DO NOT let this become the headline.

As reported over the weekend, (here and here) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) whistleblower John Kiriakou is inches from being put in jail for allegedly "outing" a torturer. ("Outing" is in quotes because the allegations are not that Kiriakou told the public the torturer's name, just that Kiriakou allegedly confirmed the name and eventually Guantanamo victims of torture learned the name and defense attorneys put the name in a sealed court filing.)

One of EmptyWheel's two must-read pieces on the Kiriakou case over the weekend:

I flat out guarantee the import of that is the court put the brakes on the entire case as a result of an off the record joint request of the parties to facilitate immediate plea negotiation. As in they are doing it as you read this. . . . What I hear is the current offer is plead to IIPA [Intelligence Identities Protection Act] and two plus years prison. This for a man who has already been broken, and whose family has been crucified (Kiriakou’s wife also worked for the Agency, but has been terminated and had her security clearance revoked). Blood out of turnips is now what the “most transparent administration in history” demands.

The CIA panicked because the subjects of CIA torture were learning the identities of their torturers. DOJ did an investigation to see whether any crime had been committed, and determined it hadn’t. CIA then started politicizing that decision, which led to Fitzgerald’s appointment. Fitzgerald confirmed what DOJ originally determined: the defense attorneys committed no crime by researching who their clients’ torturers were. But along the way Fitzgerald gave the CIA a head–John Kiriakou’s–based partly on old investigations of him. And, surprise surprise, that head happens to belong to the only CIA officer who publicly broke the omerta about the torture program. This entire case was an attempt to punish someone to restore the omerta on CIA’s illegal activities.

EmptyWheel drilled down on what the Kiriakou case is really about - covering up the CIA's torture program:

Call Attorney General Holder (202) 514-2001) to express your displeasure at the Justice Department's protecting torturers and awarding investigators who decline to prosecute torturers while prosecuting whistleblowers.