Ex-CIA Man Kiriakou Gets 2.5 Years for Leaks

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou was sentenced today to more than two years in prison by a federal judge who rejected arguments that he was acting as a whistleblower when he leaked a covert officer's name to a reporter. A plea deal required the judge to impose a sentence of 2 1/2 years. US District Judge Leonie Brinkema said she would have given Kiriakou much more time if she could.

Kiriakou, a 48-year-old Arlington resident, pleaded guilty last year to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. No one had been convicted under the law in 27 years. Prosecutors said Kiriakou leaked the name of a covert operative to a journalist, who subsequently disclosed it to an investigator working for the lawyer of a Guantanamo detainee. But supporters describe Kiriakou as a whistleblower; he was among the first CIA insiders to confirm that the agency had waterboarded detainees. (More John Kiriakou stories.)