A whistle-blower who needs Obama and Holder's protection (Joe Conason)

[swag]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2009/04/17/whistleblower/

April 17, 2009 | WASHINGTON -- Even under the very best of circumstances, years of investigation, litigation and legislation will be necessary to rectify the constitutional wrongs done by the presidency of George W. Bush. To date the Obama administration has failed to fully repudiate Bush's monarchical version of executive power and instead shows signs of accepting the authoritarian orientation of its predecessor. Yet on the question of illegal surveillance, at least, President Barack Obama has spoken out bluntly, denouncing the sweeping and warrantless domestic spying carried out by the National Security Agency under orders of the Bush White House. So did Attorney General Eric Holder during his confirmation hearings last winter.

According to the latest report in the New York Times, Holder is overseeing a wide-ranging probe of the NSA to determine the extent of its lawless domestic spying and whether those activities have continued since Bush left office. Administration officials emphasized their concern over possible civil liberties violations and their determination to end the unlawful conduct of "the program," as knowing intelligence and law enforcement officials used to refer to the Bush surveillance project.

If Obama and Holder honestly want to undo the damage done by the program, here is a simple question: Why is the government still holding a criminal indictment over the head of the former Justice Department official who dared to expose its existence?

That beleaguered lawyer is Thomas M. Tamm, the whistleblower who placed an anonymous call to Times reporter Eric Lichtblau five years ago because he had discovered evidence that the NSA was gathering domestic surveillance, using highly dubious and concealed methods that his colleagues at the Department of Justice knew to be illegal. Having tried to bring these concerns to the attention of his superiors and the appropriate committees in Congress, Tamm finally felt that he had no choice except to drop a dime. Later Tamm met with Lichtblau and his Times colleague James Risen, serving as an important source for the controversial front-page story that exposed the program in December 2005, won a Pulitzer Prize for their newspaper, and resulted in congressional reform of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

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[katandmoon]

1. See: Don Siegelman. You must be a REPUBLICAN to be let off the hook by the Obama Administration.

[MarjorieG]

2. How long has Holder been confirmed, the amount of backlog, due diligence required?

Gosh, we're a little impatient, and we want purity. That said, love Joe Conason.

[katandmoon]

3. Long enough to go after the Ted Stevens prosecutors.