Today marks the two year anniversary of the first Snowden disclosures. The anniversary was marked not just with a Snowden op-ed published by the New York Times titled “The World Says No to Surveillance,” but also a major new Vice story on the government’s damage assessment based on documents FOIAed by Jason Leopold. As Vice notes, the FOIAed documents […]
Congressional Priorities for Defense Intelligence Agency: Take More Money, Discredit Snowden
June 5, 2015
A Misleading Moment of Celebration for a New Surveillance Program
June 4, 2015
The morning after final passage of the USA Freedom Act, while some foes of mass surveillance were celebrating, Thomas Drake sounded decidedly glum. The new law, he told me, is “a new spy program.” It restarts some of the worst aspects of the Patriot Act and further codifies systematic violations of Fourth Amendment […]
Jeffrey Sterling vs. the CIA: An Untold Story of Race and Retribution
May 27, 2015
A dozen years before his recent sentencing to a 42-month prison term based on a jury’s conclusion that he gave classified information to a New York Times journalist, former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling was in the midst of a protracted and fruitless effort to find someone in Congress willing to look into his accusations about […]
AP Calls a Bill that Would Criminalize Sources Used for the Same Story a “Compromise”
May 26, 2015
Senate Intelligence Chair Richard Burr managed to get reporters to state that a bill that would criminalize their sources is a “compromise.”
Sterling Verdict Another Measure of Declining Government Credibility on Secrets
May 12, 2015
Even as Leonie Brinkema rejected the government’s claim that Jeffrey Sterling committed 7 discrete acts of Espionage, CIA’s former Directors were doubling down on frenzied claims about the importance of secrets.
Judge Compares Snowden to Ellsberg in Bid to Fix FISA Court
May 10, 2015
Judge Robert Sack compared how courts had successfully review the Pentagon Papers with his review of programs disclosed by Edward Snowden to argue the secret FISA Court needs some kind of adversarial review.
Whistleblowers vs. “Fear-Mongering”
April 28, 2015
Seven prominent national security whistleblowers Monday called for a number of wide-ranging reforms — including passage of the “Surveillance State Repeal Act,” which would repeal the USA Patriot Act — in an effort to restore the Constitutionally guaranteed 4th Amendment right to be free from government spying.
Several of the whistleblowers also said that the recent lenient sentence of probation and a fine for General David Petraeus — for his providing of classified information to his mistress Paula Broadwell — underscores the double standard of justice at work in the area of classified information handling.
Media Calls on Court to Release Petraeus Sentencing Materials
April 27, 2015
Thus far, the materials related to David Petraeus’ plea deal have not been made public. A group of media outlets are trying to change that.
Government’s Own Witness Debunks Government’s “Overwrought Hyperbole” in Sterling Case
April 24, 2015
A former CIA witness the government originally intended to call as its own witness debunked their claims of harm in the Jeffrey Sterling case.
To Send a Message, Judge Sentences David Petraeus to 75% of One Speaking Fee
April 23, 2015
To send a message about how serious a crime David Petraeus committed when he shared multiple covert IDs with his mistress, Judge David Keesler upped Petreaus’ fine to 75% of one of the former General’s speaker’s fees.
