Victim Of Obama's Crackdown On Whistleblowers Says Calling Leakers Spies Is Modern Day McCarthyism

from the apt-comparison dept

John Kiriakou, who is in jail for blowing the whistle on the CIA's torture program, has written a compelling op-ed for The Guardian about how President Obama's war against whistleblowers, including calling whistleblowers spies is like modern-day McCarthyism, where if you're not careful, the government will denounce you as a "traitor" or a "spy" when all you really did was expose questionable behavior by the government. Kiriakou recounts the details of his own case:
In early 2012, I was arrested and charged with three counts of espionage and one count of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act (IIPA). (I was only the second person in US history to be charged with violating the IIPA, a law that was written to be used against rogues like Philip Agee.)

Two of my espionage charges were the result of a conversation I had with a New York Times reporter about torture. I gave him no classified information – only the business card of a former CIA colleague who had never been undercover. The other espionage charge was for giving the same unclassified business card to a reporter for ABC News. All three espionage charges were eventually dropped.

So, why charge me in the first place?

It was my punishment for blowing the whistle on the CIA's torture program and for confirming to the press, despite government protestations to the contrary, that the US government was, indeed, in the business of torture.
He notes, of course, that there's a massive double standard. If someone powerful reveals information for other reasons (i.e., not to blow the whistle on abuse) there's no problem:
Nearly a century later, when the deputy director for national intelligence revealed the amount of the highly-classified intelligence budget in an ill-conceived speech, she was not even sent a letter of reprimand – despite the fact the Russians, Chinese, and others had sought the figure for decades. When former Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta boastfully revealed the identity of the Seal Team member who killed Osama bin Laden in a speech to an audience that included uncleared individuals, the Pentagon and the CIA simply called the disclosure "inadvertent".

There was no espionage charge for Panetta. But there was a $3m book deal.
The situation is pretty clear. The administration uses espionage charges to scare whistleblowers away and to permanently damage the reputation of anyone who dares even the slightest whistleblowing which might embarrass the administration.
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Filed Under: cia, john kiriakou, mccarthyism, whistleblowers


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  • icon
    Wally (profile), 8 Aug 2013 @ 2:43pm

    Victim Of Obama's Crackdown On Whistleblowers Says Calling Leakers Spies Is Modern Day McCarthyism

    Mike..the title of this article just dropped a huge bombshell of a thought for people to think about....I think in one tittle sentence you just gave the entire Obama Administration the EXACT description that it deserves! Edward R. Murrow would be proud. Prepare yoursdelf for the longest freaking quote ever....and what makes this all the more true is that Obama was a Junior Senator for Illinois before he ran for president.

    Murrow: Good evening. Tonight See it Now devotes its entire half hour to a report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy told mainly in his own words and pictures. But first, ALCOA would like you to meet a man who has been with them for fifty years. (Commercial break.)

    Murrow: Because a report on Senator McCarthy is by definition controversial, we want to say exactly what we mean to say, and I request your permission to read from the script whatever remarks Murrow and Friendly may make. If the Senator feels that we have done violence to his words or pictures and so desires to speak, to answer himself, an opportunity will be afforded him on this program. Our working thesis tonight is this question: If this fight against Communism is made a fight between America's two great political parties, the American people know that one of these parties will be destroyed, and the Republic cannot endure very long as a one party system.

    We applaud that statement and we think Senator McCarthy ought to. He said it, seventeen months ago in Milwaukee.

    McCarthy: The American people realize that this cannot be made a fight between America's two great political parties. If this fight against Communism is made a fight between America's two great political parties, the American people know that one of those parties will be destroyed, and the Republic can't endure very long as a one party system.

    Murrow: But on February 4th, 1954, Senator McCarthy spoke of one party's treason. This was at Charleston, West Virginia where there were no cameras running. It was recorded on tape.

    McCarthy: The issue between the Republicans and Democrats is clearly drawn. It has been deliberately drawn by those who have been in charge of twenty years of treason. Not the hard fact is...the hard fact is that those who wear the label...those who wear the label "Democrat" wear it with the stain of a historic betrayal.

    Murrow: Seventeen months ago Candidate Eisenhower met Senator McCarthy in Green Bay, Wisconsin and he laid down the ground rules on how he would fight Communism if elected.

    Eisenhower: Now this is a pledge I make. If I am charged by you people to be the responsible head of the Executive Department, it will be my initial responsibility to see that subversion, disloyalty, is kept out of the Executive Department. We will always appreciate and welcome Congressional investigation, but the responsibility will rest squarely on the shoulders of the Executive, and I hold that there are ample powers in the government to get rid of these people if the Executive Department is really concerned in doing it. We can do it with absolute assurance. (Applause.)

    That is America's principle--trial by jury, of the innocent, until proved guilty--and I expect to stand to do it.

    Murrow: That same night in Milwaukee, Senator McCarthy stated what he would do if the General was elected.

    McCarthy: I spent about a half hour with the General last night. While I can't...while I can't report that we agreed entirely on everything...[laughter and applause]...I can report that when I left that meeting with the General, I had the same feeling as when I went in, and that is that he is a great American, will make a great president, an outstanding president. But I want to tell you tonight, tell the American people, as long as I represent you and the rest of the American people in the Senate, I shall continue to call them as I see them, regardless of who happens to be president.

    Murrow: November 24th, 1953.

    McCarthy: A few days ago, I read that President Eisenhower expressed the hope that by election time in 1954 the subject of Communism would be a dead and forgotten issue. The raw, harsh, unpleasant fact is that Communism is an issue and will be an issue in 1954.

    Murrow: On one thing the Senator has been consistent. Often operating as a one-man committee, he has traveled far, interviewed many, terrorized some, accused civilian and military leaders of the past administration of a great conspiracy to turn over the country to Communism, investigated and substantially demoralized the present State Department, made varying charges of espionage at Fort Manmouth. (The Army says it has been unable to find anything relating to espionage there). He has interrogated a varied assortment of what he calls "Fifth Amendment Communists." Republican Senator Flanders of Vermont said of McCarthy today: "He dons war paint; he goes into his war dance; he emits his war whoops; he goes forth to battle and proudly returns with the scalp of a pink army dentist."

    Other critics have accused the Senator of using the bull whip and smear. There was a time two years ago when the Senator and his friends said he had been smeared and bull whipped.

    [former congressman] Frank Keefe: You sometimes think to hear the quartet that call themselves "Operation Truth" damning Joe McCarthy and resorting to the vilest smears I have ever heard. Well, this is the answer... ...and if I could express it in what's in my heart right now, I'd do it in terms of the poet who once said:

    Ah 'tis but a dainty flower I bring you,
    Yes, 'tis but a violet, glistening with dew,
    But still in its heart there lies beauties concealed
    So in our heart our love for you lies unrevealed.

    McCarthy: You know, I used to pride myself on the idea that I was a bit tough, especially over the past eighteen or nineteen months, when we've been kicked around and bull whipped and damned. I didn't think that I could be touched very deeply. But tonight, frankly, my cup and my heart is so full I can't talk to you.

    Murrow: But in Philadelphia, on Washington's Birthday, 1954, his heart was so full he could talk. He reviewed some of the General Zwicker testimony and proved he hadn't abused him.

    McCarthy: Nothing is more serious than a traitor to this country in the Communist conspiracy. [Laughing] (Are you enjoying this abuse, General? [laughs]) Question: Do you think stealing $50 is more serious than being a traitor to the country and part of the Communist conspiracy? Answer: "That, sir, was not my decision."

    Shall we go on to that for a while? I hate to impose on your time. And I've just got two pages. This is the abuse which ...the real meat of abuse, this is the official reporter's record of the hearing. After he said he wouldn't remove that General from the Army who cleared Communists, I said: "Then General, you should be removed from any command. Any man who has been given the honor of being promoted to General, and who says, 'I will protect another general who protects Communists,' is not fit to wear that uniform, General." (Applause.)

    I think it is a tremendous disgrace to the Army to have to bring these facts before the public, but I intend to give it to the public, General. I have a duty to do that. I intend to repeat to the press exactly what you said, so that you can know that and be back here to hear it, General.

    And wait till you hear the bleeding hearts scream and cry about our methods of trying to drag the truth from those who know, or should know, who covered up a Fifth Amendment Communist, Major. But they say, 'Oh, it's all right to uncover them, but don't get rough doing it, McCarthy.'

    Murrow: But two days later, Secretary Stevens and the Senator had lunch, agreed on a memorandum of understanding, disagreed on what the small type said.

    Stevens: I shall never accede to the abuse of Army personnel under any circumstance, including committee hearings. I shall not accede to them being brow-beaten or humiliated. In the light of those assurances, although I did not propose the cancellation of the hearings, I acceded to it. If it had not been for these assurances, I would never have entered into any agreement whatsoever.

    Murrow: Then President Eisenhower issued a statement that his advisors thought censored the Senator, but the Senator saw it as another victory, called the entire Zwicker case "a tempest in a teapot."

    McCarthy: [If an] arrogant or witless man in a position of power appears before our Committee and is found aiding the Communist Party, he will be exposed. The fact that he might be a General places him in no special class, as far as I am concerned. Apparently...apparently, the President and I now agree on the necessity of getting rid of Communists. We apparently disagree only on how we should handle those who protect Communists. When the shouting and the tumult dies, the American people and the President will realize that this unprecedented mud slinging against the Committee by the extreme left wing elements of press and radio was caused solely because another Fifth Amendment Communist was finally dug out of the dark recesses and exposed to the public view.

    Murrow: (points to a chart): Senator McCarthy claims that only the left wing press criticized him on the Zwicker case. Of the fifty large circulating newspapers in the country, these are the left wing papers that criticized. These are the ones that supported him. The ratio is about three to one [against the Senator]. Now let us look at some of these left wing papers that criticized the Senator.

    [Murrow quotes from articles and headlines]:

    The Chicago Tribune: McCarthy will better serve his cause if he learns to distinguish the role of investigator from the role of avenging angel...

    The New York Times: The unwarranted interference of a demagogue -- a domestic Munich...

    The Times Herald of Washington: Senator McCarthy's behavior towards Zwicker not justified...

    The Herald Tribune of New York: McCarthyism involves assaults on basic Republican concepts...

    The Milwaukee Journal: The line must be drawn and defended or McCarthy will become the government...

    The Evening Star of Washington It was a bad day for everyone who resents and detests the bully boy tactics which Senator McCarthy so often employees...

    The New York World Telegram: Bamboozling, bludgeoning, distorting way...

    St. Louis Post Dispatch: Unscrupulous, McCarthy bullying. What a tragic irony it is that the President's political advisors keep him from doing what every decent instinct must be commanding him to do...

    Well, that's the ratio of a three-to-one, so-called "left-wing" press.

    Another interesting thing was said about the Zwicker case, and it was said by Senator McCarthy.

    McCarthy: Well, may I say that I was extremely shocked when I heard that Secretary Stevens told two Army officers that they had to take part in the cover-up of those who promoted and coddled Communists. As I read his statement, I thought of that quotation "On what meat doth this, our Caesar, feed?"

    Murrow: And upon what meat doth Senator McCarthy feed? Two of the staples of his diet are the investigation, protected by immunity, and the half-truth. We herewith submit samples of both.

    First, the half-truth. This was an attack on Adlai Stevenson at the end of the 1952 campaign. President Eisenhower, it must be said, had no prior knowledge of it.

    TITLE: Chicago, Oct. 27, 1957

    McCarthy I perform this unpleasant task because the American people are entitled to have the coldly documented history of this man who says, "I want to be your President."

    Strangely, Alger -- I mean, Adlai [laughter] -- But let's move on to another part of the jigsaw puzzle. Now, while you think -- while you may think there can be no connection between the debonair Democrat candidate and a dilapidated Massachusetts barn, I want to show you a picture of this barn and explain the connection.

    Here is the outside of the barn. Give me the pictures of the inside, if you will. Here is the outside of the barn up at Lee, Massachusetts. It looks as though it couldn't house a farmer's cow or goat. Here's the inside: a beautifully panelled conference room with maps of the Soviet Union. Well, in what way does Stevenson tie up with this?

    My...my investigators went out and took pictures of this barn after we had been tipped off of what was in it, tipped off that there was in this barn all the missing documents from the Communist front--IPR--the IPR which has been named by the McCarran Committee...named before the McCarran Committee as a cover shop for Communist espionage.

    Now, let's take a look at a photostat of a document taken from the Massachusetts barn -- one of those documents which was never supposed to see the light of day. Rather interesting it is. This is a document which shows that Alger Hiss and Frank Coe recommended Adlai Stevenson to the Mount Tremblant Conference which was called for the purpose of establishing foreign policy (postwar foreign policy) in Asia. Now, as you know, Alger Hiss is a convicted traitor. Frank Coe has been named under oath before congressional committees seven times as a member of the Communist Party. Why? Why do Hiss and Coe find that Adlai Stevenson is the man they want representing them at this conference? I don't know. Perhaps Adlai knows.

    Murrow: But Senator McCarthy didn't permit his audience to hear the entire paragraph. This is the official record of the McCarran hearings. Anyone can buy it for two dollars. Here's a quote: "Another possibility for the Mount Tremblant conferences on Asia is someone from Knox' office or Stimson's office." (Frank Knox was our wartime Secretary of the Navy; Henry Stimson our Secretary of the Army, both distinguished Republicans.) And it goes on: "Coe, and Hiss mentioned Adlai Stevenson, one of Knox's special assistants, and Harvey Bundy --former Assistant Secretary of State under Hoover, and now assistant to Stimson--because of their jobs."

    We read from this documented record, not in defense of Mr. Stevenson, but in defense of truth. Specifically, Mr. Stevenson's identification with that red barn was no more, no less than that of Knox, Stimson or Bundy. It should be stated that Mr. Stevenson was once a member of the Institute of Pacific Relations. But so were such other loyal Americans as Senator Ferguson, John Foster Dulles, Paul Hoffman, Harry Luce and Herbert Hoover. Their association carries with it no guilt, and that barn has nothing to do with any of them.

    Now, a sample of an investigation. The witness was Reed Harris, for many years a civil servant in the State Department, directing the Information Service. Harris was accused of helping the Communistic cause by curtailing some broadcasts to Israel. Senator McCarthy summoned him and questioned him about a book he had written in 1932.

    McCarthy: May we come to order. Mr. Reed Harris? Your name is Reed Harris?

    Harris: That's correct.

    McCarthy: You wrote a book in '32, is that correct?

    Harris: Yes, I wrote a book. And as I testified in executive session...

    McCarthy: At the time you wrote the book -- pardon me; go ahead. I'm sorry. Proceed.

    Harris: At the time I wrote the book, the atmosphere in the universities of the United States was greatly affected by the Great Depression then in existence. The attitudes of students, the attitudes of the general public, were considerably different than they are at this moment, and for one thing there certainly was generally no awareness, to the degree that there is today, of the way the Communist Party works.

    McCarthy: You attended Columbia University in the early thirties. Is that right?

    Harris: I did, Mr. Chairman.

    McCarthy Will you speak a little louder, sir?

    Harris: I did, Mr. Chairman.

    McCarthy: And were you expelled from Columbia?

    Harris: I was suspended from classes on April 1st, 1932. I was later reinstated, and I resigned from the University.

    McCarthy: And you resigned from the University. Did the Civil -- Civil Liberties Union provide you with an attorney at that time?

    Harris: I had many offers of attorneys, and one of those was from the American Civil Liberties Union, yes.

    McCarthy The question is did the Civil Liberties Union supply you with an attorney?

    Harris: They did supply an attorney.

    McCarthy: The answer is yes?

    Harris: The answer is yes.

    McCarthy: You know the Civil Liberties Union has been listed as "a front for, and doing the work of," the Communist Party?

    Harris: Mr. Chairman this was 1932.

    McCarthy: Yeah, I know it was 1932. Do you know that they since have been listed as a front for, and doing the work of the Communist Party?

    Harris: I do not know that they have been listed so, sir.

    McCarthy: You don't know they have been listed?

    Harris: I have heard that mentioned or read that mentioned.

    McCarthy: Now, you wrote a book in 1932. I'm going to ask you again: at the time you wrote this book, did you feel that professors should be given the right to teach sophomores that marriage -- and I quote -- "should be cast out of our civilization as antiquated and stupid religious phenomena?" Was that your feeling at that time?

    Harris: My feeling was that professors should have the right to express their considered opinions on any subject, whatever they were, sir.

    McCarthy: All right, I'm going to ask you this question again.

    Harris: That includes that quotation. They should have the right to teach anything that came into their minds as being the proper thing to teach.

    McCarthy: I'm going to make you answer this.

    Harris: All right, I'll answer yes, but you put an implication on it, and you feature this particular point of the book, which, of course, is quite out of context, does not give a proper impression of the book as a whole. The American public doesn't get an honest impression of even that book, bad as it is, from what you are quoting from it.

    McCarthy: Well, then, let's continue to read your own writing, and...

    Harris: Twenty-one years ago, again.

    McCarthy: Yes, but we shall try and bring you down to date, if we can.

    Harris: Mr. Chairman, two weeks ago, Senator Taft took the position that I took twenty-one years ago, that Communists and Socialists should be allowed to teach in the schools. It so happens that nowadays I don't agree with Senator Taft, as far as Communist teaching in the schools is concerned, because I think Communists are, in effect, a plainclothes auxiliary of the Red Army, the Soviet Red Army. And I don't want to see them in any of our schools, teaching.

    McCarthy: I don't recall Senator Taft ever having any of the background that you've got, sir.

    Harris: I resent the tone of this inquiry very much, Mr. Chairman. I resent it, not only because it is my neck, my public neck, that you are, I think, very skillfully trying to wring, but I say it because there are thousands of able and loyal employees in the federal government of the United States who have been properly cleared according to the laws and the security practices of their agencies, as I was -- unless the new regime says no; I was before.

    Senator John McClellen: Do you think this book that you wrote then did considerable harm, its publication might have had adverse influence on the public by an expression of views contained in it?

    Harris: The sale of that book was so abysmally small, it was so unsuccessful that a question of its influence... Really, you can go back to the publisher. You'll see it was one of the most unsuccessful books he ever put out. He's still sorry about it, just as I am.

    Senator John McClellan: Well, I think that's a compliment to American intelligence... (Laughter). I will say that for him.

    Murrow: Senator McCarthy succeeded in proving that Reed Harris had once written a bad book, which the American people had proved twenty-two years ago by not buying it, which is what they eventually do will all bad ideas. As for Reed Harris, his resignation was accepted a month later with a letter of commendation. McCarthy claimed it as a victory.

    The Reed Harris hearing demonstrates one of the Senator's techniques. Twice he said the American Civil Liberties Union was listed as a subversive front. The Attorney General's list does not and has never listed the ACLU as subversive, nor does the FBI or any other federal government agency. And the American Civil Liberties Union holds in its files letters of commendation from President Truman, President Eisenhower, and General MacArthur.

    Now let us try to bring the McCarthy story a little more up to date. Two years ago Senator Benton of Connecticut accused McCarthy of apparent perjury, unethical practice, and perpetrating a hoax on the Senate. McCarthy sued for two million dollars. Last week he dropped the case, saying no one could be found who believed Benton's story. Several volunteers have come forward saying they believe it in its entirety.

    Today Senator McCarthy says he's going to get a lawyer and force the networks to give him time to reply to Adlai Stevenson's speech.

    Earlier, the Senator asked, "Upon what meat does this, our Caesar, feed?" Had he looked three lines earlier in Shakespeare's Caesar, he would have found this line, which is not altogether inappropriate: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."

    No one familiar with the history of this country can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating, but the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one and the junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind, as between the internal and the external threats of Communism. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men -- not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.

    This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.

    The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it -- and rather successfully. Cassius was right. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."

    Good night, and good luck.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2013 @ 4:56pm

      Re: Victim Of Obama's Crackdown On Whistleblowers Says Calling Leakers Spies Is Modern Day McCarthyism

      Obama: TLDR

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Wally (profile), 8 Aug 2013 @ 10:45pm

        Re: Re: Victim Of Obama's Crackdown On Whistleblowers Says Calling Leakers Spies Is Modern Day McCarthyism

        Neither did Senator McArthy ever pay attention to Edward R. Murrow's speech shown here.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      That One Guy (profile), 8 Aug 2013 @ 6:54pm

      Re: Victim Of Obama's Crackdown On Whistleblowers Says Calling Leakers Spies Is Modern Day McCarthyism

      Crazy long comment, but disturbingly similar to current events...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Wally (profile), 8 Aug 2013 @ 10:49pm

        Re: Re: Victim Of Obama's Crackdown On Whistleblowers Says Calling Leakers Spies Is Modern Day McCarthyism

        I'm wondering how much more closely it would correlate with a single wording change....replace "Communists" or anything having to do with Communism to "American Values"....I'm already feeling disturbed by the correlation in that non-political modernized version.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Wally (profile), 8 Aug 2013 @ 11:04pm

          Re: Re: Re: Victim Of Obama's Crackdown On Whistleblowers Says Calling Leakers Spies Is Modern Day McCarthyism

          Then change the applicable names and years to modern equivalents.....year being 2008...this means that since McArthy would be Obama, I'm willing to bet McCain would be Harris....and in the spirit of sentiments towards Communism in 1954 being shared by McArthy thus lauded against Obama given we switch "Communism" to "American Value System" or anything applicable to conform to political spectrum..Edward R. Murrow would be FoxNews (Lou Dobbs) or quite possibly CNN (Anderson Copper).

          This is getting very disturbing TOG :-|

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Ninja (profile), 9 Aug 2013 @ 4:13am

      Re: Victim Of Obama's Crackdown On Whistleblowers Says Calling Leakers Spies Is Modern Day McCarthyism

      Humans are bound to repeat historical errors from time to time. They need to be reminded of how much pain these errors cause to remain in peace for another few decades.

      I admit I didn't read the entirety of the quote but the parts I've read are interesting.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Wally (profile), 9 Aug 2013 @ 2:25pm

        Re: Re: Victim Of Obama's Crackdown On Whistleblowers Says Calling Leakers Spies Is Modern Day McCarthyism

        Senator McCarthy was so paranoid that he started accusing everyone he disagreed with it lost a lawsuit with as Communists or Communist Sympathizers...in 1950's US that was enough to get you tried for treason if you had any sort of hint. McCarthy's paranoia was so great that he even started attacking and suing the press based on the fact that they were "Communists spies" and even poor President Dwight D. Eisenhower got accused of being one....after openly questioning Senator McCarthy...

        Ninja I encourage you to read the entire thing as a whole and to look up American History of the 1950's...if not find the entire recording of it. You'll start to see or hear a lot of The Obama Administrations accusations (Senator McCarthy) about the Press and Snowden (who would be portrayed as Senator Harris) parallel with the type of paranoia that McCarthy displayed.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Internet Zen Master (profile), 8 Aug 2013 @ 2:44pm

    Welcome to -insert secretive US Agency here-

    The first rule of -insert secretive US Agency here- is: you do not talk about -insert secretive US Agency here-.

    The second rule of -insert secretive US Agency here- is: you DO NOT talk about -insert secretive US Agency here-!


    ....Unless you're a high-ranking official who has dirt on everyone who could come after you.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2013 @ 3:59pm

    it shows how insecure the government is and those that are in the 'top jobs', whether security related or not. it shows even more how no one in America can trust their own government and can easily be imprisoned or worse on the whim of anyone high enough regardless of whether you have committed any crime or not! what a situation to be in!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Drew, 8 Aug 2013 @ 4:28pm

    General comment on Techdirt posts

    I appreciate the reasons behind including lots of links to related Techdirt posts to provide context without excessive rehashing, but I think the primary article being commented on is often hard to find among the other links.

    In particular, the link to the Guardian article is the last one here, so as someone who wants to read it before continuing on with your commentary I had to mouseover three other links to see if they were external or not.

    Perhaps a link underneath the "from the x dept." subtitle, or making the subtitle text itself into the link, or coloring the primary link a different color, could be done? Also in this case it would have made perfect sense to link "John Kiriakou", the first two words of the post, to the article.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2013 @ 8:36pm

    Not sure about your statement concerning why the individual is incarcerated. I believe he pled guilty to something that he did many years after his "torture" disclosure.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    RyanNerd (profile), 9 Aug 2013 @ 4:52am

    We live is scary times

    List of whistleblowers prosecuted under the Obama administration.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    esquireLLC, 9 Aug 2013 @ 6:49am

    Not really

    "the government will denounce you as a "traitor" or a "spy" when all you really did was expose questionable behavior by the government. Kiriakou recounts the details of his own case:"

    McCarthy denounced people for belonging to organizations, opposing him politically and even for no apparent reason at all. I agree that leaking wrong doing doesn’t necessarily equate to being a traitor, but being prosecuted for leaking information isn’t the same as being persecuted for your associations either.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    AD, 9 Aug 2013 @ 12:11pm

    John Kiriakou plead guilty. So how can someone who plead guilty be a "victim"? Pleading guilty is admitting to the charges. If Kiriakou thought he was a victim, why didn't he fight the charges?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      John Fenderson (profile), 9 Aug 2013 @ 12:38pm

      Re:

      People plead guilty to crimes they didn't commit every single day. They do it because it is often less damaging to your life to do this than it is to go through a trial (even if you win).

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Cinco, 9 Aug 2013 @ 7:26pm

        Re: Re:

        "People plead guilty to crimes they didn't commit every single day."

        Do they then call themselves victims in the media?

        Lots of people have courage and fight their charges. It's pretty cowardly IMHO to plead guilty (that's admitting guilt) and then scream "I'm a victim!"

        Kiriakou makes it out like the charges were minor and not really involving classified stuff. So there's every reason to fight that. Why didn't he? I say cowardice or he's not being honest here.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    youpeoplemakemesick, 9 Aug 2013 @ 12:12pm

    thank you fellow rational human

    Careful esquire, we don't take kindly to rational comments mid circle jerk round here.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous, 9 Aug 2013 @ 2:50pm

    I prefer Jenny McCarthyism!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Lee, 12 Oct 2013 @ 2:48pm

    Virtuaguy.com members your sex is being sold!

    D Thornton's/Howard Raymond's Virtuagirl.com - Virtuaguy.com members your sex is being sold!

    I can' believe Howard Raymond he says he is US. Darpa Totem Government he loves to torture members and laughs about it says he is from an invisible Democratic Darpa Adv. Alien Tech. Obama Warfare Research Dept.and is immune to any crimes he is government.

    Howard William Raymond, D. Thornton from Virtuagirl.com Totem Entertainment last address lives at from 72310 Blueridge Ct.Palm Desert, CA..

    Raymond says they work for the government have a Gov Darpa one way monitor and can view members at all his porn sites. He owns most of them.

    Howard Raymond son of billionaire late Paul Raymond (King of Porn Darpa wified thousands of members in London 15 years)

    He uses an invisible Darpa wifi retina-eye implant installed from your monitor with no cam of your own views, sells and records many members including famous celebrities but doesn't show their face.

    Howard has a torturing wifi retarted 1st. Grade program and threaten's you 24 hrs. A day with people you know.
    Raymond did a Wifi CA. Democratic Convention with C.Lauper's and Obama's voice in wifi torture 2012 Convention program in California last year.

    Raymond uses an unlisted Wifi Jay Leno Wifi Comedy Club from Palm Springs or Palm Desert, Ca.

    Crimes Raymond and US Gov.Darpa and Totem Entertainment committed against me.

    1. Invasion of Privacy and demonic mind possession from my monitor from his site he said Virtuagirl.com

    2. Tortured me and my family for two years and sold our sex! He says he wifi's your house to control the microchip implants.
    He uses electromagnetic energy from your wifi server and house.

    3. Death Threats he said my family and relatives were dying or dead in wrecks or in the hospital for a porn film promo.
    I had to follow my mother to church she was supposed to die with a heart attack or in a wreck but didn't.

    4. Porn-hijacked my computer Raymond from gov. Totem says and uses a superior gov. Computer controller program to control any computer.

    Howard said Virtuagirl site was my computer's monitor now and I couldn't do anything about it.
    5. Howard tried to black mail me saying stand up and do it at Virtuagirl.com or he will send my sex videos from my
    Room to the girls in my city and all over the Internet. He said he implanted girls in my city, S Texas.

    6. He wants to clear his Co. In selling illegal sex from my room for two years telling me this is the last day and chance I have to do it.
    To stand up and and say I want to do porn thank you for the money and software Jay Raymond - David. $100,000 or a million.

    7. He does wifi pressure point pain with painful heart attack palpitations several times and threatens me if I post he will crash
    My computer and ruin my life even more. Raymond virtualized my deceased father and tormented me with him.
    8. H. Raymond told me Dem. Darpa Wifi Bama will always have an invisible undetectable surveillance microchip in me and
    Will monitor everything I do like many others he said he has chipped, thousands in US and worldwide.

    Check links below, US Goverment Darpa invisble airplanes, tanks and programs - eye implants from your monitor.

    http://voices.yahoo.com/the-navys-air-forces-darpas-programs-control-399920.html?cat=5
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPgm-4TZ9Kk
    http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread385186/pg1

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Dec 2013 @ 7:38pm

    Darpa -Thornton/Leno/ Raymond/Obama Invisible Wifi Eye Implants - Demonic Invasion of Privacy.

    I'm posting this because Howard Raymond won't take his US Gov. implant out of me Obama or Darpa!
    He said J. Leno and David Thornton are implanting, wifi harassing and selling Virtuagirl.com members like me
    under Barrack Obama Darpa Gov. New world Order.

    Thornton, Raymond and Leno Darpa Dem. Gov. Invisible Wifi Retina -Eye program installed from the internet.
    Implanting the World - Global Electronic Mind Control.

    I'm Lee lee563@ykcwb.com and Darpa implanted and under surveillance for posting on the Virtuagirl.com message
    platinum member boards that this counrty was going down, immediately after that I received a Democratic Darpa Torture Implant in me! I'm a prisoner in what use to be in my own country USA - Land Of The Free My A.
    Obama and Raymond made me a wifi slave and I want the world to know what they are doing.
    Raymond just said it's Darpa's goal to implant the world for security but didn't want anyone to know.

    Howard Raymond CEO said David Thornton(Gov.immune)is manager over Virtuagirl and his Darpa Agency Microwave Wifi and Internet. Howard said he and David are married in London now with stage wives.
    Howard said he has never been with a woman except his mother and his kids from his stage wife are a product of artifical insemination.

    They Wifi's your house and use a Darpa (Agency) Wifi Democratic Jay Leno Comedy Club program to implant
    the world and myself and sell them at their porn site VG. through your monitor and room or anywhere you go
    with a Darpa (Agency) Adv. Alien tech. retina-eye invisible cell implant from his home or Virtuagirl.com then from
    your computer to view, record or sell you at one of their porn sites. It's an invisible live cam and cell phone anywhere you go. Raymond microwave wifi harasses you 24 hrs. a day and sell their members sex from monitor at Virtuagirl.com, Virtuaguy.com, Paulraymond.com, or one of their thousand porn sites. Raymond is a threat to society, he said he has done heroin 42 years and microwave tortures. He only did two shots today.

    Raymond brags about being US. Gov. Darpa Wifi Obama Immune and is still telling me to stand up and do it at
    Virtuagirl.com and say thank you Jay Leno and Raymond for the money 1 million and software or they won't de-wifi my house. He said J. Leno has implanted millions.

    He said Darpa Obama is offering me 1 million to sign them off on illegal porn he recorded from my room and sold at
    Virtuagirl.com the last two years. I have reported this everywhere and spent thousands in a court case and his
    Gov. Darpa Howard Raymond Agency said he is under Darpa Exe. Obama implanting 666 nano's worldwide.
    Raymond still telling me I am selling porn from my computer from my room and if I don't take the million Obama can
    terminate me or really torture me.

    Raymond still doing wifi pressure point pain and he said take the offer or it will really be torture.
    Invasion of Privacy, Implanting ,Torture, Blackmail and selling members sex is now legal? Obama ?
    This US Gov. Darpa Wifi CIA Offical is still threating me, saying he will or has put everything from my room on
    the AT&T cell phone or internet at Virtuagirl.com

    Raymond saying aid they US Gov.immune Darpa Wifi and can make their own laws and under Obama Dem. Agency
    Howard Raymond 72310 Blueridge Ct., Palm Desert. CA. 92260 then uses he said a torturing Dem.
    Obama's Darpa which sends my data to Darpa Warfare Research.
    Implanting the World - Global Electronic Mind Control.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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