Edited Transcripts Authorized
Classified Material at Issue in Case of Former NSA Worker

By Ruben Castaneda
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 3, 2007

The attorney for a former National Security Agency employee convicted of unlawfully possessing classified material will be given redacted versions of court transcripts he has been seeking for more than seven months, a federal prosecutor said yesterday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.

During a hearing before U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte, Assistant U.S. Attorney David I. Salem said the attorney for former NSA worker Kenneth W. Ford Jr. could have redacted copies of the transcripts within two weeks, after the CIA completes its review for classified material.

This week, the NSA completed its review of the transcripts, Salem told Messitte.

Ford, 35, was convicted in 2005 of unlawfully possessing classified information and making a false statement to a U.S. government agency. He has been sentenced to six years in prison.

Ford, a former uniformed Secret Service officer, had classified documents in two cardboard boxes in the kitchen of his Waldorf home and other secret documents in a safe in his bedroom, federal prosecutors said during the trial. They said he told federal agents that he took the documents because he wanted to have them to refer to for a new job with Northrop Grumman Corp., a government contractor.

Defense attorney Spencer M. Hecht is seeking the court transcripts to file an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.

Messitte called the hearing to consider a motion by Hecht, who argued that the government was taking too long to review the transcripts and was holding up his client's appeal.

Hecht's motion asked Messitte to compel the government to make the transcripts available. In his motion, Hecht said the government would not allow him unconditional access to the transcripts, which were completed by a court reporter in September.

Hecht told Messitte yesterday that he particularly needs transcripts of two pretrial hearings and bench conferences during the trial. Salem countered that Hecht was free to view transcripts of those hearings at a secure Justice Department location in Washington. Hecht could write portions of the appeal related to the transcripts at the secure location, and Justice officials would deliver those papers to the appellate court, Salem said.

Hecht said it is impractical for him to go the location, 45 minutes from his Greenbelt office.

Messitte directed Hecht to go to the secure Justice facility during the two weeks it will take for the government to provide redacted transcripts. Messitte said Hecht could make significant progress in his appeal motion by the time the redacted transcripts are provided.