Administration Takes a Hard Line Against Leaks to Press

[sabra]

Source: NY Times

WASHINGTON — Hired in 2001 by the National Security Agency to help it catch up with the e-mail and cellphone revolution, Thomas A. Drake became convinced that the government’s eavesdroppers were squandering hundreds of millions of dollars on failed programs while ignoring a promising alternative.

He took his concerns everywhere inside the secret world: to his bosses, to the agency’s inspector general, to the Defense Department’s inspector general and to the Congressional intelligence committees. But he felt his message was not getting through.

So he contacted a reporter for The Baltimore Sun.

Today, because of that decision, Mr. Drake, 53, a veteran intelligence bureaucrat who collected early computers, faces years in prison on 10 felony charges involving the mishandling of classified information and obstruction of justice.

The indictment of Mr. Drake was the latest evidence that the Obama administration is proving more aggressive than the Bush administration in seeking to punish unauthorized leaks to the press.

In 17 months in office, President Obama has already outdone every previous president in pursuing leak prosecutions. His administration has taken actions that might have provoked sharp political criticism for his predecessor, George W. Bush, who was often in public fights with the press.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/us/politics/12leak.html

[villager]

1. How... familiar.

n/t

[glitch]

19. THESE leaks they deal with. nt

[Go2Peace]

27. leaking a video of Helicopter shooting Bagdad civilians in Iraq

"Mr. Drake was charged in April; in May, an F.B.I. translator was sentenced to 20 months in prison for providing classified documents to a blogger; this week, the Pentagon confirmed the arrest of a 22-year-old Army intelligence analyst suspected of passing a classified video of an American military helicopter shooting Baghdad civilians to the Web site Wikileaks.org. "

[glitch]

31. As opposed to oil leaks. nt

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

2. Whatever happened to not looking backward? nt

[dgibby]

3. We onlylook backwards when it suits our agenda. n/t

[chill_wind]

4. This is a time for reflection, not retribution.

Oh wait, wrong panacea. That only applies to barbaric war criminals and torturers.

[Enrique]

5. Drake probably wanted a quality system

Obama and the establishment probably wanted a crappy system that made someone a lot of money.

[fascisthunter]

6. quick... silence the leakers

as in BP instead of heroic Americans who are exposing the truth to WE tax payers.

[chill_wind]

7. and though..

Though he is charged under the Espionage Act, Mr. Drake appears to be a classic whistle-blower whose goal was to strengthen the N.S.A.’s ability to catch terrorists, not undermine it. His alleged revelations to Ms. Gorman focused not on the highly secret intelligence the security agency gathers but on what he viewed as its mistaken decisions on costly technology programs called Trailblazer, Turbulence and ThinThread.

“The Baltimore Sun stories simply confirmed that the agency was ineptly managed in some respects,” said Matthew M. Aid, an intelligence historian and author of “The Secret Sentry,” a history of the N.S.A. Such revelations hardly damaged national security, Mr. Aid said.

Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit group that defends whistle-blowers, said the Espionage Act, written in 1917 for the pursuit of spies, should not be used to punish those who expose government missteps. “What gets lost in the calculus is that there’s a huge public interest in the disclosure of waste, fraud and abuse,” Ms. Radack said. “Hiding it behind alleged classification is not acceptable.”

[corpseratemedia]

8. change=same

so in this regard he's more reactionary than bush..


better to squander hundreds of millions and worse

[Metta]

9. Reaching across the aisle while outdoing Bush with the base.

Happy karma. You're on your way to being a one term president.

[Pavulon]

10. In other news DOJ prosecutes criminals...

leaking classified documents is a crime. When you get a security clearance this is explained. This person did not leak to the Senate Armed Services committee, which has oversight and is cleared. They leaked to the press.

People who can not follow the law should not accept the clearances. That simple.

[Donnachaidh]

13. and if the Senate Committee does nothing about problems?

In the past whistleblowers aided the government and the citizens of this country in the long run by blowing the whistle. You may trust the government 100%, but thinking citizens do NOT.

This *new* push to punish whistleblowers is straight out fascist control. Period.

[Igel]

34. If nothing is done, nothing is done.

Whistleblowers outing corruption, good.

Inefficiency, stupidity, etc.--not so good. Why? Because having classified information is probably a necessary evil. On the other hand, if everybody with a clearance gets to decide what's classified, then there is no classified information. Everybody can spot inefficiency, everybody can spot stupidity. We're all masters of it.

Even when the inefficiency and stupidity we spot is simply something we don't understand. Then the inefficiency and stupidity is our own, assuming that if we don't understand something then it must be wrong.

Now, this guy probably did expose inefficiency. He probably did expose stupidity. However, this is a very slippery slope. People called for * to stop more leaks. It's odd, but in this case Obama cracking down on oath breaking is Nixon going to China: Only a civil libertarian could really crack down on leaks and survive politically.

[flyarm]

14. yeah? how are those laws and rule of law working for say...Bush and Cheney? and Rummy??

is the Powder fucking dry yet???????????????

How is the criminal acts by BP working out for our nations waters???????????

Can you tell me where i can find walrus's and sea lions in the Gulf of Mexico which were in the Spill Plan BP submitted to our government for drilling????????? Oh yeah and those who collected $$$$$$$$$$$$$ from BP will they be held accountable???????????

Cause right now I am getting a bit worried about not having water in my state of Fla..and I am worried about the shit I had to breath that our government and BP covered up what they were spitting into the very air we breath.

How about the torturers??

How about the lies to war..will we ever get accountability for our laws that were broken????????????

[liberation]

15. Some republicans are still pissed off about Watergate I see...

[chill_wind]

18. "alleged", in his case.

“Hiding it behind alleged classification is not acceptable.” (Jessylyn Radack).

[No Elephants]

23. D of J has excercised considerable, "discretion" in who and what

it has chosen to pursue, so "the other news" bit doesn't cover the reality.


The facts are against you:

"Though the inquiries began under President Bush, it has fallen to Mr. Obama and his attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., to decide whether to prosecute.

and

"In 17 months in office, President Obama has already outdone every previous president in pursuing leak prosecutions. His administration has taken actions that might have provoked sharp political criticism for his predecessor, George W. Bush, who was often in public fights with the press."

[KansDem]

11. "...charges involving the mishandling of classified information"

Yet, the Plame leakers still walk among us.

Some days it just isn't worth it to get out of bed...

[Bozita]

12. How about a hard line on war criminals? I know of some who publicly brag about their exploits.

[pundaint]

16. Isn't that cute, now Obama's channeling Nixon. Expect a "secret plan" in '12!

[pattmarty]

17. I sure as shit hope some credible person runs against Obama in a.............

..............primary for 2012. By credible I mean a Kucinich or Sanders type of politician. It is about time we "get back to basics" and elect someone that is going to support the vast majority of American working folks. I personally believe that that time is gone, but I am hoping that we have one last hurrah in us and we can elect somebody that will stop this march to fascism.

[monmouth]

20. I'd love to see John Kerry give it another shot. He'd be great I think...n/t

[liberation]

22. Riiiiight....

... how is Kerry fundamentally different from Obama?

[Iowa]

29. I agree...

Kucinich, Sanders, perhaps Grayson. No more DLC, anti-liberty, anti-labor, torturer-shielding, criminal-protecting, war-mongering, bipartisan, spineless, pro-corporate stooges.

[IndianaGreen]

21. Isn't this the reason Nixon used to create his Plumbers unit?

We have been down this path before, let's not repeat this mistake again.

[Go2Peace]

24. Administration Takes a Hard Line Against Leaks to Press

Source: NYTimes

"The indictment of Mr. Drake was the latest evidence that the Obama administration is proving more aggressive than the Bush administration in seeking to punish unauthorized leaks to the press.

In 17 months in office, President Obama has already outdone every previous president in pursuing leak prosecutions. His administration has taken actions that might have provoked sharp political criticism for his predecessor, George W. Bush, who was often in public fights with the press.

Mr. Drake was charged in April; in May, an F.B.I. translator was sentenced to 20 months in prison for providing classified documents to a blogger; this week, the Pentagon confirmed the arrest of a 22-year-old Army intelligence analyst suspected of passing a classified video of an American military helicopter shooting Baghdad civilians to the Web site Wikileaks.org. "



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/us/politics/12leak.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&src=igw

[Dinger]

25. Yippee!

*SIgh* What's next? Nevermind.

[DJ13]

26. Takes a Hard Line Against Leaks to Press.......

...... that doesnt come from an "unnamed source in the WH" named Rahm.

[Octafish]

28. They haven't been all that great for whistleblowers, either.

Examples galore from CIA, NSA, Pentagon...all must STFU.

War on whistle-blowers intensifies

[frylock]

30. knr..

and an FML FFS. fucking hopeychangylicious.

[Catherina]

32. FML FFS ? n/t

[blackspade]

33. More change is in the air I see

I would have thought that we would see more transparency from a Democratic administration.
Pretty sad really.

The prosecution of whistle-blowers has to stop.
What is going to be horrible enough to shock people (especially folks that work in the MSM) into a serious backlash against government oppression?
Revelations about crimes/fraud should be celebrated not crushed.

[IndianaGreen]

37. and Big Brother has got your number

http://homelandsecurity.ky.gov/communications/fusion.htm

and mine as well! :-(

[blackspade]

38. Lovely....

Just what we need. :(

[Wilms]

35. Sad. n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

36. Why little guys while BIG GUYS walk free?

[Bozita]

39. "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." - Aesop