Life in Jail for a CIA Whisteblower, One Attempted Prison Terror Brawl at a Time

Life in Jail for a CIA Whisteblower, One Attempted Prison Terror Brawl at a Time

There have been six men indicted or convicted of leaking classified material during the Obama administration, according to ProPublica. Of those five, one, a former CIA agent named John Kiriakou, is currently serving a prison sentence. In a remarkable letter sent to the blog Firedoglake, Kiriakou describes life at a corrections facility in Loretto, Pennsylvania, where he'll be until 2015. This is what happens when the government catches a leaker.

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Last October, Kiriakou pled guilty to revealing the name of a former colleague to a freelance reporter who'd worked at ABC News and was sentenced to 30 months. The leak came during a period in which Kiriakou was transitioning his CIA experience into consulting and media opportunities, as the New Yorker detailed in April. Kiriakou eventually got a contract with ABC, but his interviews drew attention from the CIA and, eventually, the FBI.

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Before he left for Loretto in February, Kiriakou didn't seem fazed by his imminent incarceration, as reported by The Washington Post (and The New York Times). In part, this is because Kiriakou represents himself as "an anti-torture whistleblower and activist."

Kiriakou, 48, seemed unbowed and almost content at the prospect of prison as he basked in the well wishes of about 100 supporters, who gathered for a posh send-off at the luxury hotel. The guests wore orange jumpsuits and other mock prison garb and serenaded Kiriakou with a reworked version of the protest anthem “Have You Been to Jail for Justice?”

That contentment has faded. In his letter — which can be read in its entirety below — Kiriakou details life inside. Once he arrived at Loretto, which has both a work camp and a prison, Kiriakou was sent to the prison. As transcribed by Firedoglake:

My cell is more like a cubicle made out of concrete block. Built to hold four men, mine holds six. Most others hold eight. My cellmates include two Dominicans serving 24- and 20-year sentences for drugs, a Mexican serving 15 years for drugs, a Puerto Rican serving 7 ½ years for drug conspiracy, and the former auditor of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, [Ed. - Frank Russo] who’s doing a long sentence for corruption. They’re all decent guys and we actually enjoy each other’s company.

Kiriakou also explains, in flat terms, the differentiations made by race in the prison. (It's worth noting that the New Yorker's report on Kiriakou noted his predilection toward embellishment.)

Loretto has 1,369 prisoners. (I never call myself an “inmate.” I’m a prisoner.) About 50% are black, 30% are Hispanic, and 20% are white. Of the white prisoners, most are pedophiles with personal stories that would make you sick to your stomach. The rest of the whites prisoners are here for drugs, except for a dozen or so who ran Ponzi schemes. Of the 1,369 prisoners, 40 have college degrees and 6 of us have master’s degrees.

Those divisions play out during meals.

The cafeteria is very formally divided. There is a table for the whites with good paper[Ed. - Meaning, non-pedophiles.], a section of a table for the Native Americans, a section of a table for people belonging to a certain Italian-American stereotypical “subculture,” two tables for the Muslims, four tables for the pedophiles, and all the remaining tables for the blacks and Hispanics. We don’t all eat at the same time, but each table is more-or-less reserved as I’ve described.

Most interesting, however, is an incident in which Kiriakou claims prison administrators tried to incite a fight between him and a Muslim prisoner, apparently in an effort to send both to solitary confinement. Kiriakou, whose CIA work included recruiting agents in Athens and Pakistan, speaks Arabic and was able to build relationships with Muslim inmates.

I was ushered into the office of SIS, the Special Investigative Service. This is the prison version of every police department’s detective bureau. I saw on a desk a copy of my book, The Reluctant Spy, as well as DVD copies of all the documentaries I’ve been in. The CO showed me a picture of an Arab. “Do you know this guy,” he asked me. I responded that I had met him a day earlier, but our conversation was limited to “nice to meet you.” Well, the CO said, this was the uncle of the Times Square bomber, and after we had met, he called a number in Pakistan, reporting the meeting, and was told to kill me. I told the CO that I could kill the guy with my thumb. He’s about 5’4” and 125 pounds compared to my 6’1” and 250 pounds. The CO said they were looking to ship him out, so I should stay away from him. …

In the meantime, SIS told [the Muslim man] that I had made a call to Washington after we met, and that I had been instructed to kill him! We both laughed at the ham-handedness by which SIS tried to get us to attack each other. If we had, we would have spent the rest of our sentences in the SHU – solitary. Instead, we’re friendly, we exchange greetings in Arabic and English, and we chat.

It's this story that sets Kiriakou's description of life in prison apart from those that are readily familiar to consumers of reality prison shows or realistic movies. After pleading guilty to revealing state secrets, his life isn't vastly different than that of a local elected official convicted of fraud. And, for what it's worth, his sentence is far shorter.

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Secret Service: Letter to White House intercepted

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Secret Service said Thursday that a suspicious letter addressed to President Barack Obama and similar to ricin-laced ones sent to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been intercepted by a White House mail screening facility.

The letter has been turned over to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force for testing and investigation.

It was unclear precisely how the letter, which was intercepted Wednesday by the White House facility, was similar to letters laced with the poison ricin and addressed to Bloomberg. The screening facility is located away from the White House complex.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday that Obama was aware of the letter addressed to him.

Two threatening letters postmarked in Louisiana and containing traces of the deadly poison ricin were sent to Bloomberg in New York and to his gun-control group in Washington, officials said.

The anonymous letters were opened in New York last Friday at the city's mail facility in Manhattan and in Washington on Sunday at an office used by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the nonprofit started by Bloomberg, police said Wednesday.

Police said preliminary testing indicated the presence of ricin in both letters involving Bloomberg, but that more testing would be done. New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the letters contained threats, references to the debate on gun laws and an oily pinkish-orange substance.

Last month, authorities in Washington intercepted a letter addressed to Obama that was found after testing to contain ricin. The letter was similar to one mailed to Mississippi Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, which also tested positive for ricin.

Federal authorities last month arrested a Mississippi man suspected of sending the ricin-laced letters to Obama, Wicker and a Mississippi judge.

Man accused of killing UK soldier appears in court

A police van believed to be transporting 22-year-old Michael Adebowale, a suspect in the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby, arrives at Westminster Magistrates Court in central London, Thursday, May 30, 2013. Two men attacked and killed the off-duty soldier in broad daylight, in southeast London's Woolwich area on Wednesday, May 22. They were shot by police and arrested on suspicion of murder. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

LONDON (AP) — A prime suspect in the vicious slaying of a British soldier sat handcuffed in court Thursday, given permission not to stand up before a judge because of wounds sustained when he was shot by police.

Michael Adebowale, 22, confirmed his name, address and date of birth as the investigation into the shocking killing entered its courtroom phase.

He is one of two men suspected of attacking Lee Rigby near a military barracks in southeast London. The other suspect, 28-year-old Michael Adebolajo, remains hospitalized and has not been charged. He is likely to be charged once he has recovered enough to be released from hospital.

The attack on Rigby by two men wielding knives and meat cleavers has aggravated tensions in Britain, especially since Adebolajo — carrying bloody weapons — invited onlookers to film him after the killing as he ranted about the British government's presence in Muslim lands. There has been a surge in anti-Muslim protests and attacks on mosques since the killing, and far-right groups have mobilized.

London police on Thursday barred a planned march by the far-right British National Party from the scene of the attack to a nearby Islamic center because of the threat of "serious disorder." Police said Saturday's demonstration would be held in central London instead.

The al-Qaida-linked magazine Inspire, meanwhile, expressed support for the soldier's slaying. In a recently released issue, the magazine said it and other "lone-wolf" attacks were a response to Western "governments' invasion of Muslim lands, occupations, aggression and oppression."

Security was extremely tight for Adebowale's first court appearance. He is scheduled to be back in court Monday for another hearing and remains in custody.

Adebowale was charged late Wednesday night, two days after he was released from hospital. He was also charged with threatening people with a revolver, police said.

Autopsy results made public Wednesday indicated that Rigby, 25, was first struck by a car and then attacked. He died of multiple stab wounds, the report said.

Both suspects were shot by police who arrived on the scene minutes after the attack on the soldier. Video showed two suspects rushing a police car that arrived on the scene, then being shot by police and given first aid on the ground.

British authorities are facing questions about their failure to stop Rigby's killing, since the two suspects were on authorities' radar from previous counter-terrorism investigations.

Kenyan police have said they believed Adebolajo, a British citizen, had associated with a radical Kenyan Muslim cleric who tried to help him join an al-Qaida-linked rebel group in neighboring Somalia.

Adebolajo was arrested with five other young men in November 2010 near the Kenya-Somalia border and eventually returned to Britain, police in Kenya said.

A Kenyan lawyer said Thursday that British diplomats had recommended that Adebolajo be freed.

Wycliffe Makasembo who represented Adebolajo when he was arrested in Kenya on Nov. 21, 2010, said a letter from the British High Commission in Nairobi recommended that he be released since there was no tangible evidence to link him to a crime.

Makasembo said he saw the letter in court, although a reporter could not find it in court records this week.

Britain's Home Office, charged with managing Britain's borders and internal security, confirmed Thursday that the Greenwich area of south London, which includes the attack site in Woolwich, was deemed in a 2011 government review to be at a low risk of extremist activity and so did not receive anti-terror funding under a government program called Prevent.

This designation was reversed a year later, meaning anti-terror projects there could again be funded, but no proposals for the area were approved. Before 2011, the funding was used to bring young people into contact with Muslim soldiers and other veterans. Other funded programs encouraged sports, art and discussion programs.

The Prevent plan, part of a broader anti-terror strategy run by the Home Office, depends in part on the belief that "radicalization and recruitment can be identified and then provided with support" that keeps vulnerable individuals from embracing militant viewpoints, its website states.

The goal is to intervene and halt the radicalization process before a crime is committed.

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Associated Press Writer Tom Odula in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report.

Israel to build 300 units in Jewish settlement

A Christian clergyman stands inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed to be the burial site of Jesus Christ, in Jerusalem's Old City, Thursday, May 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

A Christian woman holds a candle inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed to be the burial site of Jesus Christ, in Jerusalem's Old City, Thursday, May 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's Housing Ministry said Thursday it has given the final go-ahead for the construction of 300 new homes in aJewish settlement in east Jerusalem, complicating the mission of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to renew Mideast peace talks.

The announcement came less than a week after Kerry urged Israel to avoid "provocative" actions during a visit to the region. A U.S. State Department spokeswoman described the move as "counterproductive."

Palestinian officials immediately accused Israel of undermining the U.S. mediation efforts.

The issue of Jewish settlements has been at the heart of a nearly five-year impasse in peace efforts. Negotiations broke down in late 2008 and have remained stalled since then.

The Palestinians say they will not return to negotiations until Israel stops building settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas they claim for a future state. Israel, which captured both areas in the 1967 Mideast war, says talks should resume without any conditions.

Israel has tried to differentiate between settlements in the West Bank, which is not part of Israel, and east Jerusalem, which it annexed and claims as part of its capital. But the international community, including the U.S., does not recognize the annexation and considers both territories to be occupied.

Housing Ministry spokesman Ariel Rosenberg said the latest construction, in the Ramot area of east Jerusalem, was approved by the government long ago but in recent days, the ministry accepted a bid by a company to build the 300 housing units. He said the ministry had solicited the bids last year. Construction is expected to begin within a few months.

Ramot is a sprawling development that lies mostly in territory Israel seized in 1967. Israel considers it a neighborhood of its capital.

More than 500,000 Israelis now live in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians say continued construction is a sign of bad faith and makes it increasingly difficult to partition the land between Israel and a future Palestinian state.

Palestinian official Saeb Erekat described the construction plans as "systematic destruction" of Kerry's efforts by Israeli hardliners. The Housing Ministry is headed by the "Jewish Home," a hardline party with close ties to the Jewish settler movement.

"They are settlers, working for settlers," Erekat said.

Government spokesman Ofir Gendelman accused Palestinians of making excuses to avoid peace talks.

"It is a tactic to avoid negotiations," Gendelman said. "We are calling on Palestinians to return to direct negotiations immediately in order to discuss all outstanding issues," he said.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki chided Israel for the move.

"Israelis must recognize that continued construction in East Jerusalem is counterproductive to the cause of peace and that an independent Palestine must be viable, with real borders that have to be drawn," she said.

"We're at a pivotal time," Psaki told reporters. "We need to focus on each side making tough choices in order to move a process or the possibility of negotiations forward. And that's what our focus is on."

Aides to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas say Kerry hopes to present a formal plan to resume long-stalled negotiations in coming weeks.

During his visit last week, Kerry said it was impossible to expect Israel to halt all settlement construction. But he urged restraint and called on both sides to avoid any moves that could undermine his efforts.

Since taking office early this year, Kerry has devoted significant efforts to restarting peace talks. He has visited the region four times, most recently last week, in search of a formula acceptable to both sides.

Abbas' aides said the president was under pressure to accept some construction in Jewish settlements in blocs, particularly in those expected to lie on the Israeli side of a future border.

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Associated Press writer Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.

Ex-Cop Who Wanted 'Suicide By Cop' Killed By Police Barrage

Heavily-armed U.S. Marshals and Pennsylvania state police opened fire on a wanted ex-cop on the run for attempted murder, breaking open a hotel room door and firing 52 shots as the man stood in the corner holding a handgun.

Four officers toting an AR-15 rifle, a sub machine gun, and handguns burst into the room Tuesday where Anthony Galla, 31, was waiting with a handgun pointed at them and hundreds of rounds of ammunition stored around him, according to Mike Chitwood, superintendent of police in Upper Darby, Pa., where the shooting occurred.

Galla had attempted to shoot and kill his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend earlier in the day in northern Pennsylvania, police said.

After Galla broke into his former girlfriend's house, he fired seven shots at the new boyfriend, striking him once in the foot, fracturing multiple bones. Galla then fled, and police issued a statewide alert notifying authorities that Galla, who was a former police officer and had military training, was armed and dangerous.

Authorities believed that Galla had an AR-15 rifle and .40 caliber Glock handgun.

"Galla had stated that to take him down it would have to be a suicide by cops or be taken down by shooting," said Chitwood. "That information was broadcast statewide and the U.S. Marshals state task force took up the hunt for Galla."

The hunt led swarms of officers to the Summitt Inn Hotel in Upper Darby, where police surveilled Galla with two other individuals. Eventually they entered the hotel, and a man coming down the stairs saw the police officers and took off running, yelling "I'm not Anthony, I'm not Anthony," Chitwood said.

They later identified the man as Galla's brother, who told police he had been trying to get Galla to surrender.

Three U.S. Marshals and one Pennsylvania state trooper then entered the hotel room and opened fire on Galla for about 10 seconds, Chitwood said. Galla died at the scene. Chitwood said the officers fired 52 rounds at Galla, but did not know how many times he had been hit by bullets.

In the hotel room and Galla's rental car parked outside cops found hundreds of rounds of ammunition, including 120 rounds for an AR-15 rifle, as well as ammunition for a .40 caliber Glock handgun, a bullet proof vest, and a smoke grenade or tear gas grenade like the type used in tactical implementations, Chitwood said.

"It's more difficult to buy a cheesesteak than it is to buy a gun," Chitwood said. "This guy was ready for war. This was his last stand type of thing."

Chitwood said that the investigation, which is still ongoing, found that Galla had cleaned out his bank account before the attempted homicide. He was dressed in military-style camouflage when he was killed in the hotel room.

He had worked in several different police departments but not for long periods of time, Chitwood said. Galla lived in Lebanon County, Pa.

"I thought the shooting was a good shooting," Chitwood said."If Galla had access to this AR-15 and all that ammunition he could have cause significant damage. He wanted to die."