Former CIA agent suing agency over lead poisoning

When Franklin A. Richards, a CIA agent, readily accepted assignment to Iraq, he knew he might have to take a bullet -- some lead -- for his country.

And he says he took plenty, but not because he was shot.

Richards, a firearms expert, was sent to Iraq in August 2003 to provide weapons training. He wasn't hit by a bullet during the three weeks he was there, but according to a lawsuit he has filed, he was seriously wounded by lead poisoning.

Now he can no longer work as an agent, or at much of anything else, he says. The former agent is suing the CIA because of a long list of ailments that he alleges grew from being ordered to labor in a toxic workplace that even the Army had placed off-limits.

Richards says he didn't enjoy taking action against the CIA, because he considers it part of his family and not just in the general workplace-camaraderie sort of way.

"I'm the product of two parents who worked at the agency," he said in a low, slow voice. "I knew I was going to work there since I was a kid. They met there. My wife and I met there."

But after a series of events, detailed in his complaint, Richards decided he had to try to hold the CIA accountable: A supervisor ordered him to provide training in an old, underground firing range with no ventilation, where everything was coated with toxic dust; then a CIA doctor, without taking a blood sample, declared that Richards did not have lead poisoning; and an agency lawyer rejected his claim for compensation.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by his lawyer, Daniel S. Ward, makes no mention of Iraq, referring instead to a "Middle Eastern country." And because of CIA restrictions, Ward would not let Richards, whose 42nd birthday is Wednesday, identify that country during interviews.

In its response to the $3 million suit, the Justice Department did not deny, or confirm, Richards's charges. It did argue that his complaint should be dismissed on several jurisdictional and procedural grounds.

Although Iraq is not mentioned in the lawsuit, other information, including Richards's CIA medal from the "Directorate of Operations Iraq Operations Group," given "In Appreciation of your efforts against the Iraqi Target 2003," and a document from the outside physician the CIA eventually sent him to, confirm his service there. The CIA would not comment on the lawsuit but did verify that his medal is from the agency.

His lawsuit outlines a series of situations that seemingly could have been easily avoided.

When Richards and another trainer arrived in Iraq, they went to the firing range arranged by the agency's chief of station, identified in the brief only as "Gordon P." "The range was filthy," alleges the complaint. "It was clear that millions of rounds of ammunition had been discharged in the room over the years and little or no time had been spent on range maintenance."