Snowden anniversary a reminder of the need to protect whistleblowers and journalists
AP Photo/George Brich
Whistleblowers are essential to a free and unfettered press.
Whistleblowers play a critical role in informing the public and holding the government to account.
Sources who act out of conscience to leak information to the press further our democracy. Whistleblowers like Daniel Ellsberg, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden, have exposed some of our government’s gravest abuses.
Unfortunately, whistleblowers are often prosecuted and jailed. That’s wrong. Whistleblowers and the journalists they work with should be celebrated, not punished.
Featured Items
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The James Risen case and Eric Holder's tarnished press freedom legacy
Attorney General Holder raised some eyebrows yesterday when answering a question about his Justice Department’s notorious crackdown on leaks, and by extension the press, most notably saying this about its notorious pursuit of New York Times reporter James Risen, while claiming the DOJ did nothing wrong:
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Jury convicts CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling on all nine counts including espionage
The following post first appeared at emptywheel.net. After having deliberated for slightly over 2 days, the jury today found Jeffrey Sterling guilty of all nine counts today. I’m not surprised the jury found Sterling guilty of some of the charges: of leaking Risen information on Merlin and the operation he …
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The Jeffrey Sterling CIA leak trial closing arguments: Who Is the hero, who Is the storyteller?
We're republishing Marcy Wheeler's coverage of the trial of CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling. The following post first appeared at ExposeFacts. “Jeffrey Sterling was the hero of Risen’s story,” prosecutor Eric Olshan finished his closing argument in the Jeffrey Sterling trial. “Don’t let him be the hero of this one.” …
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Government tries to implicate CIA whistleblower in leak case with calls to CIA’s house reporter
We're republishing Marcy Wheeler's coverage of the trial of CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling. The following post first appeared at ExposeFacts. The FBI Special Agent who investigated the Merlin leak, Ashley Hunt, testified on Wednesday. Much of the evidence she entered into the record pertained to the (remarkably limited) phone …
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Government tries to convict Jeffrey Sterling for retroactively classified documents about rotary phones
We're republishing Marcy Wheeler's coverage of the trial of CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling. The following post first appeared at ExposeFacts. After a week of ominous language about the dangers of leaking classified documents, the 14 jurors in the Jeffrey Sterling trial Tuesday got their first look at purportedly classified …
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In which the government's case against CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling descends into desperation
We're republishing Marcy Wheeler's coverage of the trial of CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling. The following post first appeared at ExposeFacts. Coming back into the courtroom after a break in the Jeffrey Sterling trial this afternoon, I heard an odd conversation. Apparently the government had unsuccessfully tried to get the …
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Leak trial of CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling: Merlin meets Curveball
We're republishing Marcy Wheeler's coverage of the trial of CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling. The following post first appeared at ExposeFacts. “Very often you get a curveball thrown at you.” When Bob S, a longtime CIA operations manager working on Weapons of Mass Destruction described the ambiguity common on CIA …
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Government calls three former and current CIA officers to testify in Jeffrey Sterling trial
We're republishing Marcy Wheeler's coverage of the trial of CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling. The following post first appeared at ExposeFacts. After opening arguments on the first day of the Jeffrey Sterling trial, the government called three former and current CIA officers to testify behind a screen and under partial …
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The government’s circumstantial case in the upcoming trial of CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling
We're republishing Marcy Wheeler's coverage of the trial of CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling. The following post first appeared at ExposeFacts. Today the government and the defense presented their opening arguments in the Jeffrey Sterling case. As laid out in this post, Sterling faces 10 charges — mostly charges …
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Government declares monopoly on right to call journalist James Risen as witness
We're republishing Marcy Wheeler's coverage of the trial of CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling. The following post first appeared at ExposeFacts. As Josh Gerstein first reported, the government has just asked the judge in the Jeffrey Sterling trial, Leonie Brinkema, to declare James Risen unavailable as a witness. After …
