Ken Dilanian – National Security Correspondent at Los Angeles Times
Past:
State Department Correspondent, Investigative Reporter, Congressional Correspondent at USA Today
Rome Correspondent, Investigative Reporter, Political Reporter at Philadelphia Inquirer – is the man who named a CIA officer in his report.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the Central Intelligence Agency has taken action against a high-ranking CIA official who has reportedly “created an abusive and hostile work environment.”
The Times confirmed that veteran officer (who we will not name in this report) was formerly the chief of Iran operations for the entire agency — has been placed on “administrative leave after an internal probe unearthed new allegations of mismanagement.”
The Times went ahead and named the CIA officer in question in violation of US law. We tried unsuccessfully to reach the reporter in this case, a man by the name of Ken Dilanian to ask him why he would knowingly violate US law in regard to naming the CIA officer – not surprisingly our emails and telephone calls went unanswered.
The Times claims it stands behind its reporter right to name the CIA officer?
According to the Times it named the officer after he was “outed” by a Pakistani press source who named him in a lawsuit against drone strikes in that country.
Which, frankly speaking is a lousy excuse, as far as I am concerned. Irregardless of how much of a “prick” this CIA employee was – the reporter should not have named him in the report. Not only does it place his life at risk, but his entire family.
The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 (Pub.L. 97–200, 50 U.S.C. §§ 421–426) is a United States federal law that makes it a federal crime for those with access to classified information, or those who systematically seek to identify and expose covert agents and have reason to believe that it will harm the foreign intelligence activities of the U.S.,to intentionally reveal the identity of an agent whom one knows to be in or recently in certain covert roles with a U.S. intelligence agency, unless the United States has publicly acknowledged or revealed the relationship.
The Times refused comment on that.
The CIA press office stubbornly refused comment in the matter of whether or not the reporter violated the Intelligence Identity Protection Act?
Former CIA officials have confirmed that the CIA veteran was in fact suspended last week following a meeting at agency headquarters in Northern Virginia that focused on his management style. The CIA however refused to confirm details surrounding the mans abusive management style. The CIA also refused to confirm if the officers was the top assistant to the head of the CIA’s operations arm — now known as the National Clandestine Service — from 1999 through 2004.
The officer apparently ran the Iran operations division, three sources told the Times, was in “open rebellion” because of officers management style. In addition several staffers from that unit have allegedly already asked to be sent elsewhere in the agency.
“Iran is one of most important targets, and the place was not functioning,” one former official told the Times.
How exactly the naming of a top CIA spy will affect the CIA secrecy or ongoing intelligence operations related to Iran is unknown.
See report: CIA suspends chief of Iran operations over workplace issues http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-cia-workplace-20140317,0,2858175.story#ixzz2wLlucNM5