John Kiriakov has become the first Central Intelligence Agency officer to be sentenced to be imprisoned for disclosing classified information to the news media. He has been convicted of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act when he leaked the name of another CIA agent who had been involved with the brutal detainment and interrogation of detainees by the CIA under President George Bush Jr.
“This case is not a case about a whistle-blower; this is a case about a man who betrayed a solemn trust,” U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who sentenced Kiriakov, said bluntly at the sentencing. “I think 30 months is frankly way too light.”
Kiriakov received the 30 month sentence through a plea agreement that was reached with the prosecution. According to a Justice Department spokesman, he plead guilty to one count of disclosing an agent’s identity in October and his jail time will be followed by three years of supervised release.
The investigation was triggered when lawyers for suspected terrorists filed a legal brief that included details not provided by the government. Those details were eventually traced back to Kiriakov. According to the prosecution, Kiriakov leaked the name of a covert CIA agent to a journalist, who subsequently disclosed it to a researcher working for the lawyer of a Guantanamo detainee.
