10 Dissidents Who Changed the World: #6

Sibel Edmonds has been called the most gagged person in the history of the United States of America.

In the short days after the September 11, 2001 attacks, FBI translator Sibel Edmonds stumbled onto something strange…something sinister….something her superiors didn’t want Americans to find out about.

To keep her discovery secret, the FBI abruptly and irrationally fired Edmonds.

But Edmonds cared too much about her country to stay quiet. However, since her first attempt to expose the truth to the public, the FBI has repeatedly invoked the rarely used State Secrets Privilege to force her silence.

The FBI’s Deep Dark Secret

So, what DID Sibel Edmonds uncover while translating reams of foreign language intelligence on suspected terrorists? And why are the FBI, the Justice Department, and the State Department using every trick at their disposal, short of covert assassination, to keep the FBI’s deep dark secret behind closed doors?

In her own words, Sibel Edmonds lets us know what will happen if she’s allowed to talk:

…it’s not as complicated as it might seem. If they were to allow the whole picture to emerge, it would just boil down to a whole lot of money and illegal activities. …Certain elected officials will stand trial and go to prison.

Now we’re gettin’ somewhere…

The Early Life of Sibel Edmonds

Sibel Edmonds was born in Iran in 1970. Her father, one of the Middle East�s leading reconstructive surgeons, moved his family to Turkey when Sibel was two and a half, and then back to Iran when she was five.

One evening in 1981, while waiting in the car for her dad to pick up takeout food, eleven-year-old Sibel was threatened with arrest by revolutionary guards because her headscarf was too revealing. As soon as he could, her dad abandoned his home — and his position as head of a prestigious Tehran burn center — to move his family back to Turkey.

Coming to America

In 1988, Edmonds decided to come to the United States and attend college in Maryland. At first she studied English and Hotel Management, but soon switched gears to study criminal justice with a major in psychology at George Washington University.

Although she had planned to return to Turkey after school, in her junior year she met her future husband: Matthew Edmonds, a divorced retail-technology consultant who had lived in Virginia all his life. They got married in 1992.

In 1996 she became a U.S. citizen, and in 1998 earned her masters degree in public policy and international commerce from George Mason University. That’s when she applied for a general position at the FBI.

The Incompetent FBI Human Resources Department

Instead of a general position, the FBI noted that Edmonds could speak Turkish, Farsi, and Azerbaijani, and considered her for their translation department. But first, she had to have a background check that would take 9 to 15 months. They told her they’d call her when that was complete. She didn’t hear from them for two more years.

Sibel moved on with her life and started another job. But, out of curiosity, she called to check on her FBI application in early 2001. She was astonished to discover that, when a field office had been moved, the FBI had lost her application. They apologized, promised to refresh her background check, and again promised to get back in touch with her.

On September 13, two days after the 9/11 attacks, the FBI — now desperate for qualified translators — granted Sibel Edmonds a Top Secret security clearance. On September 14, the FBI contacted her and asked how soon she could start working.

FBI Riddled with Corruption

On September 20, 2001, Edmonds began translating documents related to the war on terror, from Turkish into English. Agents from all over the country flooded her with translation requests dealing with neglected investigations begun before 9/11.

But surprisingly, her superiors encouraged her to work slower:

We were told by our supervisors that this was the great opportunity for asking for increased budget and asking for more translators. And in order to do that, don’t do the work and let the documents pile up so we can show it and say that we need more translators and expand the department.

During the next few months, Edmonds found evidence that the FBI, State Department, and the Pentagon were infiltrated by foreign intelligence organizations — organizations with ties to terrorism. She witnessed, and reported, coworkers who were part of these organizations…FBI employees who purposely mistranslated and blocked translation of documents to prevent the accrual of intelligence on specific foreign suspects.

She also discovered that many organized crime networks were using semi-legitimate fronts to interface with government agencies. Edmonds explains:

You might have an organization supposed to be promoting the cultural affairs of a certain country within another country. Hypothetically, say, an Uzbek folklore society based in Germany. The stated purpose would be to hold folklore-related activities � and they might even do that � but the real activities taking place behind the scenes are criminal…from drugs to money laundering to arms sales. And yes, there are certain convergences with all these activities and international terrorism.

Edmonds also witnessed the State Department requesting certain links between global drug trafficking, money laundering, information laundering, and terrorist activity NOT be investigated. The reason? Because of the harm it might do to foreign relations and foreign businesses.

In response to Edmonds’ complaints of corruption and incompetence, her superiors didn’t try to fix the problems. Instead, they tried to bait her with “hooking” procedures. That is, they encouraged her to use improper business practices — such as accepting pay for time spent doing schoolwork, or accepting free trips that were unrelated to FBI work — things they could use to discredit her later.

After Sibel refused to be appeased, in March 2002, she was fired.

Sibel Edmonds Takes the FBI to Court

On July 22, 2002, Edmonds filed a suit against the FBI. The suit claimed that Edmonds was wrongfully terminated in retaliation for reporting criminal activities committed by government officials and employees. In October, Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked the State Secrets Privilege to prevent any discussion of Edmonds’ FBI work in court. Ashcroft insisted public knowledge of her work details would endanger national security. He asked that the suit be dismissed.

In August 2002, Edmonds was called to file a deposition in another case being filed by the families of 600 victims of the 9/11 attacks. The case asserted that the FBI had foreknowledge of the WTC attacks. In December 2003, Attorney General Ashcroft, again invoked the State Secrets Privilege to suppress Edmonds’ entire deposition. Ashcroft asked that this suit, too, be dismissed. When the judge ordered the FBI to produce unclassified documents relating to the case, Ashcroft retroactively classified as Top Secret all material, statements, and letters related to Sibel Edmonds that had been provided in any previous case or committee meetings.

In June 2004, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) sued the Justice Department and Ashcroft. POGO claimed that Ashcroft could not retroactively classify Edmond’s testimony as Top Secret without violating her First Amendment rights.

In January 2004, the Department of Justice released an unclassified summary of the Inspector General’s report on Edmonds. The report states:

…that many of her 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. �Rather than investigate Edmonds’ allegations vigorously and thoroughly, the FBI concluded that she was a disruption and terminated her contract.

However, in July 2004, Edmonds’ suit was dismissed on states secrets grounds. She immediately appealed.

In April 2005, only hours before the hearing of her appeal, the judges barred all reporters and the public from the courtroom, including Edmonds. Her case was soon dismissed without a reason or opinion being provided.

The ACLU petitioned the Supreme Court, but in November 2005, the Supreme Court refused to review the case.

Epilogue

Without violating the State Secrets Privilege gag, which is still in effect, Sibel Edmonds continues to address the events she experienced due to being fired for whistleblowing. She also continues to speak out against the absurd gag order preventing her from disclosing evidence that the FBI provides cover for U.S. government officials in high places…officials who are involved in payola with a network of nuclear black-market, narcotics, and illegal arms traffickers.

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“What is happening does not benefit 99.9 percent of Americans � just a very small elite. I’m no expert, but from what I have personally seen I can say that our national security is being compromised every day, because important investigations are being stopped, and potentially important clues are being overlooked. It’s absolutely incredible that even after 9/11, certain individuals, foreign businessmen and others, among others, are still escaping scrutiny.” ~Sibel Edmonds.

Please Visit: Let Sibel Edmonds Speak.

Please Visit: Sibel Edmonds - Official Website.

Click below to watch the 2006 PEN/Newman�s Own First Amendment Award video about Sibel Edmonds:

* * *

Go to the next article in this series:
Mohandas Gandhi - Dissident Lawyer.

Go to the previous article in this series:
Martin Luther King, Jr. - Dissident Preacher with a Dream.

Go to the series index:
10 Dissidents Who Changed the World.

Read More: Sibel Edmonds, dissident, whistleblower, FBI, Department of Justice, Ashcroft, State Secrets Privilege

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