This page/community is in support of the former CIA operative and government whistleblower Jeffrey Alexander Sterling. Sterling is a tired and convicted, albeit wrongly, of sharing official government documents with famed Investigative Journalist James Risen about a Central Intelligence Agency Operation Code Named Operation Merlin. federal government intercepted several interstate emails to and fr
om Sterling, which were "(...) routed through a server located in the Eastern District of Virginia (...)". The authorities also traced telephone calls between Sterling and—according to a senior government official[6]—the journalist and book author James Risen. In the intercepted communications, Sterling allegedly revealed national defense information to an unauthorized person.[13] In March 2003 Sterling also raised concerns with the Senate Intelligence Committee about a "poorly executed and dangerous Operation Merlin." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Alexander_Sterling
Mr. Sterling is being housed at a federal corrections facility in Colorado...
"On December 22, 2010, U.S. MacBride filed an indictment against Jeffrey Alexander Sterling on the Unlawful Retention and Unauthorized Disclosure of National Defense Information, Mail Fraud, Unauthorized Conveyance of Government Property, and Obstruction of Justice. Sterling was arrested on January 6, 2011.[13] Sterling became the fifth individual in the history of the United States who has been charged, under the Espionage Act, with mishandling national defense information.[8][19][20][21]
In a hearing at the U.S. District Court on January 14, 2011, Sterling's defense attorney, Edward MacMahon, entered a not guilty plea.[22][23] MacMahon reported to the court that he was still waiting for clearance to discuss the case in detail with his client.[24] Rather than relying exclusively on records of electronic communications to legally establish that Sterling exchanged information with Risen,[25] the prosecution has subpoenaed Risen to testify and reveal his journalistic sources,[26] an effort which Risen and his attorneys are contesting.[27][28]
Sterling was convicted of espionage charges on January 26, 2015. Sentencing was originally scheduled for April 24,[29] but after learning of the sentence of no more than two years’ probation plus a fine given one day earlier to David Petraeus for the felony of providing classified information to an unauthorized person, Sterling's lawyers submitted a plea that Sterling "not receive a different form of justice" than Petraeus, asking for a similarly lenient sentence instead of the 19 to 24 years imprisonment sought by the federal prosecutors.[30] On May 11, 2015, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema sentenced Sterling to 3½ years in prison. Judge Brinkema said there was "no more critical secret" than revealing the identity of a man working with the CIA, and that Sterling deserved a harsher penalty than other recent leakers because he had not pleaded guilty or admitted wrongdoing. The judge said she was moved by his accomplishments but needed to send a message to others: "If you do knowingly reveal these secrets, there's going to be a price to be paid." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Alexander_Sterling
