[Peace-discuss] Snowden is the eighth person to be charged under the Espionage Act under Obama

[David Johnson via Peace-discuss]

Snowden is the eighth person to be charged under the Espionage Act under 
Obama (*CLARIFICATION [6/23]: *for leaking). This is more than all 
previous presidential administrations combined.

NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake was charged 
<http://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/news-media-law/news-media-and-law-winter-2013/six-federal-employees-charg> under 
the law in April 2010 for retaining classified information on secret 
surveillance programs. The government claimed it was for the purpose of 
disclosure.

For disclosing classified information on FBI wiretaps to a blogger, FBI 
translator named Shamai Leibowitz was charged 
<http://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/news-media-law/news-media-and-law-winter-2013/six-federal-employees-charg> 
under the Espionage Act.

Pfc. Bradley Manning was charged with multiple violations of the 
Espionage Act in July 2010 after disclosing US government information to 
WikiLeaks.

Stephen Kim, a former State Department contractor, was charged 
<http://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/news-media-law/news-media-and-law-winter-2013/six-federal-employees-charg> 
in August 2010 for revealing classified information on North Korea to 
Fox News reporter James Rosen. (Rosen was labeled an "aider, abettor and 
co-conspirator" in the leak.)

In December 2010, a former CIA officer, Jeffrey Sterling, was charged 
<http://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/news-media-law/news-media-and-law-winter-2013/six-federal-employees-charg> 
under the Espionage Act after he communicated with /New York Times 
/reporter James Risen about Iran's nuclear program in the 1990s. (The 
Obama Justice Department has fought in the courts to have a judge 
require Risen to testify against Sterling.)

John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer, was charged under the Espionage Act 
in January 2012 after he shared information 
<http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/04/06/obamas-war-on-whistleblowing-ex-cia-agent-indicted-under-espionage-act/> 
related to a rendition operation with reporter Matthew Cole.

A much lesser-known individual 
<http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/03/11/navy-linguist-faces-additional-charge-of-violating-espionage-act/>, 
James Hitselberger, a former Navy linguist, was charged with violating 
the Espionage Act for providing classified documents to the Hoover 
Institution at Stanford University.

The Espionage Act charges were dropped in the cases of Drake, Kiriakou 
and Leibowitz. Manning has pled guilty to lesser offenses but not the 
espionage charges. Hitselberger, Kim and Sterling's cases are all still 
pending. [Kiriakou's serving a 30-month sentence in a prison in Loretto, 
Pennsylvania, after pleading guilty to violation of the Intelligence 
Identities Protection Act.]

Kiriakou's case went through the Eastern District of Virginia. 
Sterling's case is pending in the same jurisdiction.

"The Eastern District of Virginia is the most conservative court in the 
country," according to Jesselyn Radack, a director of the Government 
Accountability Project's national security and human rights division who 
has defended national security whistleblowers. "My experience with 
espionage cases there is that, even if you get assigned a progressive 
judge, the deck is still stacked against you."

This jurisdiction is also where a grand jury investigation into 
WikiLeaks has been empaneled 
<http://www.thenation.com/article/174933/court-documents-reveal-extent-federal-investigation-wikileaks#axzz2WtvdQeIx>. 
The investigation has been broad and, as Sam Knight reported for /The 
Nation/, it has used "subpoena powers rarely wielded against bloggers 
and journalists."

The Espionage Act is a law from 1917 that was intended to criminalize 
individuals who engaged in spying, not leakers or whistleblowers. It was 
not initially used to prosecute government employees who passed on 
information to a reporter or a media organization. But, under Obama, the 
Justice Department has exercised wide discretion and interpreted the law 
as one that can be used to criminalize government employees who blow the 
whistle on corruption or share information on operations, policies or 
programs with the press. They have used to prosecute them as if they are 
"insiders," "informers," or "spies."

President Barack Obama came into office committed to "protecting" 
whistleblowers.

    Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse
    in government is an existing government employee committed to public
    integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and
    patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer
    dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to
    empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in
    performance. Barack Obama will strengthen whistleblower laws to
    protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse of
    authority in government. Obama will ensure that federal agencies
    expedite the process for reviewing whistleblower claims and
    whistleblowers have full access to courts and due process.

However, when Congress passed the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement 
Act, the White House coordinated with Congress so that employees at 
national security or intelligence agencies would not be covered. That 
means, when Obama had the opportunity to make it easier for employees to 
go through proper channels when exposing corruption or wrongdoing, he 
did the exact opposite.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20140709/cef6ead0/attachment.html>