Obama has secured 526 months of prison for national security leakers, 20x all previous presidents

[DesMoinesDem]

https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/leak-prosecutions-obama-takes-it-11-or-should-we-say-526

James Risen is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. He's also currently under subpoena, possibly facing jail time, because of his reporting.

Specifically, he's being investigated because of an article on a CIA ploy to hinder Iran's quest for a nuclear bomb that went epically sideways and may have actually helped Iran along. 60 Minutes ran a great story on him this weekend, during which they cited a well-known statistic: the Obama administration has prosecuted more national security "leakers" than all other presidencies combined, eight to three.

But the story also prompted me to look into another figure, which is less well known and potentially more dramatic. Partially because of press freedom concerns, sentencing in media leak cases has historically been relatively light. Not so under President Obama. When it comes to sending these folks to jail, the Obama administration blows every other presidency combined out of the water – by a lot.

By my count, the Obama administration has secured 526 months of prison time for national security leakers, versus only 24 months total jail time for everyone else since the American Revolution. It's important – and telling – to note that the bulk of that time is the 35 years in Fort Leavenworth handed down to Chelsea Manning.

It takes a bit of digging to find all this information. As my public service for the day, here's a rundown of every leak case, the sentence (if there was one), and its current disposition.

...

[hobbit709]

1. And not one day for the banksters and war criminals.

[Rex]

5. Yeah that really bothers me.

Not so much the bailout, but the lack of prosecution.

[red dog 1]

42. "if you prosecute a CEO or other senior executive and send him or her to jail

for committing a crime, the deterrent effect in my view vastly outweighs even the best compliance program you can put in place."
Judge Jed S. Rakoff, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York --
the nerve center of the financial world.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/25/1265127/-Why-No-Corporate-CEOs-Were-Prosecuted-For-Causing-The-Financial-Crisis#


From the Bill Moyers Show,October 3, 2014.."Too Big To Jail"
"Attorney general Eric Holder's resignation last week reminds us of a infuriating fact.
No banking executives have been criminally prosecuted for their role in causing the biggest financial disaster since the great Depression."
http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-big-jail/

[bigwillq]

54. Thread win.

[Initech]

55. Yup these are the real criminals in all of this.

Perpetual war machine for untold trillions in profit.

[villager]

2. Well, that's a "change," I guess

Only, not one we were traduced into voting for...

[MannyGoldstein]

3. And Purity Democrats say he's a failure!

It doesn't matter what this president accomplishes, for some it's never enough.

Regards,

TWM

[Doctor_J]

16. Quick! Add this accomplishment to THE LIST!

[markpkessinger]

29. What number are we up to now?

I like to save bandwidth, you know, so whenever I need to refer to a specific accomplishment, I prefer to "order by number."

[Doctor_J]

34. I could tell you, but everyone knows that you can get tombstoned just for defending the president!

So I'm not going there.

[markpkessinger]

35. .

[OnyxCollie]

56. It's under, "Committed the US to war in Afghanistan for another decade," if that helps. nt

[navarth]

39. LOL Manny you are so good.

and this sub thread is Bill Maher type funny. Excellent sarcasm, everyone, thanks for the good giggle.

[JoePhilly]

4. Did saying Obama jailed almost 3x more than all President's combined not work?

The search for a scary metric continues.

[randome]

7. 20 is a bigger number!!!

It's worser than we thought!!!
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Everything is a satellite to some other thing.[/center][/font][hr]

[JoePhilly]

10. And then, if you go by number of words .... its thousands!!!!

[randome]

12. I can't take it anymore!!!

That Obama and his Kenyan, Ebolan, Fascist ways!!!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]You have to play the game to find out why you're playing the game. -Existenz[/center][/font][hr]

[Marr]

15. Ah, excellent counterpoint. This fact was indeed stated elsewhere at some point.

Brilliant deconstruction of the argument.

[randome]

18. Well, here's the counterpoint then.

Obama has prosecuted more leakers -and consequently racked up more leaker jail time- because...ta-da!...he has more leakers to contend with.

Some of them may be closet Conservatives thinking they can embarrass him. And others might be progressives who are disappointed he didn't bring about Utopia. And still others are just confused spotlight-huggers thinking they could get to be as famous as Ed Snowden.

Come to think of it, that's not such a good role model to shoot for.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]You have to play the game to find out why you're playing the game. -Existenz[/center][/font][hr]

[Marr]

22. That is almost a tautology.

Last edited Wed Oct 15, 2014, 06:03 PM - Edit history (1)

Implicit in your argument is the claim that these leakers have exposed nothing illegal or immoral. Is that your position?

[randome]

23. Apparently the courts have thought so.

Obama expanded Whistleblower protections. Does that mean it's open season on national security? You know, if one person was found guilty of selling military secrets to China and received, say a life sentence, those numbers would be bumped right up there, too.

So to compare collective months of prison time is ridiculous and shows that Risen is grasping for straws.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]

[Marr]

24. Do you? /nt

[msanthrope]

25. James Risen should get the same treatment as Judith Miller. Equal

protection under law.

[randome]

30. I sure haven't followed every possible intelligence leak for the past 7 years.

So I have no opinion on the details. I do know there is a big difference between a whistleblower and a leaker. If someone is leaking national security secrets, they should be called to account for it.

If someone opts for whistleblower status, that's a different matter.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[JoeyT]

36. The position is apparently that

absolutely nothing is illegal, given the defense of not just bankers, but torturers.

And the only thing that's immoral is thinking Obama isn't the greatest man to ever live.

Torturing people is a lesser crime than disagreeing with Obama in BOGland.

[woo me with science]

6. We are living to watch the dismantling of democratic government

by corporate- purchased politicians. Journalism is being criminalized. Dissent and whistleblowing are being criminalized. A totalitarian-style propaganda machine has been put into place, even down to the predictable, relentlessly orchestrated diversion and heckling in response to revelations like this on message boards on the internet.

Mission Creep: When Everything is Terrorism
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023279560

US Uses Espionage Act To Convict Manning Using Words Added In 1990: "with a computer"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023375845

Fed Court: Just changed interpretation of Espionage Act to cover leaks that are NOT Harmful To USA
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023365713

NY Times: White House Uses Espionage Act to Silence Employees, Press
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101616764

Obama Has Charged More Under Espionage Act Than All Other Presidents Combined
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023080388

Petition Calls On Obama Stop Intimidation Of Journalists And Whistleblowers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025509395

Why Is President Obama Keeping a Journalist in Prison in Yemen
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023300531

James Clapper Calls Journalists "Criminal Accomplices" -
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017174990

Reporters without Borders: 'Security interests threaten press freedom'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11333723

US Plummets In Press Freedom Rankings
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024487392

Obama's escalating war on Freedom of the Press
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023314296

Risen Case: War on Journalism coming to a head
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101699216

Government Surveillance Is Crippling Press Freedoms, Report Shows
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023902153

The real reason a very loud few are posting hostility toward Glenn Greenwald at DU: (256 recs)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025036592

Obama taps "cognitive infiltrator" Cass Sunstein for Committee to create "trust" in NSA:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023512796

Salon: Obama confidant’s spine-chilling proposal: Cass Sunstein wants the government to "cognitively infiltrate" anti-government groups
http://www.salon.com/2010/01/15/sunstein_2/

The US government's online campaigns of disinformation, manipulation, and smear.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024560097

Snowden: ‘Training Guide’ for GCHQ, NSA Agents Infiltrating and Disrupting Alternative Media Online
http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/02/25/snowden-training-guide-for-gchq-nsa-agents-infiltrating-and-disrupting-alternative-media-online/

The influx of corporate propaganda-spouting posters is blatant and unnatural.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3189367

U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News To Americans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023262111

The goal of the propaganda assaults across the internet is not to convince anyone of anything.*
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023359801

The government figured out sockpuppet management but not "persona management."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023358242

The Gentleman's Guide To Forum Spies (spooks, feds, etc.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4159454

Seventeen techniques for truth suppression.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4249741

Just do some Googling on astroturfing - big organizations have some sophisticated tools.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1208351

[randome]

8. You have a timeline for when that's going to happen?

I think Nostradamus isn't using his at the moment.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Everything is a satellite to some other thing.[/center][/font][hr]

[OnyxCollie]

14. Thanks for your compilations. nt

[Skittles]

17. keep your eye on this shiny object full of numbers I have, woo me!!!

YOU SHOULD NOT EVEN BE NOTICING ALL THAT BULLSHIT!!!

[msanthrope]

19. Journalism? James Risen became famous for smearing Wen Ho Lee. And Judith Miller

did the same thing---and no one here doubted she should get jail for her actions.

[liberal_at_heart]

20. +1

[Cali_Democrat]

21. I think you watch too many movies

But I do enjoy your melodrama, it's some of the best DU has to offer.

[Marr]

9. Unfair.

That's all done in the name of covering up BUSH ADMINISTRATION abuses. Or at least, abuses that were begun during the Bush Administration, and only continued during the Obama Administration. And you can't blame Obama for that.

Also, you're a purist with no pony. Yargle blargle, not a dictator yargle blargle.

[OnyxCollie]

11. Magic wand!

The Republicans made him do it!

He couldn't get the ACA passed without it!

BTW, when's that CIA torture report coming out?

[Maedhros]

28. Jailing the press is definitely one of the things that a dictator does.

Your yargle blargle is incorrect!

[woo me with science]

32. Laws are being deliberately changed to suppress dissent and criminalize journalism.

US Uses Espionage Act To Convict Manning Using Words Added In 1990: "with a computer"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023375845

Fed Court: Just changed interpretation of Espionage Act to cover leaks that are NOT Harmful To USA
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023365713

NY Times: White House Uses Espionage Act to Silence Employees, Press
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101616764

Obama Has Charged More Under Espionage Act Than All Other Presidents Combined
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023080388

Mission creep. The definitions of "espionage" and "terror" are being actively expanded to the point that journalists and political enemies can now be smeared and dealt with as though they were spies and terrorists. Yes, it's the behavior of a totalitarian state legalizing the oppression it chooses to legalize and criminalizing behaviors that have previously been specifically protected under the Constitution. Sort of like relabeling any male of a certain age who is blasted to smithereens by a drone "an enemy combatant."

Another great Orwellian example is the government's ongoing attempt to give itself the power to define who is and isn't a journalist. What better way to claim to establish "protections" for whistleblowers, when what you are actually doing is creating categories through which you can exclude from protection those you don't want to protect.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023708417
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4976955
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4976082
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4976955

[Marr]

37. +1

[Maedhros]

40. Mission creep indeed!

Even here on DU, where one would think more rational thinking would prevail, I see posters trying to tag anything they don't like as "terrorism" - including such things as the Jennifer Lawrence photo leaks (!).

[Doctor_J]

33. It's Nader's fault

[msanthrope]

13. No one disputed that Judith Miller should go to jail for the exact same thing James Risen is

doing. Sorry....but given that James Risen made his career on smearing Wen Ho Lee, I think equal protection under the law should apply.

As for Chelsea Manning, she agreed that she had done wrong, and apologized to the court. She will serve her time, and I hope she is out soon.

[markpkessinger]

31. There is a world of difference between the two situations . . .

Risen is protecting a whistleblower who was the source for a chapter in his book. Miller was protecting an administration official who outed a whistleblower's spouse as a CIA agent, as an act of retribution against the whistleblower for his whistleblowing. There is a yawning moral chasm between those two scenarios.

[msanthrope]

38. No...the law does not recognize this purported difference. And the person Mr. Risen

is protecting is not a whistleblower, but a disgruntled former employee.

[riderinthestorm]

41. +1. I made that point on another thread and got crickets

Also Judith Miller played an active part in spreading the WMD lies and disinformation.

She was corrupt and based on her past duplicity with the Bush Admin, Patrick Fitzgerald had plenty of ammunition to persuade a judge she was hiding a felony under the guise of source confidentiality.

[msanthrope]

48. But the law does not recognize political affiliation as a defense. Nor should it. nt

[riderinthestorm]

52. Miller didn't operate in a vacuum. And clearly Fitzgerald, DUers, and the judge knew it

Your comments on this are illuminating (and not in a good way).

I'll let you have the last word. I've zero interest in re-fighting the Plame wars tonight. Suffice it to say James Risen is NOTHING like Judith Miller and conflating these two is a disgrace.

[msanthrope]

53. James Risen was famous for falsely smearing Wen Ho Lee. He is exactly like

Judith Miller. Equal treatment under law.....I've yet to read a single post that can effectively explain why Risen and Miller should not be subject to the same law.

[Cha]

45. DU on "Judith in jail"..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1940890

And, I hadn't known this about Wen Ho Lee and the smear campaign by the reporters such as James Risen.. thank you, misanthrope..

[msanthrope]

46. We try! That the guy who smeared Wen Ho Lee is now a "progressive cause"

is nauseating.

[Cha]

47. It fucking figures though, doesn't it?

[msanthrope]

49. Because, Obama. nt

[woo me with science]

27. This thread has been designated "doubleplusungood" and is predictably being swarmed

by the very familiar mocking defenders of everything corporate.

A longer summary of the suppression of dissent being carefully constructed around us in increasingly corporate-owned and decreasingly democratic neoAmerica:

"But we're free! You're still typing on the internet!" (There's a facile argument around here somewhere...)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5596182

More useful review:

Princeton Study: US now an oligarchy, not a democracy
Citizens have virtually no input into policy anymore
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/the-us-no-longer-democracy

Jimmy Carter: "America has no functioning democracy."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1268113

Totalitarianism, American Style
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025573232

"Friendly Fascism"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025573232#post11

The American Propaganda State
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025363113#post15

It's so convincing when all the corporate voices talk to one another.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5602527

[JaneyVee]

43. Good. No one should be leaking national security.

[Luminous Animal]

51. Ellsberg should be rotting in jail.

[NYC Liberal]

44. Good. Nt

[truedelphi]

50. Hush Hush DesMoines Dem -

Surely you jest.

Although there were many things that happened under George W Bush that may also be happening now, couldn't you at least insert the notion that somehow Ronald Reagan is responsible for what is happening?

Do not try and dissuade people from following their leader. Do not encourge them to pull back the curtain.