Todays Washington Post has a OpEd they chose not to put the authors name to to protect him/her. A Rare thing. They did this because of a Federal Gag Order, not on the WaPo, but on the author. This should shake up the discussion on the NSLs that has gone quiet because on the Gonzale affair. WaPos own disclaimer should tickle your mind.
It is the policy of The Washington Post not to publish anonymous pieces. In this case, an exception has been made because the author -- who would have preferred to be named -- is legally prohibited from disclosing his or her identity in connection with receipt of a national security letter. The Post confirmed the legitimacy of this submission by verifying it with the author's attorney and by reviewing publicly available court documents.
Follow below for the link and more.
What follows is the story of someone who did the right thing. Something that seems rare in the age of Fear we live in. The fear of being called unpatriotic has ruled this country for a few years. The good thing is it has lost it's secret power now from wrongheaded over-use.
Three years ago, I received a national security letter (NSL) in my capacity as the president of a small Internet access and consulting business. The letter ordered me to provide sensitive information about one of my clients. There was no indication that a judge had reviewed or approved the letter, and it turned out that none had. The letter came with a gag provision that prohibited me from telling anyone, including my client, that the FBI was seeking this information. Based on the context of the demand -- a context that the FBI still won't let me discuss publicly -- I suspected that the FBI was abusing its power and that the letter sought information to which the FBI was not entitled
Read this for yourself
What follows is the story of the journey through a maze of govermental abuses, secrecy, heavyhanded practices, and plain old abuse of Authority. Everyone should read this and rejoice that soon Bush will be out of office and we will have a chance to reverse all this. We should not wait till to start the process. With hearings on the NSLs still fresh in the minds of people in Washington, it's time to dig even deeper. This is much more important than the scandal at the DOJ. It does have it's spidery webs connected to the DOJ, and the FBI, so of course Gonzales, Rove and Bush have their finger in it. Imagine living for 3 yrs under the control of this bunch. How would you feel ?
I resent being conscripted as a secret informer for the government and being made to mislead those who are close to me, especially because I have doubts about the legitimacy of the underlying investigation.
Not only are we guilty of torturing our prisoners of war, we are making our own Citizens spy against their Countrymen against their will. Forcing them to break the law even when they know better. When faced with being exposed, they drag the Citizen before the Courts and stuff a gag in the leak.
It's time to fire up the process, the faxes, phones, and emails. This is the kind smoking gun that cannot be allowed to be hidden away.
In the comments I was asked "where's the Smoking Gun"? Remember there are several cases across our nation waiting for the Judges to rule on the Governments request to claims " States Secrets". If Congress call this person to testify in public, there will no longer be a secret for the State to keep. That could cause a snowballing effect to who knows what.