The U.S. Court of Appeals last week upheld the dismissal of FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds' case, despite a Justice Department report saying that Edmonds' whistleblower allegations were "the most significant factor" in the FBI's decision to terminate her.

Edmonds, a former Middle Eastern language specialist hired by the FBI shortly after 9/11, was fired in 2002 after repeatedly reporting serious security breaches and misconduct. Edmonds challenged her retaliatory dismissal by filing a federal lawsuit, but her case was dismissed last July after Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked the so-called "state secrets privilege" and retroactively classified briefings to Congress related to her case. The state secrets privilege has historically been rarely invoked, and even more rarely employed to dismiss an entire case at the outset. When properly invoked, it permits the government to block disclosure of evidence that would cause harm to national security. In the Edmonds case, however, the government used the privilege to urge dismissal of the entire lawsuit, insisting that every aspect of Edmonds' case involves state secrets - including where she was born and what languages she speaks.

"This decision endangers us all. If government employees cannot report security breaches without retaliation, then national security, and all Americans, suffer," said Ann Beeson, Associate Legal Director of the ACLU, who argued the case on behalf of Edmonds. "We are determined to take this case all the way to the Supreme Court."

Read more about the Edmonds case.

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