thenatureofmind

CIA Drove Spike In Media Leak Investigation Requests Under Trump

New Data Obtained by The Intercept adds considerable detail to what we already know about former President Donald Trump’s relentless campaign against whistleblowers and leakers in the intelligence community. The Trump administration referred far more media leaks for criminal investigation each year than any of the previous 15 years, with the CIA accounting for the vast majority of such leaks, according to a trove of records released by the Department of Justice to the independent watchdog group Project On Government Oversight, or POGO, in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

CIA Drove Spike in Media Leak Investigations Under Trump

Beyond Snowden: New Group to Clear a Path for More Whistleblowers

A new organization for whistleblowing will launch on Wednesday morning when the ExposeFacts.org website goes live and the group begins its first day with a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington.

NSA whistleblowers William Binney and J. Kirk Wiebe will speak at the news conference along with EPA whistleblower Marsha Coleman-Adebayo and journalist Barbara Ehrenreich, a member of the ExposeFacts editorial board.

Beyond Snowden: New Group to Clear a Path for More Whistleblowers.

Yes, they can be mavericks, but we need whistleblowers like Edward Snowden

A lawyer working for HMRC found that his boss, David Hartnett, was having "sweetheart" sessions with Goldman Sachs allowing the bank to avoid £10m in interest on tax. He thought this out of order and did what the rulebook said. Under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (Pida) he wrote privately to the national audit office and to a committee of parliament. When HMRC found out, it went berserk. Using the anti-terrorist Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa), it had his belongings, emails and phone calls searched. He was suspended and left "a broken man". He lost his job.

Yes, they can be mavericks, but we need whistleblowers like Edward Snowden | The Guardian.

5.1 million Americans have security clearances. That’s more than the entire population of Norway.

Critics of the country's national security apparatus say Washington is addicted to secrecy. Judging by the ballooning number of Americans with government security clearances, they might have a point.

About 5.1 million people — or more than 1.5 percent of the population — held security clearances last year, up from 4.9 million people with clearances the year before. The new figure comes via a report commissioned by President Obama and released by theOffice of Management and Budget, which estimates that 60 percent of those security clearances had immediate access to confidential data.

5.1 million Americans have security clearances. That’s more than the entire population of Norway..

Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange: our new heroes

A great piece from Slavoj Žižek on the meaning and the significance of whistleblowers on our evolving technical infrastructure

We all remember President Obama's smiling face, full of hope and trust, in his first campaign: "Yes, we can!" – we can get rid of the cynicism of the Bush era and bring justice and welfare to the American people. Now that the US continues its covert operations and expands its intelligence network, spying even on its allies, we can imagine protesters shouting at Obama: "How can you use drones for killing? How can you spy even on our allies?" Obama murmurs with a mockingly evil smile: "Yes, we can."

Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange: our new heroes | Slavoj Žižek | The Guardian.

Daniel Ellsberg: In Hearing Bradley Manning Act Out of Conscience, Secret Tape Refutes Media Slander

The Scale of American Overclassification

In his closing statement two weeks ago, PFC Bradley Manning’s defense attorney David Coombs said of the information released, that it is all out in the public, and yet it hasn’t caused any harm. “If anything, it’s helped,” he said. Coombs called the government’s warning about the impact of the releases a “Chicken Little response” — a response the media has picked up on. He said officials were saying the “sky is falling, the sky is falling” over and over. But, he said, “The sky has not fallen, is not falling, and will not fall.”

The Scale of American Overclassification

Free Bradley Manning---Give him a full and complete pardon

Concerning Nobel Peace Prize nominee PFC Bradley Manning : Please President Obama grant a full pardon and have him released immediately. His 1000 days locked up display the worst of U.S. flagrant disregard for human rights. Show that we as a nation can accept a critical examination of our behavior and rise to the occasion of correcting it to reflect ethics and international law. PFC Manning should be lauded for exposing the truth .

Free Bradley Manning---Give him a full and complete pardon

Chris Hedges: We Are Bradley Manning

I was in a military courtroom at Fort Meade in Maryland on Thursday as Pfc. Bradley Manning admitted giving classified government documents to WikiLeaks. The hundreds of thousands of leaked documents exposed U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as government misconduct. A statement that Manning made to the court was a powerful and moving treatise on the importance of placing conscience above personal safety, the necessity of sacrificing careers and liberty for the public good, and the moral imperative of carrying out acts of defiance. Manning will surely pay with many years—perhaps his entire life—in prison. But we too will pay. The war against Bradley Manning is a war against us all.

We Are Bradley Manning

Bradley Manning Served Democracy Far Better Than the Generals Who Want Him Sent to Jail

When Bradley Manning was asked by a military judge recently if he understood what would happen if every soldier ignored their commanders in favour of their own moral code, he answered “You'd have junior ranks making their own decisions until the organisation seizes up.” He did not add, as he might have done, and as I would, is that in a post 9/11 context this might be a good thing.

Bradley Manning served democracy far better than the generals who want him sent to jail