Sibel Deniz Edmonds (born 1970)^[1] is a Turkish-American^[2][3][4] former FBI translator and founder of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC). Edmonds was fired from her position as a language specialist at the FBI's Washington Field Office in March, 2002, after she accused a colleague of covering up illicit activity involving foreign nationals, alleging serious acts of security breaches, cover-ups, and intentional blocking of intelligence which, she contended, presented a danger to the United States' security. Since that time, court proceedings on her whistleblower claims have been blocked by the assertion of State Secrets Privilege. On March 29, 2006, she was awarded the PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award in recognition of her defense of free speech as it applies to the written word.^[5]

Early life and education

The daughter of a doctor, Edmonds lived in Iran and then Turkey before coming to the United States as a student^[3] in 1988. Edmonds is fluent in Turkish, Persian, English and Azerbaijani.^[3][6] She earned her bachelor's degree in criminal justice and psychology from George Washington University^[3] and her master's in public policy and international commerce from George Mason University.^[6]

[edit] FBI career

Edmonds was hired, as a contractor, to work as an interpreter in the translations unit of the FBI on September 20, 2001. Among her main roles was to translate covertly recorded conversations by Turkish diplomatic and political targets.^[7]

Between December 2001 and March 2002, Edmonds reported to FBI managers various incidents of misconduct and incompetence, involving her supervisor Mike Feghali and others, that she says she observed while employed as a translator. She escalated her complaints to the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility and the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General. In response, she claims that managers retaliated^[8] against her. She was fired on March 22, 2002.

In June of that year, anonymous government sources asserted, in Associated Press and Washington Post reports, that Edmonds had been disruptive, breached security, and performed poorly at her job.^[9] An internal FBI investigation, however, has concluded that she was fired after making "valid complaints".^[10]

[edit] Allegations

Edmonds has made a series of allegations regarding 9/11, nuclear proliferation and official corruption, and the administration of the FBI's translation office.

Regarding 9/11

1. She alleges that the FBI received information in April 2001, from Behrooz Sarshar,^[11] one of its Farsi translators, that Osama Bin Laden was planning attacks on 4-5 cities with planes, some of the people were already in the country and the attacks would happen in a few months.^[12][13]

Regarding nuclear proliferation and official corruption

1. She alleges that she found evidence that people in the FBI, the State Department,^[14] the RAND corporation, the Pentagon, and Congress were recruited by a Turkish and Israeli-run criminal intelligence network, with connections to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, to steal nuclear weapons secrets.^[15]
2. She alleges that the FBI has a case file, 203A-WF-210023, detailing evidence of this.^[16]
3. She alleges that one high-ranking member of the State Department^[14] was selling classified information to Washington-based agents of the Republic of Turkey, who were in turn selling these secrets on the black market.^[7]
4. She alleges that one recruit in the State Department warned this criminal intelligence network that Brewster Jennings & Associates was a counter-proliferation operation run by the CIA, and to not get involved with them.^[17]
5. She alleges that Fethullah Gülen, whom she feels is a threat to the U.S., was given safe haven in the U.S. by the U.S. in order to try to gain influence over energy sources in Central Asia.^[18]

Regarding the administration of the translation office

1. She alleges that the FBI sent to Guantanamo as its Turkish translator a man not proficient in English,^[19] and who was hired as a result of nepotism.

Many of Edmonds' accusations have been corroborated by anonymous letters allegedly written by FBI employees^.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibel_Edmonds