National security

Whistleblower Sentenced to Prison While Torturers He Exposed Walk Free

Sujets: 
USA, National security, Whistleblowers, Videos
Scores: 
4
The following are selected extracts

Democracy Now – January 30, 2013

Former CIA agent John Kiriakou speaks out just days after he was sentenced to 30 months in prison, becoming the first CIA official to face jail time for any reason relating to the U.S. torture program.

Under a plea deal, Kiriakou admitted to a single count of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by revealing the identity of a covert officer to a freelance reporter, who did not publish it. Supporters say Kiriakou is being unfairly targeted for having been the first CIA official to publicly confirm and detail the Bush administration’s use of waterboarding.

Ex-Officer Is First From C.I.A. to Face Prison for a Leak

Sujets: 
USA, National security, Whistleblowers
Scores: 
4
The following are selected extracts

Scott Shane – January 5, 2013

Looking back, John C. Kiriakou admits he should have known better. But when the F.B.I. called him a year ago and invited him to stop by and “help us with a case,” he did not hesitate.

In his years as a C.I.A. operative, after all, Mr. Kiriakou had worked closely with F.B.I. agents overseas. Just months earlier, he had reported to the bureau a recruiting attempt by someone he believed to be an Asian spy. “Anything for the F.B.I.,” Mr. Kiriakou replied.

A Salute to Bradley Manning, Whistleblower

Sujets: 
USA, Whistleblowers, National security
Scores: 
4

Today, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, an organization that I co-founded and of which I'm on the board, has published an audio recording of Bradley Manning's speech to a military court from two weeks ago, in which he gives his reasons and motivations behind leaking over 700,000 government documents to WikiLeaks.

Whoever made this recording, and I don't know who the person is, has done the American public a great service. This marks the first time the American public can hear Bradley Manning, in his own voice explain what he did and how he did it.

US Activists Laud Special Counsel’s Entry into Whistleblower Case

Sujets: 
USA, Office of Special Counsel, Watchdogs, National security
Scores: 
4
Carolyn Lerner

Charles S. Clark – March 15, 2013

In a first since passage last November of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, the Office of Special Counsel on Thursday filed an amicus brief challenging a ruling it says would deny federal employees who feel they are unfairly removed from so-called “sensitive” national security positions appropriate recourse. The move was applauded by nonprofit whistleblower advocates’ groups.

Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner, siding with the Merit Systems Protection Board, filed a brief in the U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit, arguing that a Defense Department decision to declare two civilian employees ineligible for positions deemed sensitive, if upheld in court, “would undermine Congress’ repeated efforts to strengthen whistleblower and other good government protections for federal workers.”

Daniel Ellsberg on secrecy and national security whistleblowing

Sujets: 
National security, Reprisals, Message control or 'spin', Daniel Ellsberg
Scores: 
2
The following are selected extracts

Daniel Ellsberg – January 13, 2013

Daniel Ellsberg is the former American military analyst who sparked a national uproar in 1971 by releasing the top secret 'Pentagon Papers' to the USA media. This encyclopedic 7,000-page history of the Vietnam war revealed that successive presidents had systematically lied to the American people about the war, which they knew to be unwinnable.

In this lengthy and insightful article Ellsberg discusses the rigorously enforced culture of secrecy that pervades many agencies, especially the 'intelligence community'. Ellsberg asserts that virtually all of this secrecy is not to protect the nation from foreign powers, but to protect agencies from proper oversight and accountability – by keeping the public and lawmakers in the dark.

"Zero Dark Thirty" exposes Washington, Hollywood relationship

Sujets: 
USA, National security, Torture, Message control or 'spin'
Scores: 
2

Michael Hastings – January 10, 2013

During President Obama’s 100 or so campaign trail speeches this past year, he usually received the biggest applause for mentioning the killing of Osama Bin Laden. The lines were real crowd pleasers. Zero Dark Thirty picks up where the cheers from the Obama rallies died off.

Rather than casting Obama and the White House as heroes, though, the film lets the men and women of the Central Intelligence Agency play the protagonists with the true claim to Bin Laden’s scalp.

Early clues to navy spy Delisle's guilt overlooked

Sujets: 
National security, Espionage
Scores: 
3

Warrants show military and CSIS failed to flag risks of debt, marriage trouble

Rob Gordon – November 29, 2012

Canada's most active spy might have been caught almost a year sooner if the military and CSIS had followed their own mandatory security check rules, documents obtained by CBC News show.

And Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle might still be swapping secrets with the Russians for cash if not for a tip from the FBI in the United States, suggests information contained in three search warrants that were executed on Delisle's home, car and the ultra-secret navy intelligence facility in Halifax where Delisle worked, HMCS Trinity.

Spies, lies and whistleblowers: the inside scoop on MI5

Sujets: 
UK, National security, Espionage, Whistleblowers
Scores: 
2
Annie Machon
The Real News Network – October 31, 2012

Annie Machon was an intelligence officer for the UK's MI5 in the 1990s, but she left after blowing the whistle on the incompetence and crimes of the British spy agencies. She is now a writer, media commentator, political campaigner, and international public speaker on a variety of intelligence-related issues.

In this two-part interview with The Real News Network, Machon describes a litany of illegal behaviour by MI5, including spying on UK citizens because of their political views, and collaborating with Lybian extremists linked to Al Qaeda in a failed attempt to assassinate Colonel Gaddafi.

Search warrant reveals details of RCMP warrantless wiretaps

Sujets: 
RCMP, National security
Scores: 
0

Andrew Duffy – September 30, 2012

The RCMP used an emergency provision of the Criminal Code to tap the phones of six terror suspects without court authorization in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, newly released documents reveal.

Ottawa engineer Abdullah Almalki and Toronto truck driver Ahmad El-Maati were among those subjected to unauthorized wiretaps in October 2001. The practice has since been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada.

82-year-old nun exposed security lapses at nuclear facilities

Sujets: 
Nuclear industry, National security, Regulatory oversight
Scores: 
2

R. Jeffrey Smithemail – September 12, 2012

The hammering on the wall of America’s premier storage vault for nuclear-weapons grade uranium in pitch-darkness six weeks ago was loud enough to be heard by security guards. But they assumed incorrectly that workmen were making an after-hours repair, and blithely ignored it.

Minutes earlier, a perimeter camera had caught an image of intruders — not workmen — breaching an eight-foot high security fence around the sensitive facility outside Knoxville, Tenn. But the guard operating the camera had missed it. A different camera stationed over another fence — also breached by the intruders — was out of service, a defect the protective force had ignored for 6 months.

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