Waterboarding Whistleblower Indicted Under Espionage Act 338
wiredmikey writes "A former CIA officer was indicted on Thursday for allegedly disclosing classified information to journalists. The restricted disclosure included the name of a covert officer and information related to the role a CIA employee played in classified operations. The indictment charges John Kiriakou with one count of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act for allegedly illegally disclosing the identity of a covert officer and with three counts of violating the Espionage Act for allegedly illegally disclosing national defense information to individuals not authorized to receive it. The count charging violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, as well as each count of violating the Espionage Act, carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, and making false statements carries a maximum prison term of five years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000."
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Where's the whistleblower immunity? (Score:5, Interesting)
Exposing crimes against humanity and they charge him with treason?
I for one applaud his decision, it was and will forever be, the correct choice.
I also hope that we as Americans will stand up for him and against his persecutors.
Re:Hope and change (Score:1, Interesting)
It's okay if you're the president, though. Remember when Bush outed Valery Plame? I guess it's okay for a president to put an agent in danger. Just not anyone else doing it for any real meaningful purpose.
What can I do? (Score:5, Interesting)
This, to me, might well be the final straw. What can I do to reverse this? I'm not apathetic, I'm willing to work to change this, but thanks to the majority of the voting public, I feel the simplest solutions will not work. What can I do to stop this?
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I wish he did 1 thing differently (Score:5, Interesting)
If he had not disclosed names which does put people at risk, I would have no problem with what he did. That one thing makes a huge difference, and for that reason it's difficult to defend him.
Exposing the activity alone should have been enough to open an investigation. Let the courts find the names relevant. He could have waited until a Grand Jury was opened, and exposed all the names he thought important to the courts.
I'm not trying to imply that the right people would have been prosecuted under those circumstances. Just that since he put people at risk by giving names to media the whole things gets a big question mark.
Re:Hope and change (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not talking about the normal broken promises. It's clear something happens. It's like Men In Black, where suddenly they're show the aliens and can't tell anyone. Instantly those three letter agencies are doing a great job and don't need changing.
I've seen it with Senators a couple of times. Once from someone so maverick it shocked me into recognition. Clearly someone is telling these people a story when they get elected. A story which changes everything.
Personally, I think it's wrong and evil this story is being kept from the American people. It's not very democratic if I can't understand what's happening and vote accordingly. I also suspect the story contains lies designed to protect the power of these spooks, but I doubt I'll ever learn the truth.
This is a really big deal and I'm glad to hear a few other people have noticed, outside conspiracy nuts.
Re:Let this be a message to the unpatriotic (Score:4, Interesting)
There was one like that for the first Bush. The story was that he was in a supermarket and was amazed at the bar code scanners (which had been around for a while) and so he was out of touch. Turns out he was at a demo of a new scanner at a convention that could read really mangled bar codes. If anyone cares, snopes has the details.
My only question is WTF happened to that scanner? My state of the art supermarket's scanners still crap out with even slight crumples in the code.
Re:Let this be a message to the unpatriotic (Score:5, Interesting)
I realise that's sarcasm, but there are a whole lot of people who actually do think like that. Did the guy commit a crime? Yes, but committing that crime was a patriotic thing to do, and damned brave if you aske me. The guy should get a CMH for his bravery, or at least a silver star (I know a guy who got two silver stars and doesn't believe that he should have; "I didn't do anything anybody else woudn't have," he said.)
The guy in TFS is a patriot and hero. The people pressing charges should be in front of a firing squad for treason -- because waterboarding IS unamerican, as is lying about it.
We're supposed to be the good guys. Can't we even try to be?