CIA Whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling Gets 42 Month Jail Sentence

The U.S. Department of Justice welcomed Monday the sentencing of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling to 42 months imprisonment.

A jury found Sterling guilty in January of leaking classified information about a CIA plot to disrupt Iran's nuclear program. Sterling disclosed information to a New York Times journalist in 2003 regarding a bungled CIA attempt to feed Iranian scientists flawed nuclear blueprints.

“In some cases, the jury gets it wrong,” said defense lawyer Barry Pollack.

“That said, the judge today got it right,” he added. The 42 month sentence was a far cry from the federal sentencing guidelines that called for a minimum 19 year prison term.

Yet the outcome was also harsher than that imposed on former CIA director David Petraeus in April. Petraeus was slapped with two years probation for leaking classified information to his biographer.

While the defense argued Sterling's sentence should be similar to that faced by Petraeus, U.S. district judge Leonie Brinkema stated Sterling should face a higher penalty for failing to plead guilty.

However, during sentencing Brinkema conceded the federal guidelines “are too high.”

Despite falling short of the guidelines, the sentence remains one of the highest penalties meted out under the Obama administration's spree of prosecutions targeting intelligence leakers under the Espionage Act of 1917. Since President Barack Obama took office, the Act has been used seven times to prosecute leakers – more than all previous administrations combined.

The administration has argued it is not specifically targeting whistleblowers, but critics have accused the government of trying to suppress embarrassing leaks.

While Sterling revealed details of a failed CIA plot against Iran, in 2011 former senior executive of the U.S. National Security Agency Thomas Drake plead guilty to a misdemeanor related to leaking classified information. Drake's supporters argue he was targeted for speaking out over embarrassing cost blowouts at the agency. Another high profile leaker prosecuted under the Obama administration was Chelsea Manning, who was hit with 35 years imprisonment for leaking documents including footage of U.S. troops massacring civilians in Baghdad.

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