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Fired CIA officer guilty of leaks to N.Y. Times reporter

Prosecutors decided not to call reporter James Risen as a witness even though they obtained a subpoena to get him to testify involuntarily.

By Frances Burns
The seal of the Central Intelligence Agency at its headquarters in Langley, Va. UPI File Photo/Dennis Brack/Pool
The seal of the Central Intelligence Agency at its headquarters in Langley, Va. UPI File Photo/Dennis Brack/Pool | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- A former CIA officer was convicted Monday of leaking information to New York Times reporter James Risen, allegedly because he was angry about being fired.

Jeffrey Sterling, 47, of O'Fallon, Mo., is to be sentenced April 24. He will remain out of prison on bail.

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Sterling had worked on a CIA initiative to slow down or stop Iran's nuclear program. Prosecutors said he gave the material to Risen for revenge after he was fired. Risen later used the material in his 2006 book, "State of War."

Sterling sued the agency claiming discrimination and got into a dispute with officials about publishing his own memoirs.

The Times decided not to publish Risen's information on the Iran program because officials in the administration of George W. Bush said that doing so would harm U.S. interests.

The U.S. Justice Department won a court fight to force Risen to testify under subpoena. But prosecutors eventually decided not to call the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, who had said he wold go to jail instead of taking the witness stand.

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Those who did testify included CIA officers who were shielded from view by a gray screen.

Prosecution and defense sparred over whether details in one chapter of Risenls book showed Sterling's hand at work. Prosecutors argued he was the only person who knew all the information, while Sterling's lawyers said some details occurred after Sterling was dismissed.

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