On Monday, I was fortunate to have a diary on the Rec. List about NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake, who is being prosecuted under the Espionage Act for allegedly "mishandling" allegedly "classified" information. For the past year, I have been warning that the Obama administration's aggressive crackdown on "leaks," starting with Drake, is a back-door attempt to set horrible precedent to go after journalists.
William Welch, the rogue prosecutor who has been heading up the 5 "leak" cases against whistleblowers, just issued a 4th subpoena against New York Times journalist James Risen to force him to testify against Jeffrey Sterling--one of the whistlebowers charged under the Espionage Act for allegedly mishandling classified information.
Instead of tipping me, please sign the petition in support of Thomas Drake. Actions speak louder than tips and Tweets.
Jeffrey Sterling is suspected of blowing the whistle on a botched CIA effort to sabotage the Iranian nuclear program. The CIA sent a scientist to give Iran blueprints for a nuclear triggering device with a hidden design flaw. But, as James Risen reported in his book, State of War, the design flaw was so obvious that the Iranians realized it and the CIA effort actually helped them gain valuable and accurate nuclear information.
The government alleges that Sterling provided information that served as the basis for a chapter in Risen's book about this debacle. The book was published in 2006, so like the Drake case, Obama's violating his own "look forwards, not backwards" decree by going after moldy-oldy "leak investigations" of whistleblowers while the perpetrators of war crimes, torture, and warrantless wiretapping wallow in their freedom.
Risen was twice served a grand jury subpoena by the Bush administration. But then Obama renewed the Bush-era grand jury subpoena instead of letting it die on the vine, even though by now the government knew that Sterling was Risen's source. That's improper because under Justice's own rules, the Department should only subpoena reporters as a last resort--if there's no other way to obtain the information. (Welch also subpoenaed Sterling's lawyer, even though that was also against Department regs.)
This latest subpoena is even worse. It is for Risen to testify against his source.
A number of journalists, including Jane Mayer (others available here, here, and here), have noted the link between the Risen subpoena and the prosecution of Drake as being part of Obama's assault on freedom of the press. Jane Mayer summed it up yesterday:
The subpoena is expected to pit the freedom of the press to cover highly sensitive intelligence issues against the government’s authority to define what must remain secret in order to protect national security.
Sterling's attorney, Edward MacMahon, speculated about how Obama's Justice Department is getting away with his war on whistleblowers:
Eric Holder’s every bit as aggressive a prosecutor as John Ashcroft. He just has more friends in the media, . . .If John Ashcroft had brought any of these cases, there would have been a whirlwind of ‘Shame on you!’
The writing is on the wall. Risen said:
I will always protect my sources, and I think this is a fight about the First Amendment and freedom of the press.
That's exactly what it's about. Risen is willing to go to jail to protect a source. But are most journalists? Drake is willing to go to jail instead of "plea bargaining with the truth." But I can tell you that most whistleblowers are not willing to sacrifice their liberty. It's bad enough that they most often already had to choose their conscience over their career.
When is enough, enough?
UPDATE: Dan Ellsberg just spoke eloquently about Tom Drake during a tele-press conference:
Mr. Drake's trial is due to begin, ironically, on the 40th anniversary of the release of the Pentagon Papers. . . Reporters don't fully appreciate that if he's convicted, it will criminalize all investigative journalism.