47-year-old Sterling of O’Fallon, Missouri, was charged with disclosing classified information to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist James Risen. The jury found him guilty on nine counts of unauthorized disclosure of national defense information and other related charges. He faced ten counts.
U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema has placed Sterling free on bond until his April 24 sentencing hearing.
— Jim Wilhelm (@BreakingNewzman) January 26, 2015
Prosecutors argued that Sterling leaked classified information because of resentment he felt toward the CIA after being fired in the early 2000s. He had also sued the agency for discrimination and faced opposition from officials when trying to publish a memoir. Prosecutors also claimed that Sterling's actions ruined a top secret operation and put the lives of CIA agents at risk.
"What happened here was a big deal," Assistant U.S. Attorney James Trump said in his closing arguments.
His defense argued that he had nothing to do with the leak, and that it was more likely Senate staffers who were responsible. Sterling's attorneys insisted that key information which surfaced in the book "State of War" could not have been provided by Sterling, since they involved events that occurred after he was fired from the agency.
"The government's suspicion of Mr. Sterling is not evidence," defense attorney Barry Pollack told jurors.
The conviction makes Sterling the fifth person in U.S. history to be charged with mishandling national defense information under the Espionage Act.
The classified material in question concerned Operation Merlin, a CIA plan to thwart Iranian nuclear capabilities by intentionally providing false blueprints. While details of this operation appeared in James Risen’s book “State of War,” Risen has repeatedly refused to name his source, even risking jail time himself.
Sterling has maintained that he was not the source for Risen’s book, but has admitted that he attempted to express his concerns with Operation Merlin through the proper government channels. He spoke to staffers of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and he insists they must be the cause of the leak.
Prior to the trial, transparency advocates, RootsAction.org, had circulated a petition urging the Justice Department to drop its charges against Sterling. Despite gaining over 20,000 signatures, the petition – it would appear – failed.
