NRO IG, CIA, suit
Allen Thomson
http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/11/09/Official_Says_CIA_Had_It_In_for_Him.ht
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Official Says CIA Had It In for Him
By RYAN ABBOTT
Monday, November 09, 2009Last Update: 9:02 AM PT
WASHINGTON (CN) - The former Inspector General of the National
Reconnaissance Office says senior officials in the CIA conspired to
leak damaging
information about him. Eric Feldman wants former CIA Inspector General
John Helgerson
prosecuted for violating the Privacy Act. He claims Helgerson and
others leaked biased
information from an internal investigation of Feldman's travel
expenses.
The investigation claimed Feldman had filed for the same travel
and lodging expenses
twice and accused him of wasting government funds, but in his federal
complaint, Feldman
says the lead investigator, CIA agent Anthony Cipparone, had a
personal vendetta against
him because Feldman had passed him over for his deputy assistant
position.
Feldman says Cipparone sent "numerous belligerent e-mails",
claiming that Feldman
had mistreated him. He claims Cipparone, Helgerson, and other CIA
officials leaked
information from the investigation to third parties, intending to hurt
his reputation and
remove him from the agency.
The investigation itself was classified to keep Feldman and his
attorneys from
reviewing it and formulating a defense, according to the complaint.
When the CIA finally
allowed Feldman and his attorneys to review the documents, they were
not allowed to
make copies, only to take notes, again, he says, in an effort to
destroy his defense.
Feldman says that while he and his attorneys were kept in the
dark, false rumors that
he was under criminal investigation for fraudulently filling out
expense forms circulated
through DC and the Senate, prompting Senator John Rockefeller to call
for his termination.
Feldman says he heard from numerous sources outside of the CIA
that he was being
investigated for fraud.
Feldman was removed from his position as Inspector General, but
still serves as senior
adviser to the director of the NRO. He wants the CIA agents who
impugned his
reputation prosecuted for Privacy Act, violations, and unspecified
monetary damages and
attorney fees. He is represented by Mark Zaid.