There are more names, including members of Congress and people serving
in the FBI. This is what happens when basic government services as well
as the most sensitive government functions are outsourced to the global
marketplace.
Back to the Times article, which toward the end illustrates that
someone in the editorial offices located a backbone, even if
tem****arily:
"She has given evidence to closed sessions of Congress and the 9/11
commission, but many of the key points of her testimony have remained
secret. She has now decided to divulge some of that information after
becoming disillusioned with the US authorities' failure to act.
One of Edmonds's main roles in the FBI was to translate thousands
of hours of conversations by Turkish diplomatic and political targets
that had been covertly recorded by the agency.
<snip>
The Turks and Israelis had planted "moles" in military and academic
institutions which handled nuclear technology. Edmonds says there were
several transactions of nuclear material every month, with the
Pakistanis being among the eventual buyers. "The network appeared to be
obtaining information from every nuclear agency in the United States,"
she said.
They were helped, she says, by the high-ranking State Department
official who provided some of their moles - mainly PhD students - with
security clearance to work in sensitive nuclear research facilities.
These included the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory in New Mexico, which
is responsible for the security of the US nuclear deterrent.
In one conversation Edmonds heard the official arranging to pick up
a $15,000 cash bribe. The package was to be dropped off at an agreed
location by someone in the Turkish diplomatic community who was working
for the network.
Let me again offer help to the good folks at the Times. The person in
question is a Turkish military official who at that time also happened
to sit on the board of a particular defense contracting firm.
"The Turks, she says, often acted as a conduit for the
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's spy agency, because they
were less likely to attract suspicion. Venues such as the American
Turkish Council in Wa****ngton were used to drop off the cash, which was
picked up by the official.
Edmonds said: "I heard at least three transactions like this over a
period of 2 years. There are almost certainly more."
The Pakistani operation was led by General Mahmoud Ahmad, then the
ISI chief."
Now, who is General Mahmoud Ahmad?
"Intelligence analysts say that members of the ISI were close to
Al-Qaeda before and after 9/11. Indeed, Ahmad was accused of
sanctioning a $100,000 wire payment to Mohammed Atta, one of the 9/11
hijackers, immediately before the attacks."
You can see why Edmonds had to be silenced for "diplomatic reasons." As
though diplomatic (read: business) relation****ps are more im****tant
than national security. Let me give you one more snip from this
incredible article (minus the censor****p):
"Khan was close to Ahmad and the ISI. While running Pakistan's
nuclear programme, he became a millionaire by selling atomic secrets to
Libya, Iran and North Korea. He also used a network of companies in
America and Britain to obtain components for a nuclear programme.
Khan caused an alert among western intelligence agencies when his
aides met Osama Bin Laden. "We were aware of contact between A Q Khan's
people and Al-Qaeda," a former CIA officer said last week. "There was
absolute panic when we initially discovered this, but it kind of panned
out in the end."
It is likely that the nuclear secrets stolen from the United States
would have been sold to a number of rogue states by Khan.
Edmonds was later to see the scope of the Pakistani connections
when it was revealed that one of her fellow translators at the FBI was
the daughter of a Pakistani embassy official who worked for Ahmad. The
translator was given top secret clearance despite protests from FBI
investigators.
Edmonds says packages containing nuclear secrets were delivered by
Turkish operatives, using their cover as members of the diplomatic and
military community, to contacts at the Pakistani embassy in Wa****ngton.
Following 9/11, a number of the foreign operatives were taken in
for questioning by the FBI on suspicion that they knew about or somehow
aided the attacks.
Edmonds said the State Department official once again proved
useful. "A primary target would call the official and point to names on
the list and say, 'We need to get them out of the US because we can't
afford for them to spill the beans'," she said. "The official said that
he would 'take care of it'."
Read the whole thing. I urge you to print it, email it, share it with
everyone you know. Edmonds has said enough now that she may very likely
go to prison, but she is a true patriot and she must have our sup****t,
in the media and also in the public sphere.
*
=================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Our main website: http://www.blythe.org
List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
=================================================================
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (FreeBSD)
iD8DBQFHhCFyiz2i76ou9wQRAmvdAKCjw3Qw91sU8uoZcMarNWoYt5Xu0ACeLJza
oI9qeDzMHUu87cVvqiB/AjI=
=z8MB
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
|
