Saturday, July 29, 2006
The Feds Begin to Plug the Leaks
In what sounds like good news to me, the Justice Department has issued at least one subpoena, for an appearance before a Grand Jury investigating leaks of secret programs, this one to fired NSA employee, Russell Tice, who has all but confessed to talking to reporters Lichtblau and Risen about the formerly secret program which monitors communications between al Qaeda overseas and people in the United States. The subpoena talks about “possible violation of federal criminal laws involving the unauthorized disclosure of classified information” and specifically mentions the Espionage Act.
OK. Now we're getting somewhere.
Here is some of the New York Times spin put on the news here:
Mr. Tice said in a telephone interview on Friday that he believed that the leak investigation and subpoena were designed to discourage whistle-blowers. “I feel this is an intimidation tactic aimed at me and anyone who’s considering dropping a dime on criminal activity by the government,” he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union denounced the subpoena as part of an effort to cover up government wrongdoing.
“Courageous federal employees like Mr. Tice who bring hidden truths to light, letting lawmakers and the American people know when official misconduct has occurred, perform a valuable public service,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the A.C.L.U.’s legislative office in Washington.
There is a specific whistleblowers statute, 5 U.S.C. 1213, which allows government workers like Tice, concerned with the legality of their actions, to reveal their concerns to the Office of Special Counsel. The statute protects those that do. There is no protection for going to the New York Times. Tice and the other malcontents who leaked the existence of this and other secret programs cannot claim whistleblower status and only an ignoramus blinded by partisan zealotry would refer to these criminals as 'courageous.' See more on the subject here.
Also the NSA program, as described by Lichtblau and Risen, does not violate FISA and is not criminal under several court precedents, including In re: Sealed Case No. 02-001, which is pretty much on point (although in dicta).
Finally, plugging leaks of secret programs necessary to fight against Jihadists is not covering up government wrongdoing, it's keeping our government's doing right secret and effective.
OK. Now we're getting somewhere.
Here is some of the New York Times spin put on the news here:
Mr. Tice said in a telephone interview on Friday that he believed that the leak investigation and subpoena were designed to discourage whistle-blowers. “I feel this is an intimidation tactic aimed at me and anyone who’s considering dropping a dime on criminal activity by the government,” he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union denounced the subpoena as part of an effort to cover up government wrongdoing.
“Courageous federal employees like Mr. Tice who bring hidden truths to light, letting lawmakers and the American people know when official misconduct has occurred, perform a valuable public service,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the A.C.L.U.’s legislative office in Washington.
There is a specific whistleblowers statute, 5 U.S.C. 1213, which allows government workers like Tice, concerned with the legality of their actions, to reveal their concerns to the Office of Special Counsel. The statute protects those that do. There is no protection for going to the New York Times. Tice and the other malcontents who leaked the existence of this and other secret programs cannot claim whistleblower status and only an ignoramus blinded by partisan zealotry would refer to these criminals as 'courageous.' See more on the subject here.
Also the NSA program, as described by Lichtblau and Risen, does not violate FISA and is not criminal under several court precedents, including In re: Sealed Case No. 02-001, which is pretty much on point (although in dicta).
Finally, plugging leaks of secret programs necessary to fight against Jihadists is not covering up government wrongdoing, it's keeping our government's doing right secret and effective.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 4:45 AM 
