Obama Channels Woodrow Wilson

OK, folks... time for a Featured Newsbite:

Last Wednesday in the White House briefing room, Jay Carney, opened on a somber note, citing the deaths of Marie Colvin and Anthony Shadid, two reporters who had died “in order to bring truth” while reporting in Syria.

Jake Tapper, the White House correspondent for ABC News, pointed out that the administration had lauded brave reporting in distant lands more than once and then asked, “How does that square with the fact that this administration has been so aggressively trying to stop aggressive journalism in the United States by using the Espionage Act to take whistle-blowers to court?”

* HUH? WHAT? HUH?

The Obama administration, which promised during its transition to power that it would enhance “whistle-blower laws to protect federal workers,” has been more prone than any administration in history in trying to silence and prosecute federal [whistle-blowers].

The Espionage Act, enacted back in 1917 to punish those who gave aid to our enemies, was used three times in all the prior administrations to bring cases against government officials accused of providing classified information to the media.

* ACTUALLY... THE ESPIONAGE ACT WAS USED BY PRESIDENT WILSON (D) TO SILENCE POLITICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL OPPONENTS. (HEY... GOOGLE IT... CHECK FOR YOURSELVES IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME.)

It has been used six times since [President Obmama] took office.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Setting aside the case of Pfc. Bradley Manning, an Army intelligence analyst who is accused of stealing thousands of secret documents, the majority of the recent prosecutions seem to have everything to do with administrative secrecy and very little to do with national security.

* FOLKS... BEAR IN MIND... THIS IS A NYT ARTICLE!

In case after case, the Espionage Act has been deployed as a kind of ad hoc Official Secrets Act, which is not a law that has ever found traction in America, a place where the people’s right to know is viewed as superseding the government’s right to hide its business.

In the most recent case, John Kiriakou, a former C.I.A. officer who became a Democratic staff member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was charged under the Espionage Act with leaking information to journalists about other C.I.A. officers, some of whom were involved in the agency’s interrogation program, which included waterboarding.

* WELL... AS MUCH AS I HATE TO GIVE OBAMA A "PASS"... SOUNDS LIKE PROPER USE OF THE ACT TO ME!

(*SHRUG*)

For those of you keeping score, none of the individuals who engaged in or authorized the waterboarding of terror suspects have been prosecuted, but Mr. Kiriakou is in federal cross hairs, accused of talking to journalists and news organizations, including The New York Times.

* AGAIN... I'M WITH OBAMA ON THIS ONE.

(*SHRUG*) (*SIGH*)

“I have been following all of these case, and it’s not like they are instances of government employees leaking the location of secret nuclear sites,” Mr. Tapper said. “These are classic whistle-blower cases that dealt with questionable behavior by government officials or its agents acting in the name of protecting America.”

* THERE'S REALLY NO PAT STANDARD RESPONSE TO THIS. IF THIS GUY WAS NAMING NAMES OF C.I.A. FIELD OPERATIVES... (*PAUSE*)... THAT'S BEYOND THE PALE. IF WE'RE TALKING "OUTING" ADMINISTRATION POLICY... (*PAUSE*)... OBVIOUSLY THAT'S FAIR GAME.

In one of the more remarkable examples of the administration’s aggressive approach, Thomas A. Drake, a former employee of the NSA, was prosecuted under the Espionage Act last year and faced a possible 35 years in prison.

His crime? When his agency was about to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a software program bought from the private sector intended to monitor digital data, he spoke with a reporter at The Baltimore Sun. He suggested an internally developed program that cost significantly less would be more effective and not violate privacy in the way the product from the vendor would.

(He turned out to be right, by the way.)

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Drake was charged with 10 felony counts that accused him of lying to investigators and obstructing justice. Last summer, the case against him collapsed, and he pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor, of misuse of a government computer.

(*SMIRK*)

Jesselyn Radack, the director for national security and human rights at the Government Accountability Project, was one of the lawyers who represented him. “The Obama administration has been quite hypocritical about its promises of openness, transparency and accountability,” she said. “All presidents hate leaks, but pursuing whistle-blowers as spies is heavy-handed and beyond the scope of the law.”

Mark Corallo, who served under Attorney General John D. Ashcroft during the Bush administration, told Adam Liptak of The New York Times this month that he was “sort of shocked” by the number of leak prosecutions under President Obama. “We would have gotten hammered for it,” he said.

* ANYONE DOUBT THE TRUTH OF THAT STATEMENT?

* HEY... YEAH... KUDOS TO THE NYT FOR THIS EXPOSE... BUT HERE'S THE QUESTION: WILL THE NETWORKS PICK UP THE STORY AS THEY WOULD HAVE IN THE BUSH YEARS?

[Lastly,] it’s worth pointing out that the administration’s emphasis on secrecy comes and goes depending on the news.

Reporters were immediately and endlessly briefed on the “secret” operation that successfully found and killed Osama bin Laden.

(And the drone program in Pakistan and Afghanistan comes to light in a very organized and systematic way every time there is a successful mission.)

There is plenty of authorized leaking going on, but this particular boat leaks from the top.

Leaks from the decks below, especially ones that might embarrass the administration, have been dealt with very differently.