Pentagon Fires Intelligence Analyst With No Explanation

FT. WASHINGTON, Md. (WUSA) --- John Dullahan says he is neither a traitor nor a spy and he wants an explanation of why he was fired from his job as an analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency last year. The DIA refuses to give him one, saying to do so would not be in the national security interest of the United States.

The firing has apparently ended the decades-long career of an Ireland-born boy who left his native land to enlist in the U.S. Army and fight in Vietnam in 1967, becoming an American citizen before he left the Army as a military and political intelligence analyst 24 years later.

His Army career skyrocketed and he became part of the circle that surrounded then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell.

"I was the East European action officer for General Powell and prepared him for a trip to Eastern Europe and went with him...in 1992," he told 9NEWS NOW.

Powell signed with thanks a personal goodbye note to Dullahan when Dullahan ended his military career in 1992.

Dullahan continued his intelligence work as a civilian employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency, traveling the world in his job and volunteering in 2003 for duty in Iraq.

"I was in charge of the Afghan Desk when I was there (at the DIA)," he said.

In 2009, after 11 years at the agency, he was fired without explanation.

"Did someone think you were a spy?" asked 9NEWS NOW.

"They wouldn't say that, but I think so," Dullahan replied.

The Pentagon maintains that statutes allow it to dismiss an intelligence analyst with no explanation if it is in the interests of the national security to do so.

Dullahan is challenging the practice in court.

"There is nothing in my case that could harm, no information in my case that could harm the government or the interests of the United States," he said.

"I would like the opportunity to serve my country again but rather than back pay, I would like to see real reforms implemented so what happened to me won't happen to any other loyal government employees," Dullahan said.

"How does it feel to have someone question your loyalty?" asked 9News Now.

"Devastating, devastating. However, what I and my brothers have accomplished would not have been possible in any other country, and I will always be grateful for the opportunities afforded us here, and I will always be loyal to the tenets on which this country was founded so, regardless of the outcome of the case, I'll remain a loyal American and be grateful for the opportunities I've had since I got here," Dullahan said.

Dullahan has made a personal appeal to the Secretary of Defense but has received no response.