FBI whistleblower 'vindicated' over intelligence services failings: Says US Knew al-Qa'ida was planning to attack
/The credibility of Sibel Edmonds, the former FBI translator who claimed
that evidence gathered before 11 September revealed al-Qa'ida was
planning to attack America, was boosted yesterday by a report issued by
the US Justice Department. A report by the department's senior
oversight official, Glenn Fine, said that other accusations made by Mrs
Edmonds relating to poor standards in the FBI's translation department
and possible espionage, were supported by witnesses and other evidence.
The official said even today the FBI had not properly investigated the
claims. "We found that many of Edmonds' core allegations relating to
the [espionage allegation] were supported by either documentary
evidence or witnesses other than Edmonds," the report said. Last year
Mrs Edmonds, 34, a former contract linguist who had "Top Security"
clearance, revealed to The Independent that information she saw while
working at the FBI showed there was a substantial amount of evidence
gathered prior to 11 September that suggested al-Qa'ida was planning to
attack. Mrs Edmonds was fired from her job in March 2002 after she
complained to the FBI about shoddy wiretap translations and informed
them that an interpreter with a relative at a foreign embassy might
have compromised national security by blocking translations in some
cases and notifying some targets about US surveillance of them. [more]
- See "A Review of the FBI's Actions in Connection With Allegations Raised By Contract Linguist Sibel Edmonds," Unclassified Summary, January 2005. [more]
