Virginia (US):
Lawyers for a former CIA officer accused of leaking the names of covert operatives have told a judge that they will need to expose a wide array of government secrets to provide an adequate defence for their client at trial.
Court records unsealed at the federal court in Alexandria show that lawyers for former CIA officer John Kiriakou want to reveal details of the CIA's capture of Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah, further details about the life of one of the exposed covert operatives, information about alleged CIA discussions on the use of contractors to torture detainees and other classified information.
They also want to depose the journalists who allegedly received the leaks and show a jury emails detailing the CIA's unsuccessful requests to stop The New York Times from publishing an article that named one of the exposed operatives, an interrogator who questioned Zubaydah and September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
Prosecutors say the defence requests amount to "graymail," an attempt to dissuade the government from bringing Kiriakou to trial by threatening to expose even more classified information than what has already been revealed.
Mr Kiriakou was involved in the capture of Zubaydah, who was waterboarded. Mr Kiriakou publicly confirmed the waterboarding, wrote a book about his experiences at the agency and expressed conflicting opinions about the effectiveness of waterboarding.
Mr Kiriakou's comments were cited by both advocates and opponents in the national debate over whether waterboarding of high-value terrorist detainees is ever appropriate.
The judge in the case, Leonie Brinkema, has already rejected arguments by Kiriakou that he is a victim of vindictive prosecution, specifically that he was singled out for prosecution as retribution for public statements that portrayed the CIA in an unflattering light.
Mr Brinkema will decide what disclosures, if any, are necessary after balancing Kiriakou's trial rights against the government's secrecy interests. The judge can also craft an unclassified "substitution" that provides the gist of the information sought but lacks the details that require secrecy.
Kiriakou's lawyer, Robert Trout, declined to comment on Wednesday beyond what was publicly filed. In court papers, government prosecutors said the information the defence wants to disclose is in many cases irrelevant to the charges.
Court records unsealed at the federal court in Alexandria show that lawyers for former CIA officer John Kiriakou want to reveal details of the CIA's capture of Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah, further details about the life of one of the exposed covert operatives, information about alleged CIA discussions on the use of contractors to torture detainees and other classified information.
They also want to depose the journalists who allegedly received the leaks and show a jury emails detailing the CIA's unsuccessful requests to stop The New York Times from publishing an article that named one of the exposed operatives, an interrogator who questioned Zubaydah and September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
Prosecutors say the defence requests amount to "graymail," an attempt to dissuade the government from bringing Kiriakou to trial by threatening to expose even more classified information than what has already been revealed.
Mr Kiriakou was involved in the capture of Zubaydah, who was waterboarded. Mr Kiriakou publicly confirmed the waterboarding, wrote a book about his experiences at the agency and expressed conflicting opinions about the effectiveness of waterboarding.
Mr Kiriakou's comments were cited by both advocates and opponents in the national debate over whether waterboarding of high-value terrorist detainees is ever appropriate.
The judge in the case, Leonie Brinkema, has already rejected arguments by Kiriakou that he is a victim of vindictive prosecution, specifically that he was singled out for prosecution as retribution for public statements that portrayed the CIA in an unflattering light.
Mr Brinkema will decide what disclosures, if any, are necessary after balancing Kiriakou's trial rights against the government's secrecy interests. The judge can also craft an unclassified "substitution" that provides the gist of the information sought but lacks the details that require secrecy.
Kiriakou's lawyer, Robert Trout, declined to comment on Wednesday beyond what was publicly filed. In court papers, government prosecutors said the information the defence wants to disclose is in many cases irrelevant to the charges.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
