recruiting sibel

CI, responding to an email from a common iller, sent me an email questioning my statement that:

"sibel seems to be claiming (in the VF article) that she responded to an advertisement for translators after 911 - altho thats not true - her application had been in process for 3-4 years (from memory) - and it was finally approved in the weeks after 911"

firstly, let me say that i wasnt trying to impugn sibel with my comment. my comment was simply that, from memory, her statement seemed to differ from my recollection of the situation.

from the Office of the Inspector General's report ( here) entitled "A Review of the FBI's Actions in Connection With Allegations Raised By Contract Linguist Sibel Edmonds", here's the relevant info:

"Edmonds applied to the FBI on March 10, 1997, for a linguist position. After she took the requisite language tests, by letter dated May 6, 1998, the FBI offered Edmonds a position as a CL. The offer was contingent upon Edmonds receiving a Top Secret security clearance.

Pursuant to instructions in the offer letter, Edmonds completed, on June 4, 1998, an SF-86 Questionnaire for National Security Positions - the standard form used by the federal government to collect information for background investigations of persons applying for positions that require a security clearance. As part of the background investigation, Edmonds was polygraphed on December 4, 1998. The FBI also conducted a Personnel Security Interview (PSI) of Edmonds on December 16, 1998. Her security file does not reflect any activity on her background investigation during 1999. It appears that through a series of oversights and lack of follow through, the FBI did not take action on her background investigation, and therefore Edmonds did not begin work as a CL during this time period.

In February 2000, the FBI asked Edmonds to submit another SF-86. In April 2001, LSS wrote a memorandum requesting that the PSI be updated, and asking that the necessary work be done to complete the background investigation. The FBI conducted supplemental PSIs of Edmonds on May 1, 2001, and July 19,2001. On September 13,2001, four years after she first submitted her application, the FBI granted Edmonds a "Top Secret" clearance. No job interview was conducted other than the PSIs.

Edmonds began working for the FBI on September 20, 2001, first as a Contract Monitor (CM), and shortly thereafter as a CL..."

secondly, the OIG document isnt perfectly clear, however there's no mention of sibel re-applying for the job after seeing an advertisement. from this document, it appears that the trigger for her new job was the security clearance granted on Sep13.

for the record, the VF article quotes sibel as saying: "They put out a call for translators, and i thought, Maybe I can stop this happening again"

its probably just semantics - her application seems to have been active even as 911 'happened' - with 2 tests in the previous five months, after years of waiting, and they seem to have fast-tracked her clearance the day or two after 911.

as i mentioned back in january (which obviously stuck in my mind):

* heres a fun sibel fact - i knew that she had started working at the fbi 'just after 911', it turns out that she had been trying to get a job there for 4 years and had been tested and all and they sat on her application, and the fbi cleared her TopSecret on sep13 (and began on sep20)

its not difficult to imagine that the Dickersons were keen to protect their little franchise and 'sat' on potential recruits who had otherwise been cleared, but were forced to meet new recruiting quotas in the immediate aftermath of 911. it was only 70 days or so after sibel got recruited, that they tried to 'recruit' her.