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International News Title: Meet the 7 Men Obama Considers the Enemy of the State Meet the Seven Men Obama Considers Enemies of the State Posted By Elias Groll Saturday, June 22, 2013 - 4:00 PM Share Late Friday, the Washington Post revealed that federal prosecutors have charged Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor behind a series of revelations about the agency's intelligence-gathering operations, with espionage. As a state senator, Barack Obama made a name for himself as a defender of whistleblowers. And during the 2008 campaign he pledged that his administration would protect those who speak out against government abuse, arguing that their "acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled." But as president, Obama has aggressively prosecuted government officials who have disclosed classified information to the media, and has used the 1917 Espionage Act to pursue leakers more frequently than all previous presidents combined. Snowden, in fact, will be the seventh person indicted under the act during the Obama administration. Here's a quick rundown of the men the Obama White House considers enemies of the state. Thomas Drake A former senior official at the NSA, Drake was indicted in 2010 by prosecutors for obstruction of justice and allegedly retaining classified documents for the purpose of providing them to Siobhan Gorman, a reporter at the Baltimore Sun who has since moved to the Wall Street Journal. According to the New Yorker, Drake thought the NSA had erred in choosing a group of outside contractors to develop a data-mining program that had been developed more cheaply and more effectively by William Binney, an analyst at the agency. Drake also believed that the agency had stripped away the privacy protections in the programs. He eventually reached an agreement with prosecutors under which he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. Shamai Leibowitz An FBI linguist, Leibowitz provided transcripts of wiretapped conversations between Israeli officials at their embassy in Washington to a blogger, Richard Silverstein. During his trial, prosecutors considered this information so sensitive that even the judge did not know what material Leibowitz had disclosed. According to Silverstein, Leibowitz was concerned about the influence Israel exercised on Capitol Hill and worried that Israel might strike Iranian nuclear facilities. After observing contacts between the embassy and members of Congress, Leibowitz thought Israeli efforts to influence American public opinion had crossed the line and leaked the transcripts. He was sentenced to 20 months in jail in 2010. Stephen Jin-Woo Kim A State Department analyst, Kim was indicted in 2010 for providing a classified intelligence report about North Korea's response to an upcoming round of sanctions to James Rosen, a reporter for Fox News. Kim's case made headlines again earlier this year when it was disclosed that Rosen had been named a co-conspirator in the case in order to gain access to his email account. Kim argues that his communication with Rosen was a normal part of interactions between officials and journalists in Washington. He has pleaded not guilty and his trial is ongoing. Bradley Manning Accused of providing thousands of diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, Manning, an Army private, has endured harsh treatment at the hands of his military jailers, who have reportedly subjected him to long stints in solitary confinement and forced him to remain naked in his cell. Manning's alleged mistreatment have made him a cause célèbre among privacy rights activists, and his trial has become a focal point in the conflict over the Obama administration's aggressive pursuit of leakers and whistleblowers. In 2011, military prosecutors added an additional set of charges in his case, and he is being prosecuted under both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Espionage Act. His trial is ongoing. Jeffrey Sterling In his 2006 book State of War: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration, New York Times reporter James Risen detailed an episode in which the CIA sent a former Russian scientist to Iran with faulty plans in an effort to sabotage the Iranian nuclear program. But according to Risen's account, that mission was botched and may have helped Iran advance its nuclear research. Federal prosecutors allege that Sterling, a former CIA agent, was the source for that account. Sterling has pleaded not guilty, and the Justice Department is currently appealing a series of evidentiary rulings. John Kiriakou A 14-year veteran of the CIA and a counterterror specialist, Kiriakou blew the whistle on the CIA's use of waterboarding and, according to prosecutors, disclosed the identities of several CIA agents. An outspoken opponent of the agency's interrogation tactics, he went on television in 2007 and described in detail the methods used to waterboard Abu Zubaydah, a member of al Qaeda currently detained at Guantánamo Bay. Kiriakou agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors, under the terms of which he is currently serving a 30-month prison sentence. Ed Snowden A former NSA contractor and the source for recent revelations about the agency's top-secret surveillance programs, Snowden is charged with espionage and theft of government property. He has provided the Washington Post and the Guardian with a wide variety of documents detailing the NSA's efforts to monitor Internet and telephone communications. Snowden is believed to be in Hong Kong, and U.S. officials have asked authorities there to extradite him. RONNY HARTMANN/AFP/Getty Images EXPLORE:INTELLIGENCE, NATIONAL SECURITY, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION More From FP Mitt Romney is living every social scientist's nightmare First female Muslim Arab soldier joins elite Israeli Air Force unit What the Bloody Hell Is Wrong with You Americans? Kenyans Rage Online as Obama Skips Father's Homeland on Africa Trip The most striking photo so far of the Boston Marathon tragedy? Around the Web BlackBerry: BB10 is stealing customers away from rivals (CNET) BYOD is Dead, Long Live SYOD! (Cloud Powered Work) Religion Is Not Welcome: How a Prayer Wrecked a Graduation (Take Part) Paralegal, 26, Found Dead in Prominent Attorney's Home (Good Morning America) Agnosticism rules the cloud (ZDNet) Recommended by Can Turkey Arm Syria’s Rebels Without Suffering Serious Blowback? Why Obama Is Letting the Russians Get Away With Murder The British Spying Program Is Even Bigger Than the NSA's, Baby Brazil Protests and Turkey Stands Still: The Best Photos of the Week 18 comments FPWelcome to Foreign Policy's new commenting system! The good news is that it's now easier than ever to comment and share your insights with friends. Here's how it works: You can now sign in by creating a LiveFyre account (which will replace the ForeignPolicy.com accounts from now on), or using a Twitter or Facebook account, and carry on a conversation with your fellow commenters in the section below. You do not have to sign in using a social network if you choose to remain anonymous – simply use a LiveFyre account to continue commenting. For more information, click here. Sign in with Twitter Facebook Livefyre Powered byLivefyre logogears Post comment as + Follow conversation Post totwitter logofacebook logo Sort: Newest | Oldest Conversation on FP.com AdityaMookerjee AdityaMookerjee The U. S., must not seem to invite govt. criticism. They can, as a govt., not be judgmental, but factual, in expression, at least the way they understand it. The terms, 'bad', 'good' 'terrorist', are words used by Judges in Courts of Law, and the adjoining chambers, to make people in court understand what the issue is, and how the law views it. Political parties use the terminology of other professions and vocations, but not as those professions use them, which is, in a manner we cannot understand as perhaps the judge does. At least, we can use the terms not being judgmental, and the govt., cannot be judgmental, because it does not represent the law, if I am not incorrect. 9 hours agoReplyLike CrystalMartinez CrystalMartinez Retired Army Captain Warns DHS Acquisitions are ‘bold threat of war’ Against the American People The Alex Jones Channel Alex Jones Show podcast Prison Planet TV Infowarswitter Alex Jones' Facebook Infowars storeSays Americans may have to prepare to defend themselves, and the U.S. Constitution, against the Obama Administration’s “coup” against the PeopleAdan SalazarInfowarsMarch 24, 2013On Saturday, retired United States Army Captain Terry M. Hestilow publicly voiced grave concerns over the Department of Homeland Security’s absurd acquisitions, posting a letter he sent to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on Facebook labeling the Obama administration’s recent appropriation of weapons a “bold threat of war” against citizens of the United States of America.Captain Terry M. Hestilow, United States Army, Retired, via Facebook“It is with gravest concern that I write to you today concerning the recent appropriation of weapons by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that can only be understood as a bold threat of war by that agency, and the Obama administration, against the citizens of the United States of America,” the decorated retired Army Captain’s letter begins.Referring to the DHS’ solicitations for nearly two billion rounds of ammunition and recent purchase of almost 3,000 mine-resistant ambush protected armored personnel carriers as “a tyrannical threat against the Constitution” and a deliberate attempt to defund the Department of Defense, the retired Army Captain asked Sen. Cornyn to honor his oath to the American people and the U.S. Constitution and “to demand in clear terms that the Administration cannot ignore, that the Department of Homeland Security immediately surrender their newly appropriated weapons of war to the Department of Defense (DoD).” 13 hours agoReplyLike schneibster schneibster CrystalMartinez spammer flagged 13 hours agoReplyLike StarMann StarMann What became of the Barack Obama we THOUGHT we voted for?!?!?!?!?!?!?! 14 hours agoReplyLike schneibster schneibster StarMann You mean The One Who Farts Rainbows? 14 hours agoReplyLike ZacharyT123 ZacharyT123 StarMann You voted for a smooth talking Chicago politician with such little experience it was impossible to know what you were going to get. And you got this. 14 hours agoReplyLike schneibster schneibster ZacharyT123 StarMann Yeah, nobody should vote for a black, they're too stupid, you never know what you'll get./sarcasm So, racist much? Just askin'. 13 hours agoReplyLike pvorobets pvorobets schneibster ZacharyT123 StarMann That's weird sneibster, I didn't see anyone make any racial comments before you commented. 11 hours agoReplyLike DougAlder DougAlder pvorobets schneibster ZacharyT123 StarMann Don't you - just criticizing Obama in any way is racist 8 hours agoReplyLike AACNY AACNY StarMann He sits atop the pile of people who were trashed for criticizing him. They go hand-in-hand after all. He's a product of your defense against those critics. While you're reflecting on the real Obama, why not reconsider all his claims about republicans, the war on women, etc. Fomenting dissension among Americans was part of his strategy. He needs you to remain at the point where you'd never vote for a republican. 5 hours agoReplyLike arvay arvay StarMann I can speak only for me. I voted for Obama, and contributed to his campaign, to try to help derail the right-wing, Tea-Party nitwit bandwagon. Romney in my view would be a pawn, like Bush W. If Romney were president, we'd likely be involved in Syria right now. But Obama is a proponent of the One Percenter system a product of it. His financial system "reform" is a fake. Wall Streeters mostly supported him. He appointed the same team as Bush had, that Clinton had, really. He believes in American hegemony. One of his biggest supporters, Penny Pritzker, who he just named Commerce Secretary -- was one of the people behind all those bogus mortgages that helped crash the economy. She's a very strong suporter of israel. He's defending the system he believes in, just smarter than the alternative and less likely to create a short-term disaster. in the long run, he's taking the country into the abyss. He doesn't see that, of course, he thinks he can "smart" his way out of anything, but the forces in play are too overwhelming for that. The country needs a new leadership class, and that's going to take some doing. But the current ones are paving the way for that. 2 hours agoReplyLike AACNY AACNY arvay StarMann It's interesting that you do not consider that Romney would have been "mugged" by reality as POTUS just as Obama has been. Do you really think a President Romney would have ignored the polls that show Americans do not support intervention? That he would have sidelined his focus on jobs by doing something like this? I'm not so sure. If anything, your protest vote should be examined. Voting against something that may not occur is a wasted vote if there ever was one. And it leaves you impotent. They've got your vote no matter what they do. 1 hour agoReplyLike schneibster schneibster Let's start with Blago. Obama pardoned him, right? Oh, wait... 15 hours agoReplyLike cp3002 cp3002 Code of Universal Military Justice? Did you mean the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ)? 16 hours agoReplyLike ZacharyT123 ZacharyT123 The most transparent administration in US History, folks. 17 hours agoReplyLike MichaelJLawler MichaelJLawler ZacharyT123 The most bullshit administration in history! 15 hours agoReplyLike schneibster schneibster MichaelJLawler ZacharyT123 Yeah! They elected a black dude, can you believe it? /sarcasm 15 hours agoReplyLike ProRonin ProRonin @schneibster @MichaelJLawler @ZacharyT123 I've seen posts about Obama that were blatantly racist, Schneibster, but these do not fall into that category. These posters are, like me, legitimately angry about actions this administration have taken, just like people were legitimately angry about actions the last administration took. 4 hours agoReplyLike Passport, FP’s flagship blog, brings you news and hidden angles on the biggest stories of the day, as well as insights and under-the-radar gems from around the world. 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#1. To: A K A Stone (#0)
walker - hanssen - ames - manning - snowden all deserve to be shot - summarily !
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