john kiriakou's admitted to a single count of revealing the identity of a covert officer under a pleadeal that saw prosecutors drop charges brought under the espionage act. kiriakou's the first cia official to publicly confirm and detail the bush administration's torture program, describing the waterboarding about cut operative abuses by that in a 2007 interview with abc news. he also is the first cia official to be jailed for any reason related to the torture, even those who carried it out. outside the courthouse, prosecutor neil macbride called kiriakou's sentence a warning to other whistleblowers. >> the judge just said in court, today sentence should be a reminder to every individual who works for the government who comes into possession of closely held sensitive information regarding the national defense or the identity of a covert agent that it is critical that information remains secure and not into the public domain are be shared with others who do not have authorized access to it. >> the judge in the case told kiriakou she would have sentenced him to more jail time if not for

john kiriakou, what are you going to jail?xplain the peace deaplea did ye with the government. >> first of all, thank you for the opportunity to explain. i am going to prison ostensibly for violating the intelligence identities protection act of 1982. i believe and my supporters believe this was not a case about leaking, but torture. i believe i'm going to prison because i blew the whistle on torture. i have been a thorn in the side of cia since that interview in 2007, in which i said waterboarding was torture and was official u.s. government policy. i think finally the justice department caught up with me. >> jesselyn radack, let me bring you into the conversation to explain what the intelligence attendees protection act is. your client, john kiriakou, it has been invoked in his case for the first time in 27 years? >> that is correct. in fact, there have only been to the convictions under the intelligence identities protection act, which was enacted to prevent cases like philip agee, not things like john kiriakou. it was to p

john kiriakou former cia agent and anti torture whistleblower may never see him self in the national portrait gallery but he was celebrated in a different kind of ceremony when state evening the portrait is the newest edition in the americans who tell the truth series by artist robert shirley one of the things that we believe in in this country it's in our constitution and in our legal structure is that we don't torture and that's why i paid it john kiriakou human rights activists legal scholars and other supporters turned out for the celebration sponsored by the government accountability project one of those in attendance was bruce fein a top justice department official under reagan we should care because of what it says about us a civilized people doesn't torture anybody period no matter what the conceivable so-called benefits could be this celebration took place just before kiriakou sentencing on friday where he faces thirty months in prison kiriakou first stepped into the public light in two thousand and seven when he first spoke out about waterboarding as a result of waterboardi

hero by human rights advocates classified of villain by the government now cia whistleblower john kiriakou sits down with our stay tuned for an interview you won't want to miss. and the u.s. economy takes a sharp turn down word in the fourth quarter of two thousand and twelve but was the previous quarter a successful what coming up party looks at accusations the bureau of labor statistics manipulated economic data to benefit president obama's reelection campaign the question is were you right or wrong that you're pretty straightforward question well i would i would like to answer with you right or wrong then you are free to elaborate just a small piece of a very heated hearing chuck hagel is going on the defense on capitol hill today as one congress member after another take shots at his readiness to lead the defense department a look at this war of words coming up. thursday january thirty first i'm liz wall here in washington d.c. and you're watching r t we begin today taking a look at whistleblowers in america former cia agent john kiriakou was sentenced to thirty months in prison just a

while they are so few month sentence that's being talked about as part of a john kiriakou is plea deal but the judge could still refuse to settle that meaning that they could potentially be more jail time let's get details on this now and speak to ray mcgovern former cia officer now joining us here live on a pleasure to see you today sir the man we're talking about says he's being punished not for what he did but for who he is what are your thoughts here as well it's mostly for what he said. he's being punished out of range hypocrisy. look at the chronology here in two thousand and seven john kiriakou came out very loudly against torture as being not worthy of the united states and not efficient not a way to get information less than a year later two lawyers confirm that one's name would be obama and the others name was holder obama having become president eric holder another lawyer having become attorney general they shed order boarding is torture torture is illegal what happened well nothing happened to the torturers what is happening here is to the person who happened to agree with

the cia veteran the former chief of counterterrorism operations in pakistan john kiriakou will spendthirty months in prison for leaking the identity of an agent but before he was prosecuted mystically the akwa had been actively speaking out against torture and now he and his supporters believe that he was prosecuted for coming clean over torture practices in the cia it started with an investigation into how military defense attorneys at guantanamo bay obtained the names and photographs of cia personnel authorities eventually tracked one name back to a reporter who had spoken to mr good apple rather than risk a far longer prison term and because he could no longer afford his legal fees and stick it out when a covert agreed to plead guilty to one of the five charges against him violating the intelligence identities protection act by e-mailing the name of a covert cia officer to a freelance reporter who never even published it there's something very disturbing about this case had john kiriakou actually engaged in torture he wouldn't be in any trouble at all he never even would have been

the thirty eight month sentence that's being talked about is part of john kiriakou his plea deal but the judge could still refuse to settle for that meaning he could potentially face far greater jail time that's why the accusations themselves cia officer ram a governor believes them to be purely political. he's being punished out of range hypocrisy. look at the chronology here in two thousand and seven john kiriakou came out very loudly against torture as being not worthy of the united states and not efficient not a way to get information less than a year later two lawyers confirmed that one's name was obama through the others name was holder obama having become president they said waterboarding is torture torture is illegal what happened well the instructions were to get people to confess confess to what confessed to the existence of weapons of mass destruction in iraq confess to the existence of operational ties between al qaeda and saddam hussein it was all a crock they had to make this stuff up and you can't get real flyable information from torture but you know what torture work

to much more time behind bars than the relatively light sentence received kiriakou was also one of the first cia insiders to confirm reports that the agency used torture tactics like waterboarding in order to extract information from detainees now at an event honoring him curiosity was quick to point out the hypocrisy of prosecuting the whistleblower and not the people who actually performed the enhanced terror gay sions. i never tortured anybody but i got into prison while the tortures of the lawyers people who were and the people who deceived and the man who destroyed the proof of the tapes will never see justice no date has been set yet for when john kiriakou will report to present to begin his sentence. well we've told you before about the sting ray technology that the government and select law enforcement agencies are using to track people's locations based on their cell phones and that technology was only supposed to be used to monitor people that are expected of terrorist activities or suspected rather but it turns out that the los angeles police department has started using it

who is the drone daddy and who have lived approved a lot of the torture techniques on which john kiriakou blew the whistle john brennan is now nominated to head the cia so to me that clear cut find of what will get you promoted and then stay within the cia and what will get you thrown in jail just talk about it's just that i mean what does that say about a society about a country that we award applaud people who are committing these horrific acts i mean overseeing the assassination program completely without due process drone wars i mean we're putting them at top levels of these cabinets and then we're persecuting prosecuting and arresting those who are simply speaking out it's unbelievable it is. what's going on and to have people i mean think about it john you who wrote the memo the memos justifying torture he's a tenured professor berkeley jay bybee who also wrote this memo this is a federal judge everybody who has been involved in these very controversial programs from torture warrantless wiretapping they've all been promoted and enjoy very high levels of power from the bush administr

today kiriakou was a former government official who leaked information about torture to the new york times and was subsequently sentenced to two years in prison today the judge from the kiriakou trial was actually cited as relevant precedent in a ruling on a motion to preclude evidence a lot of stuff going on here and we will of course bring it all to you as the story continues to develop well that's going to do it for us for now but for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r.t. america or check out our web site r t dot com slash usa and you can always follow me on twitter i'm at christine.

all right starting off this hour after a long and tedious trial process former cia official john kiriakou was sentenced today to two and a half years in federal prison last october the forty eight year old pled guilty to violating the intelligence identities protection act by leaking the name of a covert fish official to reporters something the u.s. district judge lynn a bird kemah says was not a form of whistleblowing however curiosity was best known for being one of the first cia insiders to confirm reports that the agency used torture tactics like waterboarding in order to extract information from detainees a claim that was later verified and went on to the political rhetoric in the u.s. for years to come now at an event honoring him kiriakou was quick to point out the hypocrisy of prosecuting the whistleblower and not the people who actually perform these enhanced interrogations. they were tortured anybody but i got into prison while the tortures of the lawyers people who root and the people who deceived and the man who destroyed the proof of the tapes will never see justice no date h

as well today kiriakou was a former government official who leaked information about torture to the new york times and was sentenced to two years in prison today the judge from the kiriakou trial was cited as a relevant precedent in a ruling on a motion to preclude evidence we do want to bring you as much of the story as we can and will continue to do so as it develops but for now that's going to do it but for more on the stories we cover to go to youtube dot com slash america you should also check out our website our team dot com slash usa and if you're not already follow me on twitter at christine for sell. another reason they use the ball much more than a priority picking up a book or look at president obama's second term derby even bill would be even more invasions of our privacy even and monday january twenty first of the year to them and well like the president only on a.

no date has been set yet as to when john kiriakou report to the president to begin his two and a half year sentence. well we've told you before about the sting ray technology that the government and select law enforcement agencies are using to track people's locations based on their cell phones that technology was only supposed to be used to monitor people suspected of terrorist activities but it turns out the los angeles police department has started using it in criminal investigations as well things like burglary drugs and murder investigations to name a few most importantly the l.a.p.d. does not need the court's order or the cell phone providers approval in order to use the device they don't even have to explain how the technology works or what information it is capable of gathering for more on the latest developments coming out of l.a. r.t. correspondent ramon glendower joined me earlier today i first asked him how many times the l.a.p.d. employed this device in routine criminal investigations new or newly obtained newly released records show that the l.a.p.d. has used this sting

counterterrorist operations in pakistan so expected to be sentenced to thirty months in jail john kiriakou was found guilty of leaking classified information to a reporter he first became known to the public in two thousand and seven when he was the first government official to admit waterboarding was torture earlier this week kiriakou explained exactly what it is that's driving him. i've never gained anything through what i've said publicly so i lost everything and i believe i was prosecuted not for what i did but for who i am a cia officer. who said george was wrong and ineffective and went against the grain i'm not naive i know that national security and intelligence and counterterrorism agree is a very tough arena i knew that there was a risk to what i was doing. but i also know that to be seeing another person and serializing human rights abuses under a legal paper is not the american way and it's not something that as americans we should be engaged in we are not a lowest common denominator country measuring what is right by what others do and the american way stands for something and

that he was acting as a whistleblower when he leaked a covert agents name to a reporter by e-mail kiriakouo retired from the cia and four and was on the outspoken about the use of secret interrogations and waterboarding by the us you could have been said in state years in prison had he not secured a deal with prosecutors of author and activist siebel edmonds just leaves insiders will still be targeted and punished for taking a stand as long as some u.s. authorities continue covering up wrongdoing like that to which we do see this type of witch hunt action against those who leak information that exposes either government criminality or government waste fraud abuse so this is elective behind he has had a c.e.o. case where was the boards have been successful by pursuing bill so-called channels bringing remedies almost lucian's that these very beat problems are wrongdoings so when you have no channels there is only one option and that is to hate getting information put it before the public whether it's through west life such as we all are partly citizens journalists that's the you know mainstr

and at his coming here live from moscow former cia officer john kiriakou has been sentenced to two and a half years behind bars for leaking classified intelligence and supporters of called for the sentence to be reduced saying the real reason behind the punishment was simply him going public against washington's torture tactics but a federal judge rejected arguments he was acting as a whistleblower when he leaked a covert agents name to a reporter by e-mail kiriakou cia veteran retired in two thousand and four was a rather outspoken about the use of secret interrogations under waterboarding by the u.s. he could have been sentenced to eight years in prison and he not secured a plea deal with prosecutors author and activist sibel edmonds believes insiders will be targeted and punished for making a stand as long as u.s. authorities continue to cover up the wrong. we do see this type of witch hunt action against those who leak information that exposes either government criminality or government waste fraud abuse so this is a selective behind he has had a single case where was the glorious

is coming to you live from moscow with a former cia officer john kiriakou he's been sentenced to two and a half years behind bars for leaking classified intelligence his supporters of called for a sentence to be reduced saying the real reason for his punishment was because he went public on washington's torture tactics artie's guy nature kind of reports. the cia veteran the former chief of counterterrorism operations in pakistan john kiriakou will spend thirty months in prison for leaking the identity of an agent but before he was prosecuted mr kitty affleck had been actively speaking out against torture and now he and his supporters believe that he was prosecuted for coming clean over torture practices in the cia it started with an investigation into how military defense attorneys acquired tunnel bay obtained the names and photographs of cia personnel as ortiz eventually tracked one name back to a reporter who had spoken to mr. rather than risk a far longer prison term and because he could no longer afford his legal fees and stick it out when a cobra agreed to plead guilty to one of

former cia officer john kiriakou has been sentenced to enough years behind bars for leaking classifiedata and supporters of call for the said this to be reducing the real reason behind the punishment was him going public with washington torture tactics but a federal judge rejected arguments that he was acting as a whistleblower when he leaked a covert agents name to a reporter by e-mail kiriakou retired from the agency in zero four and was an outspoken about the use of secret interrogations and waterboarding by the u.s. he could have been sentenced to eight years behind bars had he not scored a plea deal with prosecutors author and activist seeable edmonds though since insiders will be targeted and punished for taking a stand as long as u.s. authorities continue to cover up wrongdoing. like picture day we see this type of witch hunt action against those who leak information that exposes either government criminality or government waste fraud abuse so this is a selective behind he has had a c.e.o. case where was the boards have been successful by pursuing bill so-called channels bringin

so kiriakou supporters praised him for exposing the extent of the cia's use of torture in prisons and answers to north civil admin says the u.s. classifies too much data sometimes to cover up wrongdoing and that means insiders making a stand or keep going to trail we do see this type of witch hunt action against those who leave you formation that exposes either government criminality or government waste fraud abuse so this is a selective behind we haven't had a single case where whistleblowers have been successful by pursuing dogs so-called channels bringing remedies or solutions to these very big problems wrongdoings so when you have no channels there is only one option and that is to get information and put it before the public whether it's through our website such as with you leaks or partly citizens journalists you know mainstream media. as the extension of the government here in the united states there are other channels to go to and the public has their right to know and they give back is a very important point the public and i'm not talking about only people here in the united

he was working for the defense. >> john kiriakou, thank you very much.d to have you here. >> thanks for having me. >>> we want to go outside and have a check of the weather from al. >> thanks, savannah. northern australia is getting huge amounts of rain, causing massive flooding. check it out as this car tries to pass the bus, seafoam covering the car. it distracts the officers. they don't see the car until the last moment. a tragedy averted as that car comes out of the seafoam. as far as your weather today is concerned, we've got this mess. temperatures will be reaching out into the upper 70s aheadative cold front that's going to be bringing temperatures back down into kansas city, dallas, 78. 77 in houston. afternoon temperatures, 20s up into new england, northern plains, rockies looking at a big snow storm. temperatures there in the teens and 20s as well. that's what's going on around w >> good morning. we will start out with light snow, sleet, and freezing rain. minor ice accumulations are possible. >> and that's your latest weather. savannah? >> al,

a former cia analyst and senior investigator for the senate foreign relations committee john kiriakou and while he isn't the only whistleblower charged out of this administration his story is particularly unique if he actually left his position at the cia in two thousand and four three years later when waterboarding was becoming a point of contention he was put to the media circuit as a commentator eventually to disclose the name of the covert cia officer to a freelance reporter simply wanted to help the journalist find a good source a little did he know that's the formation would cost him his career just last week he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison as part of a plea deal and he now stands as the first cia officer to be convicted under the espionage act an extremely archaic piece of world war one legislation now because of the legal proceedings has been silent and unable to speak to the media not even more in fact he's here right now to talk to me about his personal case torture and the crusade against whistleblowers in this country john thank you so much for coming so

torture whistleblower and agency outcast is now awaiting a summons to start a prison sentence john kiriakou was one of the first to confirm the existence of washington's controversial waterboarding program that's been sent to jail for two and a half years for revealing the name of an undercover agent we're talking with r.t. himself said his true crime was speaking out against the government. first of all my case was not about leaking my case was about torture when i blew the whistle on torture in december of two thousand and seven the justice to department here in the united states began investigating me and never stopped investigating me until they were able to patch together. charge and force me into taking a plea agreement and i'll add another thing to when i took the plea in october of last year the judge said that she thought the plea was was fair and appropriate but once the courtroom was packed full of reporters last friday she decided that it was not long enough and if she had had the ability to she would have given me ten years in this post nine eleven atmosphere that we find ourse

torture whistleblowing agency outcasts is now awaiting a summons to start a prison sentence john kiriakou was one of the first to confirm the existence of washington's waterboarding program and has been sent to jail for two and a half years for revealing the name of an undercover agent speaking to r.t. he himself said his sheer crime of speaking against the government first of all my case was not about leaking like case was about torture when i blew the whistle on torture in december of two thousand and seven the justice to department here in the united states began investigating me and never stopped investigating me until they were able to patch together. charge and force me into taking a plea agreement and i'll add another thing to when i took the plea in october of last year the judge said that she thought the plea was was fair and appropriate but once the courtroom was packed full of reporters last friday she decided that it was not long enough and if she had had the ability to she would have given me ten years you have called it ironic that the first person to be convicted with regar