On 18 October 2002, the Washington Post published an Associate Press article on Sibel Edmonds' lawsuit titled "U.S. Seeks to Withhold Information on FBI." Excerpt:


Quote:

Citing national security concerns, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft is seeking to withhold sensitive information in response to a whistle-blower's allegations of security lapses in the FBI's translator program. In papers filed yesterday, Ashcroft asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to throw out a lawsuit against the Justice Department brought by Sibel Edmonds, a former contract linguist for the FBI. The Justice Department's inspector general is investigating whether the FBI retaliated against Edmonds, who was fired last spring and subjected to a security review after she raised allegations of security lapses. The bureau cited performance issues for the dismissal. The Associated Press reported in June that the whistle-blower's allegations range from shoddy transcriptions by unqualified translators to suggestions that one interpreter with a relative who works at a foreign embassy may have compromised national security. The translator program has played a significant role in interpreting interviews and intercepts relating to Osama bin Laden's network since the Sept. 11 attacks. In his filing, Ashcroft said he was applying the state secrets privilege "to protect the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States."

A DOJ press release on its invocation of the "state secrets privilege" may be read here:
 
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2002/October/02_ag_605.htm  
 
The DOJ's attempt to dismiss Sibel Edmonds' claim seems to have more to do with embarrassment avoidance and a flight from public accountability than with any genuine national security concerns.