FISA does not expire on Friday. Only the Protect America Act, which amended FISA by increasing the President's powers, expires.
FISA -- which was passed in 1977 and amended multiple times since, including after 9/11 -- continues in full force and effect even if the PAA expires.
Where the hell is the American foreign policy press beat? (That's a rhetorical question. I know where they are - the useless idiots are wagging their cocktail weenies at Washington gatherings and hob-nobbing with the jackals they are supposed to be keeping in check...)One of the documents relating to the case was marked 203A-WF-210023. Last week, however, the FBI responded to a freedom of information request for a file of exactly the same number by claiming that it did not exist. But The Sunday Times has obtained a document signed by an FBI official showing the existence of the file. (emphasis added)The anonymous letter in the possession of the Sunday Times provides the name of a high-level government official who is alleged to have been secretly recorded speaking to a high Turkish official at the Turkish embassy in the last half of 2001. The letter maintains that the government official warned a Turkish member of the network that they should refuse dealings with a company called Brewster Jennings because it was a CIA front, working in counter proliferation. Remember Brewster Jennings? That was Valerie Plame's cover company. Where she battled to keep nukes out of the wrong hands, and put her life on the line to do so, until she was treasonously outed for political reasons. (And if we had a functioning press corps, that little tidbit right there, all by itself, would set them off like a pack of baying bloodhounds. But we have a bunch of complacent, utterly worthless lap-dogs instead. Sickening. Absolutely sickening...)Edmonds believes the crucial file is being deliberately covered up by the FBI because its contents are explosive. She accuses the agency of an “outright lie”.
“I can tell you that that file and the operations it refers to did exist from 1996 to February 2002. The file refers to the counterintelligence programme that the Department of Justice has declared to be a state secret to protect sensitive diplomatic relations,” she said.
The freedom of information request had not been initiated by Edmonds. It was made quite separately by an American human rights group called the Liberty Coalition, acting on a tip-off it received from an anonymous correspondent.
The letter says: “You may wish to request pertinent audio tapes and documents under FOIA from the Department of Justice, FBI-HQ and the FBI Washington field office.”
It then makes a series of allegations about the contents of the file – many of which corroborate the information that Edmonds later made public.
Edmonds had told this newspaper that members of the Turkish political and diplomatic community in the US had been actively acquiring nuclear secrets. They often acted as a conduit, she said, for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s spy agency, because they attracted less suspicion.
She claimed corrupt government officials helped the network, and venues such as the American-Turkish Council (ATC) in Washington were used as drop-off points.
She claims that the FBI was also gathering evidence against senior Pentagon officials – including household names – who were aiding foreign agents.Edmonds has given testimony to closed sessions of congress, as well as the 9/11 Commission. Most of her testimony remains classified.“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.
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.A.Q. Khan, who ran Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, became a wealthy man selling secrets to rogue states, such as Iran, North Korea and Libya. He also utilized a network of companies in Britaiin and the United States to acquire components and materiel.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 Washington 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 2½ 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 Washington were in constant contact with attachés 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.
I have no special knowledge of Ms. Edmonds, nor her credibility, save what a 15 minute Google search reveals. What doesn't pop up if you Google "sibel edmonds" and "credibility" are a bunch of attacks against her character and her credibility. Instead you get Daniel Ellsberg and a hell of a lot of support.
And then there is all the independent corroboration. The IG finding in her favor. The CIA and FBI agents who peripherally supporting her claims.
What I do think is that there is enough "there" there to warrant a call to the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations committees Monday morning. She has made what appear to be credible charges. Charges which demand answers.
[The Times of London states that in researching the article, representatives of the Sunday Times talked to one current and one former FBI agents, as well as two retired CIA officers who worked on nuclear proliferation issues. While none of these sources were aware of specific allegations against the officials she named, they did provide peripheral corroboration of her claims. One of the CIA agents verified that Turkey had obtained American nuclear secrests, then shared that information with Israel and Pakistan. “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.]
