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Whistleblowers

Under Obama, Tyranny Is the New Transparency

August 17, 2013 Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo and Kevin Berends, www.blackagendareport , , ,
Jesselyn Radack in a recent August 2nd Washington Post article titled, Bradley Manning’s Conviction Sends a Chilling Message writes: "With the guilty verdict against Pfc. Bradley Manning, President Obama has won what Nixon could not: an Espionage Act conviction against a government employee accused of mishandling classified information. Obama’s administration has relied heavily on the draconian World War I-era law—meant for prosecuting spies, not whistleblowers—in its ruthless, unprecedented war on 'leaks,' invoking it seven times (more than all other U.S. presidents combined) to go after people who reveal information embarrassing to the United States or worse that exposes its crimes.”

Repeal The Espionage Act To Protect Journalists & Whistleblowers

August 15, 2013 Robert Naiman, www.truth-out.org , , , ,
"You don't have to think that Edward Snowden or Bradley Manning or John Kiriakou are heroes (for the record, I do think that they are heroes - and patriots, Mr. President - but if you don't, I still want to recruit you for reform) to say that these men should not have been, and should not be, charged as foreign spies, nor threatened with being so charged. To treat government employees - or government contractors - who leak classified information to the media in the public interest as foreign spies is a deep stain on our democracy."

Robert Meeropol, Son Of Rosenbergs, On Manning’s Act of Conscience

August 15, 2013 Rober Meeropol, www.timesunion.com , , ,
"Manning also wrote: "I can't separate myself from others," and he continued, "I feel connected to everybody, like they were distant family." Isn't that how we all should be thinking? Manning believed that everyone in this messy human family we've created deserved to know the truth, and he was so appalled by what he considered U.S. war crimes in Iraq that he felt compelled to act. He will go to prison for that."

The Whistleblowers At The Frontier Of Digital Liberation

August 14, 2013 Nozomi Hayase, www.http://roarmag.org , , , ,
Computer scientist Nadia Heninger has argued that leaking information is now becoming the “civil disobedience of our age”. The late historian and activist Howard Zinn described the act of civil disobedience as “the deliberate, discriminate, violation of law for a vital social purpose”. He advocated it saying that such an act “becomes not only justifiable but necessary when a fundamental human right is at stake and when legal channels are inadequate for securing that right”. Snowden’s act was clearly one of civil disobedience. John Lewis, US Representative and veteran civil rights leader recently noted that Snowden was “continuing the tradition of civil disobedience by revealing details of classified US surveillance programs”.

Glenn Greenwald Reflects On Meeting Snowden

August 13, 2013 Glenn Greenwald, www.indypendent.org , , ,
The more I spoke with him about it, the more I understood. And the more I understood, the more overwhelmed I became. What he told me over and over in different ways — and it was so pure and passionate that I never doubted its authenticity for even a moment — was that there’s more to life than material comfort. Or career stability. Or trying to simply prolong your life as long as possible. What he continuously told me was that he judged his life not by the things that he thought about himself, but by the actions that he took in pursuit of those beliefs. - See more at: http://www.indypendent.org/2013/07/16/glenn-greenwald-reflects-meeting-snowden#sthash.AvAIxWn2.dpuf

Obama Proves It: Edward Snowden Is A Patriot

August 11, 2013 Trevor Timm, www.politico.com , ,
As New York Times reporter James Risen (who knows a thing or two about whistleblowers) said on CNN recently, “We wouldn’t be having this discussion if it wasn’t for [Snowden]. That’s the thing I don’t understand about the climate in Washington these days, is that people want to have debates on television and elsewhere, but then you want to throw the people who start the debates in jail.” But Risen made another, less publicized appearance this week at the annual National Press Club awards dinner. What he said there is even more poignant. “I don’t think there’s any personality that’s more American than a whistleblower,” he said. “The entire personality and DNA of America [is made up] of people who wanted to have their own kind of government and be free of oppression. And I think that is the heart of what a whistleblower is. It’s somebody who believes civil liberties or freedom or corruption are important issues that they need to talk about and their right as an American is to talk about it with the press.”

Obama’s Abuse Of The Espionage Act Is Modern-Day McCarthyism

August 6, 2013 John Kiriakou, www.theguardian.com , ,
Only ten people in American history have been charged with espionage for leaking classified information, seven of them under Barack Obama. The effect of the charge on a person's life – being viewed as a traitor, being shunned by family and friends, incurring massive legal bills – is all a part of the plan to force the whistleblower into personal ruin, to weaken him to the point where he will plead guilty to just about anything to make the case go away. I know. The three espionage charges against me made me one of "the Obama Seven".

What Does the Manning Verdict Mean for Edward Snowden?

July 31, 2013 Elias Groll, www.foreignpolicy.com , , ,
Though the military court acquitted Manning of the most serious charge -- aiding the enemy -- it convicted him on five charges of espionage under a legal rationale similar to the one presented by prosecutors in indicting Snowden under the 1917 Espionage Act. In past cases in which the government pressed espionage charges against members of the intelligence community who provided classified information to the media, the government had to prove "bad faith" -- that the accused intended to harm U.S. interests. If there was ever to be a legal reprieve for men like Manning and Snowden, it lay in the "bad faith" provision and the argument that these whistleblowers had in fact acted in the best interests of the nation. But that provision has been jettisoned in more recent rulings, a precedent continued by Lind.

Assange: Journalism Is Now Espionage

July 30, 2013 B y Julian Assange, www.wikileaks.org , , ,
Bradley Manning’s alleged disclosures have exposed war crimes, sparked revolutions, and induced democratic reform. He is the quintessential whistleblower. This is the first ever espionage conviction against a whistleblower. It is a dangerous precedent and an example of national security extremism. It is a short sighted judgment that can not be tolerated and must be reversed. It can never be that conveying true information to the public is ’espionage’. In 2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama ran on a platform that praised whistleblowing as an act of courage and patriotism. That platform has been comprehensively betrayed. His campaign document described whistleblowers as watchdogs when government abuses its authority. It was removed from the internet last week.

DC Activists Call Emergency Protest for Bradley Manning Tuesday Night

July 29, 2013 Malachy Kilbride, www.PopularResistance.org ,
Tuesday at 1:00, Judge Denise Lind will issue her verdict regarding the guilt or innocence of Bradley Manning. Activists in Washington, DC are calling for a rally and march at 8:30 PM at DuPont in Washington, DC. Speak out in support of Manning and all whistle blowers who are getting out the truth about US militarism and war. BRING YOUR DRUMS, NOISE-MAKERS, PUPPETS, FRIENDS, MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, ANONYMOUS MASKS, GRANDMOTHERS, CRAZY AUNTS & UNCLES!!! WHATEVER, JUST COME OUT!!!

Shocking ‘Extermination’ Fantasies By People Running America’s Empire, Aspen Summit

July 26, 2013 Max Blumenthal, www.alternet.org , , ,
Reminding the crowd that CENTCOM is “really, really important,” Blitzer urged them to celebrate Mattis: “Let’s give the general a round of applause.” Following the gales of cheering that resounded from the room, Mattis, the gruff 40-year Marine veteran who once volunteered his opinion that “it’s fun to shoot some people,” outlined the challenge ahead. The “war on terror” that began on 9/11 has no discernable end, he said, likening it to the “the constant skirmishing between [the US cavalry] and the Indians” during the genocidal Indian Wars of the 19th century. “The skirmishing will go on likely for a generation,” Mattis declared.

Pentagon Moves To Make Whistleblowing More Difficult

July 19, 2013 John Reed, www.foreignpolicy.com/ , ,
The Defense Department has begun requiring its geeks to operate in pairs when accessing highly classified information in order to stop the next massive leak. The next step might be restricting those systems administrators from seeing some sensitive data. The step after that? Possibly rolling back at least some of the military and intelligence community's measures to swap information -- a reversal of one of the national security state's key reforms after 9/11. The damage control procedures are being put in place anywhere in DOD where there are "systems administrators with elevated access" to highly classified intelligence, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Thursday.

Big Brother: Coming To A Federal Government Agency Near You

July 18, 2013 Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, www.blackagendareport.com , ,
George Orwell published his seminal novel Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1949, predicting the future in thirty-four years. The story takes place in a country fueled by perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, and public mind-control by a political system under the authority of a privileged 1% corporate oligarchy. The 1% penalizes independent thinking known as “thoughtcrimes” and citizens who would be identified today as whistleblowers. Orwell’s national security state is headed by a party leader named Big Brother. This leader enjoys a cult of personality, commands unconditional loyalty and considers any dissent as a threat to national sovereignty. Sound familiar?

Journalism On Trial: Bradley Manning Case Nears Moment Of Truth

July 16, 2013 Alexa O'Brien, http://www.thedailybeast.com , ,
Fort Meade, Maryland—As the defense and the prosecution rested their cases in the largest leak trial in American history, the defense argued Monday that the presiding military judge, Col. Denise Lind, should dismiss “aiding the enemy” and other serious charges against Pfc. Bradley Manning, the soldier who uploaded hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and U.S Army reports to the organization WikiLeaks, which published the material online in 2010. On Monday, Coombs referenced the testimony of a government witness from the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Center, which published a 2008 report on WikiLeaks titled "Wikileaks.org—An Online Reference to Foreign Intelligence Services, Insurgents, or Terrorist Groups?" saying, “The US Army did not know if the enemy went to WikiLeaks ... but they want to ascribe that knowledge to a junior analyst.”

Bradley Manning ‘Day of Accountability’

July 14, 2013 , ,
Join us before it's too late on July 26 from 3-5:30pm at Ft. McNair (4th and P St SW, near the Waterfront metro, Washington DC) outside the office of Major General Jeffrey Buchanan, the authority overseeing Bradley Manning’s court martial. General Buchanan can reduce any sentence resulting from a conviction. While he reigns over Bradley's destiny, we’re calling upon him to do the right thing! This is our opportunity to bring home to Gen. Buchanan the importance of his sentencing decision, not only for fair American justice, but for government accountability, international human rights, and the protection of other whistleblowers, including NSA Edward Snowden. Enough is enough. The public has a right to know.
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