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In reply to the discussion: Fed Court: Just changed interpretation of Espionage Act to cover leaks that are NOT Harmful To USA [View all]avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)29. Obama loves whistleblowers.
Obama Promises, Including Whistleblower Protections, Disappear From Website
Amid the Obama administration's crackdown against whistleblowers, Change.gov, the 2008 website of the Obama transition team laying out the candidate's promises, has disappeared from the internet.
The Sunlight Foundation notes that it last could be viewed on June 8, which was two days after the first revelations from Edward Snowden (who had then not yet revealed himself) about the NSA's phone surveillance program. One of the promises Obama made on the website was on "whistleblower protections:"
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.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/26/obama-whistleblower-website_n_3658815.html
Obama's Crackdown on Whistleblowers
In the annals of national security, the Obama administration will long be remembered for its unprecedented crackdown on whistleblowers. Since 2009, it has employed the World War Iera Espionage Act a record six times to prosecute government officials suspected of leaking classified information. The latest example is John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer serving a thirty-month term in federal prison for publicly identifying an intelligence operative involved in torture. Its a pattern: the whistleblowers are punished, sometimes severely, while the perpetrators of the crimes they expose remain free.
The hypocrisy is best illustrated in the case of four whistleblowers from the National Security Agency: Thomas Drake, William Binney, J. Kirk Wiebe and Edward Loomis. Falsely accused of leaking in 2007, they have endured years of legal harassment for exposing the waste and fraud behind a multibillion-dollar contract for a system called Trailblazer, which was supposed to revolutionize the way the NSA produced signals intelligence (SIGINT) in the digital age. Instead, it was canceled in 2006 and remains one of the worst failures in US intelligence history. But the money spent on this privatization scheme, like so much at the NSA, remains a state secret.
The Nation http://www.thenation.com/article/173521/obamas-crackdown-whistleblowers#ixzz2aSLQUD6j
The Obama administration actions sent the judge a wet kiss imo.
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Fed Court: Just changed interpretation of Espionage Act to cover leaks that are NOT Harmful To USA [View all]
kpete
Jul 2013
OP
And people wonder why Whistle Blowers are now seeking political asylum elsewhere.
sabrina 1
Jul 2013
#56
One circuit disagrees with another and you think this means the Republic will
msanthrope
Jul 2013
#21
Wait a second--Stephen Kim is not press. He has no civil right to leak documents
msanthrope
Jul 2013
#65
Different circuits, different rulings. Let's hope there's an appeal and SCOTUS
msanthrope
Jul 2013
#19
As opposed the Rhenquist one? All the more reason make sure the person picking
msanthrope
Jul 2013
#68
What you've described is the reality of "system maintenance" JDPriestly. n/t
bobthedrummer
Jul 2013
#70
The government must be doing a lot of shit they really don't want us to know about.
winter is coming
Jul 2013
#24
And, look at these Rulings-A bit of a mixed bag with her. Wiki isn't always complete
KoKo
Jul 2013
#63
"This needs to be fixed NOW, because it sure won't get better under the next Republican executive."
Vanje
Jul 2013
#84
Since the executive branch uses the threat of prosecution under the Espionage Act to
JDPriestly
Jul 2013
#39
If it weren't for the Snowden case, would we even know about this now?
Waiting For Everyman
Jul 2013
#45
Well, yes. Jonathan Pollard is no less guilty because he gave material to an ally. nt
msanthrope
Jul 2013
#67
Requiring the Government to prove stuff is like UnAmerican and stuff.
kenny blankenship
Jul 2013
#87