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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact: Larry Siems, (212) 334-1660 ext. 105, lsiems@pen.org
Translator Fired from FBI for Blowing Whistle on Intelligence
Failures to Receive 2006 PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment
Award
New York, New York, March 29, 2006—PEN American Center has named Sibel
Edmonds, a translator who was fired from her job at the FBI after complaining
of intelligence failures and poor performance in her unit, as the recipient
of this year’s prestigious PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment
Award. Ms. Edmonds will receive the prize at PEN’s annual Gala on April
18, 2006 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Shortly after 9/11, Edmonds was hired as an FBI Language Specialist for
Turkish, Farsi and Azerbaijani. In her work, Edmonds discovered poorly
translated documents relevant to the 9-11 attacks and reported these to her
supervisors. She also expressed concerns about a co-worker’s relationship
with a foreign intelligence officer, and reported being told to work slowly
to give the appearance that her department was overworked, despite the large
backlog of documents needing translation. Edmonds followed all appropriate
procedures for registering her concerns. However, instead of acting on her
information, the FBI fired Edmonds in March 2002, claiming she had “committed
security violations and had disrupted the translation unit.”
In June 2002, two U.S. Senators wrote the FBI demanding information on
Edmond’s case, noting that many of her allegations had been confirmed by the
FBI in unclassified briefings to Congress. The following month, Edmonds filed
a lawsuit challenging the FBI’s retaliatory actions, but in July of 2004
Edmonds v. Department of Justice was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for
the District of Columbia after Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked “State
Secrets Privilege” to prevent any materials that supported her case from
becoming public. The Supreme Court has refused to hear her appeal.
In early 2004, an unclassified summary of the Justice Department's Inspector
General's report on Edmonds confirmed that many of her claims "were
supported, that the FBI did not take them seriously enough, and that her
allegations were, in fact, the most significant factor in the FBI's decision
to terminate her services." In February of that year, Edmonds testified
before the 9/11 Commission about problems at the FBI. Three months later, the
Justice Department retroactively classified Edmonds’ briefings to Senators
and the 9-11 Commission, as well the information the Senators had cited in
their letter to the FBI, and forced the Members of Congress who had
information about Edmonds’ case posted on their web sites to remove the
documents.
In addition to courageously pursuing her case, Edmonds founded the National
Security Whistleblowers Coalition in August 2004. The NSWBC organizes current
or former government employees who have been punished for exposing official
wrongdoing and advocates for legislation to protect the rights of National
Security whistleblowers.
In announcing the award today in New York, PEN Freedom to Write Program
Director Larry Siems praised Edmonds’ commitment to preserving the free flow
of information in the United States in a time of growing international
isolation and increasing government secrecy. “It is hard to think of a
position in public service more valuable to the nation in these turbulent
times than a language specialist who is engaged in making important
international information accessible to government officials and
policymakers,” said Siems. “Sibel Edmonds understood the importance of her
position and carried out her work with energy and honor – only to face
retaliation and dismissal. Unintimidated, she has fought to inform Congress
and the American people on the urgent need for better translation services in
areas vital to our national interests. PEN is proud to recognize her for her
work as a language specialist, her heroic efforts to improve our country’s
translation services, and her current efforts to organize and protect
government whistleblowers.”
Siems noted that this year’s PEN/Newman’s Own Award comes amid a
spate of news reports of government retaliation against employees who expose
wrongdoing or dissent from official policy. “Sibel Edmonds’ Kafkaesque ordeal
underscores how easily government powers, especially powers wielded in the
name of national security, can be abused to keep the public in the dark about
official failings. PEN is deeply troubled by Sibel Edmonds’ story and by the
growing number of reports of efforts by the administration to silence
government employees.”
This is the 14th anniversary of the PEN/Newman’s Own First
Amendment Award, which was established by actor Paul Newman and author A.
E. Hotchner to honor a U.S. resident who has fought courageously, despite
adversity, to safeguard the First Amendment right to freedom of expression as
it applies to the written word. The judges for the 2006 award were
author and Princeton University professor K. Anthony Appiah; Robert
Corn-Revere, Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP; Nan Graham, Editor-in-Chief
of Scribner, a Simon and Schuster Company; Judith Krug, Director, Office for
Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association; and acclaimed novelist
Roxana Robinson.
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