Ex-CIA Man Likely to Plead Guilty in Leak Case

Miamiherald.com
October 23, 2012
A former CIA officer accused of leaking the names of covert operatives to journalists is expected to enter a guilty plea as part of a plea deal.
A change of plea hearing was scheduled for Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., for John Kiriakou. He initially pleaded not guilty to the charges that he disclosed the names of two covert CIA operatives.
The apparent change comes shortly after Kiriakou lost a key pre-trial ruling that established a lower legal burden for prosecutors to prove their case.
Kiriakou’s lawyers had argued unsuccessfully that prosecutors should have to prove that Kirkiakou intended to harm the United States through his alleged leaks.
Such a strict legal standard had been imposed recently on a leaks prosecution against two pro-Israel lobbyists.
But U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled last week that such a high standard should not apply to Kiriakou, a government employee with top-secret security clearances who knew well the dangers of disclosing classified information.

Read Entire Article

http://theintelhub.com/2012/10/23/ex-cia-man-likely-to-plead-guilty-in-leak-case/