WP: Official Faults FBI Probe Of Translator's Complaint

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10653-2005Jan14.html

Official Faults FBI Probe Of Translator's Complaint

By Dan Eggen

Washington Post Staff Writer

January 15, 2005

The FBI has yet to fully investigate a former bureau translator's allegations of a security breach, despite statements by other witnesses and documents that support her claims, the Justice Department's chief watchdog reported yesterday.

Inspector General Glenn A. Fine emphasized that his office did not reach any conclusions about the truthfulness of the claims made by Sibel Edmonds, and in fact found that some of them were not supported by the evidence.

But a 37-page unclassified summary of Fine's investigation also concluded that the FBI was lax in investigating Edmonds's allegations and that the bureau fired her as a contract employee in part because of her complaints.

"[H]ad the FBI performed a more careful investigation of Edmonds' allegations, it would have discovered significant omissions and inaccuracies by the co-worker related to these allegations," the summary said. "These omissions and inaccuracies, in turn, should have led to further investigation by the FBI."

The report is the latest salvo in the long-running battle between the FBI and Edmonds, whose case has attracted the attention of several U.S. senators and advocacy groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union.

In a statement provided by the ACLU, which is representing her in a lawsuit, Edmonds said: "After almost three years since my wrongful termination, the government is finally admitting that the FBI acted improperly by firing me, and also affirming that my reports of serious problems within the agency were based on fact. However, the FBI has yet to conduct a thorough investigation into these allegations."

The FBI said in a statement yesterday that it had already made management improvements to its Language Services Program in response to Fine's report and that an investigation into Edmonds's claims was continuing. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III has a "commitment to protecting from retaliation all employees," including contractors who are not covered by federal whistle-blower laws, the FBI said.

Edmonds, who worked as a translator at the FBI's Washington field office before and after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, sued the FBI over her March 2002 firing and is appealing dismissal of her case. She was born in Iran, raised in Turkey, and speaks Turkish, Farsi and Azerbaijani.

Edmonds has said the bureau retaliated against her after she alleged that a Turkish American co-worker had attempted to censor translations of wiretapped conversations, alerted some targets that they were under surveillance and attempted to recruit her into a group that was under investigation. Edmonds also accused the unit of shoddy translations and other shortcomings.

Attorney General John D. Ashcroft took the unusual step of invoking a state-secrets privilege to keep information secret in Edmonds's lawsuit. Justice officials also attempted to retroactively seal previously unclassified briefings for congressional staffers on the issue.

Fine's report reveals for the first time that Edmonds was fired for violating classified information rules by typing up one memorandum on her home computer. The report says Edmonds received permission from her supervisor to type the document at home. The report is a public summary of a 100-page classified review of Edmonds's case and does not provide details about all of her allegations or identify which ones have merit.

In addition to her complaints about the translation unit, Edmonds has more recently accused the FBI of missing warning signs of the Sept. 11 attacks. The independent commission that investigated the hijackings did not find evidence to support those allegations, commission sources have said.