this is the story of jeffrey sterling, an accomplished ca, operations officer, an expert on iranian affairs. jeffrey also happens to be african american. he joined the cia in 1993 and after going through operational and farsi language training, he was sent overseas to work on hard targets. he handled some of the most difficult cases in the near eastern operations division, but in 2000 he was passed over for promotion. and his supervisor intimated the jeffrey could not have a plumb assignment that he had already been given. simply because he was black. he filed the racial discrimination lawsuit against the cia, but instead of giving him his original assignment apologizing or trying to settle things quietly, the cia used it's nuclear option. we'll walk you through that story and tell you about one of the most resilient whistleblowers we know. jeffrey sterling, welcome to the show. thanks so much for joining us. thank you for having me, jeffrey. you and i were at the cia at the same time. in that period in the 1990 s, the agency spent a great deal of time, energy and money focusing on the iran

you through that story and tell you about one of the most resilient whistleblowers we know. jeffrey sterling, welcome to the show. i thanks so much for joining us. thank you for having me, jeffrey. you and i were at the cia at the same time in that period in the 1900 ninety's, the agency spent a great deal of time, energy and money focusing on the iranian nuclear program. you were trained in iran operations and you even learned to speak farsi. you had success overseas and you were involved in an operation that the ca ended up blowing. you return to ca headquarters and you were up for both a promotion and for a plumb assignment. tell us what happened then, why did you not go back overseas? well, with regards to that iranian operation, but i was logged in, it was called operation merlin. and it was designed to run a nuclear program by giving them plan, given the iranians plans to a nuclear weapon, but the plan would have a flaw. so if your audience use the plans to make a nuclear weapon, it wouldn't work. and the theory being that it would set the program back a number of years. well, i was gi

and the latest episode of the whistle, blowers with john kerry our crew, former employee, jeffrey sterling, says his account of not getting promoted at the agency because of the color of his skin. and so insult to injury. instead of addressing his complaints, sterling was charged with allegations of espionage. ms. a preview and you can catch the entire episode. this is our asi. i want to ask you also about your racial discrimination lawsuit. what happened? there is a problem for every intelligence community employee who's been wronged. you had a legitimate lawsuit, but it was dismissed by the district court after the cia invoked to the state secrets privilege. you appealed to the federal court of appeals. but that court upheld the dismissal, saying, quote, there is no way for sterling to prove employment discrimination without exposing at least some classified details of the covered employment that gives context to his claim. on quote, the only purpose i had in line joining your ca and exposing law program was i was trying to serve my country. being accused of being a spy was horrible expe

[applause] srecko horvat: it is my great pleasure to announce the next speaker, jeffrey sterling, who is an american lawyer and former cia employee, who was arrested, charged and convicted of violating the espionage act. please, jeffrey, join the stage. [applause] jeffrey sterling: it is an absolute honor to be here today, here at the press club, where, years ago, my wife spoke on my behalf about the injustice that happened to me. i spent two-and-a-half years in prison after being wrongfully convicted -- on no evidence -- of violating the espionage act. it was a travesty of a trial. and that sentence was held up as a shining example of the reasonableness and fairness that julian assange will face being tried here for violating that same espionage act. i remain sickened to this day that my persecution was held up as the benchmark of what julian assange is going to face in trial here. of course, the benchmarks they did not talk about include my experience fighting against the espionage act, a biased criminal justice system and the realities of being behind bars here in the united states