DEARBORN — The CIA has apologized to the The Arab American News and resubmitted its recruitment ads for the publication’s website. 

The Arab American News Publisher Osama Siblani shows an advertisement from the CIA in this Reuters photo from earlier this year.

The announcement comes two weeks after the CIA demanded to have the ads removed in response to an AP story published in the newspaper accusing the agency, along with the NYPD, of spying on American Muslims in the New Jersey and New York area.

The AP story about spying allegations was widely published in several mainstream and other media outlets. The Arab American News ran a subsequent article about the CIA’s official response to the accusations, from CNN.com, in order to provide additional balance to the overall story.

Publisher Osama Siblani said that he was “shocked” at the CIA’s original decision and called the issue one of freedom of the press as opposed to money.  He said he was particularly disturbed by the agency’s use of tax dollars to stifle debate and exert control over the newspaper’s content.

Siblani also noted that he has played a key role in helping the CIA make inroads in the Arab American community for recruitment purposes.

The apology came about when CIA spokesman Preston Golson responded to an inquiry by the Detroit Free Press, saying that the agency regrets what happened and has resubmitted the ads to The Arab American News.

The ads had run for eight days before an official from Gravity Media, the agency that handles the CIA’s accounts with the newspaper, called The Arab American News on Sept. 8 and said it had been ordered by the CIA to pull its online ads “for undisclosed reasons”. The official said that the ads had to be removed immediately, continued to call and then asked for the home and cell phone numbers of the paper’s advertising director, who was not available at the time.

Siblani called the CIA’s handling of the situation “absurd, rude, obnoxious and unbelievable.”

On Sept. 12, Gravity Media officially told the newspaper that the cancellation of the ads was due to the running of the AP story.

In last week’s issue of The Arab American News, an editorial was written strongly questioning  the CIA’s decision to cancel the ads, saying that the CIA wasn’t properly representing the American values of freedom that it pledges to protect.

Siblani said he believed that the CIA attempted to intimidate the newspaper and the community into changing its viewpoints with their money.

This past Wednesday, Sept. 21, the CIA advertising agency, Gravity Media, once again contacted The Arab American News via email, this time requesting that the CIA banners go up again on the website after sending a new insertion order.

In response to local and national media inquiries the CIA issued a statement: “The CIA has a long history of advertising with The Arab American News, and we regret any misunderstandings in this instance.  We resubmitted our recruitment ads—for linguists—to the outlet.  Freedom of the press is one of the many American values that CIA officers work to defend every day.”

Siblani has been asked by various major media outlets across the country how much the CIA has paid to run the ads but declined to reveal the amount.

“The money is insignificant,” he told the AP. “We’re talking about a very important principle that has been broken. If we are fighting for free speech around the world, I don’t think those tax dollars should dictate or limit the freedom of the press in this country.”