“That [Mark] Zaid is involved in this case leads me to believe that the CIA whistleblower is either an idiot who has no idea what he’s gotten himself into or he’s been directed to make his ‘disclosure’.” Former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou “The CIA advised that on February 24, 2003, it was contacted by Mark Zaid and Roy Krieger. They told the CIA on February 24 that a client of theirs [Jeffrey Sterling] had contacted them on February 21, 2003, and that that client, that unnamed client at the time voiced his concerns about an operation that was nuclear in nature, and he threatened to go to the media.” Ashley Hunt — FBI witness at the Jeffrey Sterling trial “Because he just formed a new whistleblower group with John Napier Tye, there as been renewed interest in allegations an FBI Agent made during the Jeffrey Sterling case about attorney Mark Zaid. But there was actually a second detail regarding Zaid released just after the trial that has not been publicly reported: Zaid was interviewed by the FBI, twice, and was even interviewed before Sterling himself was.” Marcy Wheeler aka Emptywheel

In a piece posted on the Consortium News website, former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou points out that it is totally odd for the CIA “whistleblower” to have hired Mark Zaid. I could not agree more. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

Regarding the Jeffrey Sterling’s affair, Kiriakou writes:

“The second thing that interests me is the officer’s hiring of Mark Zaid to represent him, rather than one of more than a dozen A-list national security attorneys at three or four major law firms in Washington. Zaid is literally the worst possible choice for any whistleblower in national security. Zaid briefly represented CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling, who was accused of leaking classified information to The New York Times’ James Risen. But while the FBI was looking at three different people as Risen’s possible source, Zaid sent a letter to the FBI saying, “I think my client is guilty.” The FBI dropped the other two investigations and focused only on Sterling, who went to trial, consistently protested his innocence, was convicted, and spent three-and-a-half years in prison.”

Commenting on his own story, Kiriakou reminds you the following facts.

“Zaid briefly represented me in 2007, immediately after I blew the whistle. But I fired him after two weeks because he was impulsive, unnecessarily confrontational and untrustworthy. Four years later, he was representing Matthew Cole, the “journalist” who was secretly working for the Guantanamo defense attorneys, the man who ratted me out to the FBI, which led to my arrest and to two years in prison. Cole told the FBI that I was his source who told him the name of a CIA officer involved in the torture program. Not only did Zaid represent Cole, but both he and Cole testified against me in grand jury proceedings in 2012. How this man still has a law license is an utter mystery to me.”

Zaid despises all whistleblowers : Manning, Snowden and Assange

The readers of this blog are probably familiar with this issue. On March 8 2019, Chelsea Manning was jailed for refusing to testify before an investigation into WikiLeaks.

On that day, Mark Zaid tweeted:

“Nothing disgusting about this at all. Typical grand jury contempt process. Witnesses can’t refuse to testify unless invoking 5th Amendment protections. USGOVT should always pursue unlawful leaking of classified information.”

On the same day, I wrote:

“Over the last few years, several members of the US Intelligence Community — and I don’t mean two or three — have told me that Zaid has repeatedly betrayed his clients. Perhaps the most obvious case was Jeffrey Sterling. As of today, I no longer have any doubt that he did. I strongly advise all his clients to quickly find a more serious attorney before they discover the truth. And this warning includes all the people who are victims of the Havana Syndrome. Zaid will not expose the truth about what actually happened! I am CERTAIN of that.”

Indeed, how could anyone expect Zaid to represent the victims of the Havana Syndrome when he calls Snowden a Russian spy despite the facts that several documents revealed by Snowden offer the best chance to explain what actually happened to these diplomats?

Lockerbie

Zaid made his fortune while representing the US families of the Lockerbie victims.

Despite overwhelming evidence that Libya had nothing to do with this tragedy — even the CIA agrees with me for once — Zaid continues to defend the (idiotic) official truth!

Most Intel Today readers (91 %) believe that the Lockerbie verdict is a spectacular miscarriage of justice.

The SCCRC is currently reviewing the Lockerbie case and a decision is expected next year.

What is going on?

John Kiriakou offers us the following piece of advice.

“Well, if you really want to know what’s happening in this impeachment scandal, look closely at the peripheral players. That’s where the real story is.”

Choosing Mark Zaid was certainly not an intelligent choice. But it sure seems like an “Intelligence” choice.

REFERENCES

JOHN KIRIAKOU: What was this CIA Officer Thinking? — Consortium News

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