Is it as simple as the truth is too uncomfortable?

or is it more complicated than that?

as citizens,are we okay with locking up people for telling the truth?

to date, Kiriakou is the only person to see jail time for the torture program...

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/2/9/exclusive_freed_cia_whistleblower_john_kiriakou

In a broadcast exclusive interview, we spend the hour with John Kiriakou, a retired CIA agent who has just been released from prison after blowing the whistle on the George W. Bush administration’s torture program. In 2007, Kiriakou became the first CIA official to publicly confirm and detail the agency’s use of waterboarding. In January 2013, he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. Under a plea deal, Kiriakou admitted to a single count of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by revealing the identity of a covert officer involved in the torture program to a freelance reporter, who did not publish it. In return, prosecutors dropped charges brought under the Espionage Act. Kiriakou is the only official to be jailed for any reason relating to CIA torture. Supporters say he was unfairly targeted in the Obama administration’s crackdown on government whistleblowers. A father of five, Kiriakou spent 14 years at the CIA as an analyst and case officer, leading the team that found high-ranking al-Qaeda member Abu Zubaydah in 2002. He joins us from his home in Virginia, where he remains under house arrest for three months while completing his sentence. In a wide-ranging interview, Kiriakou says, "I would do it all over again," after seeing the outlawing of torture after he came forward. Kiriakou also responds to the details of the partially released Senate Committee Report on the CIA’s use of torture; argues NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden did a "great national service," but will not get a fair trial if he returns to the United States; and describes the conditions inside FCI Loretto, the federal prison where he served his sentence and saw prisoners die with "terrifying frequency" from lack of proper medical care.

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corporate, govt, snowden, manning, etc

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bunda
<-.-> ^_^ \^0^/
get busy living, or get busy dying.

>snowden

uh, Snowden ran.......was the President supposed to beg Snowden to come back? Make some promises to him?

????????

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/daniel-ellsberg-nsa-leaker-snowden-made-the-right-call/2013/07/07/0b46d96c-e5b7-11e2-aef3-339619eab080_story.html

I hope Snowden’s revelations will spark a movement to rescue our democracy, but he could not be part of that movement had he stayed here. There is zero chance that he would be allowed out on bail if he returned now and close to no chance that, had he not left the country, he would have been granted bail. Instead, he would be in a prison cell like Bradley Manning, incommunicado.

He would almost certainly be confined in total isolation, even longer than the more than eight months Manning suffered during his three years of imprisonment before his trial began recently. The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Torture described Manning’s conditions as “cruel, inhuman and degrading.” (That realistic prospect, by itself, is grounds for most countries granting Snowden asylum, if they could withstand bullying and bribery from the United States.)

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things.

you're applauding the president because it's not his fault whisleblowers are fleeing the country and living in exile to avoid punishment in a country that legalized torture

your stance has a touch of irony given the OP is about Kiriakou

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My reply (#2) "Snowden ran..."

There was nothing in the reply aplauding President Obama for anything Snowden related.

I asked if the President should have done something (since the President actually did NOTHING to Snowden).



You came up with "aplauding" so I'm guessing your confusion comes from you making stuff up.


but....I'll see what new stuff you come up with in the reply

Whistleblowers
Blah blah blah on how important they are inn maintaining integrity, etc

He not only did or offered no Such protections,
But at some point The bullet points and whistleblower parts of the speech were pulled off the Whitehouse website


It will just be a footnote in the grand scheme of things, but its
its

One of the more blatant political flip flops from Mr don't call me a politician

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bunda
<-.-> ^_^ \^0^/
get busy living, or get busy dying.

indictments ever brought under the 1917 Espionage Act. Snowden will be the seventh individual when he is formally indicted.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-charges-snowden-with-espionage/2013/06/21/507497d8-dab1-11e2-a016-92547bf094cc_story.html

This White House has charged Snowden with Espionage

that is what Obama has done.

Snowden hasn't been indicted, but it's crazy that Obama has 6 of the 9 indictments EVER under an 1917 act, don't you think

http://www.propublica.org/special/sealing-loose-lips-charting-obamas-crackdown-on-national-security-leaks

I'm seeing the trailblazer whistleblower there

I'm guessing the operation merlin leak (n korea nukes)

familiar names like manning, snowden, and kiriakou

so yeah, the original post that Obama has done whistleblowers dirty, historically speaking, looks pretty factual

oh the irony of Ellsberg being the first name on that list

and having his case dismissed because it exposed government misconduct

can you see it?

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State Dept Expert Stephen Kim

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/2/18/jailed_for_speaking_to_the_press

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all in the name of defending the obama administration
i honestly thought the snowden stuff would be a ground breaking event in our country
but you had one side excusing it because they are terrified of terrorists and the other side excusing it because obama

~~~~~~

countries?

I think Obama needs to pump his brakes and think about what he wants to be remembered for

drones and whistleblowers could be his legacy

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http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/pvcjoh/blazing-tattles

Stewie Beef lurks

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http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/02/cia-whistleblower-is-literally-facing-100-years-in-prison/

Jeffrey Sterling didn’t hurt anyone, yet he is facing up to 100 years behind bars for nothing more than being a whistleblower. President Barack Obama has repeatedly promised to protect whistleblowers from prosecution and punishment, even though he has used the Espionage Act more than all previous administrations. Those pledges apparently only apply to those who out corruption in private industries, rather than within federal law enforcement and international intelligence circles.

Now, Sterling’s maximum sentence of 100 years in prison and a fine of up to $2.25 million is looming as the former CIA case officer nears his April 24th court date.

Sterling has already been convicted of telling a New York Times reporter specific, classified details regarding a reckless CIA operation that actually helped Iran’s nuclear development.

The case against Sterling was almost entirely based upon circumstantial evidence. The news agency, Russia Today summarized Sterling’s history as follows:

After joining the CIA on May 14, 1993, Sterling eventually rose to the rank of case officer and began working with the agency’s Iran Task Force. Between November 1998 and May 2000, Sterling had been assigned to a mission conspiring to deliver flawed nuclear blueprints to the Iranian government codenamed Operation Merlin. Unaware of the design flaws, the Iranian government would waste years devising a nuclear weapon that could not detonate.

The CIA planned to use a Russian nuclear engineer codenamed Merlin to transport the nuclear blueprints to the Iranians. In a luxurious hotel room in San Francisco, Sterling and a senior CIA officer gave the blueprints to Merlin, who immediately identified a flaw even though he had not been debriefed. Instead of aborting the mission because the design flaw was too obvious, the senior CIA officer went ahead with the operation.

After handing the nuclear blueprints to Merlin, Sterling convinced him to fly to Vienna and deliver the flawed plans to the visiting Iranian representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Fearing retaliation from the Iranian government, Merlin unsealed the envelope containing the blueprints and inserted a personal letter warning the Iranians that the blueprints were flawed. Instead of stunting Iran’s nuclear plans, the CIA inadvertently gave the Iranian government valuable information that could be extracted after identifying the intentional design flaw.

On August 22, 2000, Sterling filed a complaint with the CIA’s Equal Employment Office alleging employment-related racial discrimination. Marred with a history of sexual and racial discrimination, the agency ordered the African American Sterling to recruit three new spies within two months even though many white case officers often go two or three years without recruiting anyone. In March 2001, the CIA placed Sterling on administrative leave.

On May 24, 2001, the CIA’s Equal Employment Office denied Sterling’s case. After Sterling filed a civil lawsuit against the CIA, the agency officially terminated him on January 31, 2002. New York Times reporter James Risen interviewed Sterling and published an article regarding his termination from the CIA.

Concerned about his involvement in the potential advancement of the Iranian nuclear program, Sterling met with the Senate Select Intelligence Committee (SSIC) in March 2003 to blow the whistle on a reckless CIA program codenamed Operation Merlin. A month later, Risen prepared to write an article exposing the mistakes made during Operation Merlin when then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice convinced New York Times senior officials to kill Risen’s story. Unable to publish his article about Operation Merlin in The New York Times, Risen began writing a book.

Published in January 2006, Risen wrote “State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration” against the wishes of the CIA and The New York Times. According to his book, a CIA official sent an email to an Iranian agent in 2004 accidentally including data exposing nearly every CIA asset in Iran. The Iranian spy who received the data was a double agent who turned the information over to Iranian security officials. Many CIA assets in Iran were arrested, interrogated, and never seen again.

Determined to prove Sterling had been Risen’s source for the book even though much of the information addressed events that happened after his termination from the CIA, the Justice Department began investigating both Risen and Sterling. Risen was subpoenaed in 2008, but he fought against it until the subpoena expired in 2009. The following year, the Obama administration renewed the subpoena ordering Risen to break his journalistic integrity and reveal his sources. Risen refused.

On January 6, 2011, Sterling was arrested for illegally disclosing national defense information and obstructing justice. According to the indictment, Sterling had communicated with Risen and revealed classified documents to the investigative journalist. Sterling was also charged with obstruction for deleting an email that he had sent to Risen.

In July 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Risen must testify in Sterling’s trial. Less than a year later, the Supreme Court rejected Risen’s appeal to protect his sources. In a vain attempt to secure his stained legacy, Attorney General Eric Holder announced last year that the Justice Department would not prosecute Risen for refusing to reveal his sources.

After a Kafkaesque trial involving anonymous CIA agents testifying behind seven-foot-high gray partitions, Sterling was convicted on Monday of six counts of unauthorized disclosure of national defense information, and one count each of unlawful retention of national defense information, unauthorized conveyance of government property, and obstruction of justice. Although Sterling’s attorneys demonstrated that at least 90 other CIA officials and numerous SSIC staffers could have given the information to Risen, Sterling was convicted without any evidence of recorded phone conversations or captured email exchanges between him and the reporter.

Watch the video report below to find out more about the nefarious activities that brave whistleblowers like Sterling, including people like Ralph McGehee, Phil Agee and other former CIA officers and agents have helped to expose…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLXb-DXiSvw

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---
www.ikirejones.com
FW16: After Migration.

http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/02/cia-whistleblower-warns-wake-up-youre-next/

dude will be back in prison by the end of 15'

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http://www.cinecoulisses.fr/content/kirikou3/kirikou3_onavu_03.jpg

---
http://twitter.com/logicalhood
http://instagram.com/hoodlogic

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181627/

so it's okay to leak classified information

as long as it doesn't intentionally reveal government misconduct?

http://www.mintpressnews.com/former-cia-director-david-petraeus-admits-sharing-military-secrets-with-mistress/203028/

If he manages to avoid prison, Petraeus will receive far more lenient punishment than that meted out to others convicted of leaking secrets.

In 2012, former CIA officer John Kiriakou pleaded guilty to intentionally disclosing the identity of a covert agent to a reporter and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. Petraeus, then CIA director, hailed the conviction.

“Oaths do matter, and there are indeed consequences for those who believe they are above the laws that protect our fellow officers and enable American intelligence agencies to operate with the requisite degree of secrecy,” he said at the time.

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in prison for leaking classified information to New York Times reporter James Risen about a failed U.S. effort to undermine Iran’s nuclear program.

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/5/12/exclusive_cia_whistleblower_jeffrey_sterling_speaks

Barry O lettin' us down, again.


Risen later exposed how the risky operation could have actually aided the Iranian nuclear program. In January Sterling was convicted of nine felony counts, including espionage. He becomes the latest government employee jailed by the Obama administration for leaking information. Since he was indicted four years ago, Jeffrey Sterling’s voice has never been heard by the public. But that changes today. We air an exclusive report that tells his story, "The Invisible Man." We are also joined by Norman Solomon, who interviewed Sterling for the piece and attended both his trial and sentencing. Solomon is a longtime activist, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, co-founder of RootsAction.org, and coordinator of ExposeFacts.org.

TRANSCRIPT

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AARON MATÉ: On Monday, former CIA officer, Jeffrey Sterling, was sentenced to 42 months in prison for leaking classified information to New York Times reporter James Risen about a failed U.S. effort to undermine Iran’s nuclear program. Risen later exposed how the risky operation could have actually aided the Iranian nuclear program. In January, Sterling was convicted of nine felony counts, including espionage. He becomes the latest government employee jailed by the Obama administration for leaking information. Since he was indicted four years ago, Jeffrey Sterling’s voice has never been heard by the public, but that changes today. Prior to his sentencing he agreed to do an interview with Norman Solomon of ExposeFacts.org and Judith Ehrlich, who directed "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers." Their piece is called, "The Invisible Man."

JEFFREY STERLING: They already had the machine geared up against me. The moment that they felt there was a leak every finger pointed to Jeffrey Sterling. If the word retaliation is not thought of when anyone looks at the experience that I’ve had with the agency, then I just think you’re not looking.
NARRATOR: "The Invisible Man: CIA Whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling." January 26, 2015.
* ALYONA MINKOVSK Breaking news: Jeffrey Sterling the former CIA agent officer has been convicted of espionage. He faces years in prison.
ANNOUNCER 1: Sterling is the man who the CIA is blaming for giving the national defense information to The New York Times reporter, James Risen. The case centers around a secret CIA operation to give faulty nuclear plans to Iran in an effort to slow down the country’s nuclear ambitions.
NARRATOR: Sterling denies leaking to James Risen.
HOLLY STERLING: He did nothing wrong. He did nothing illegal. He expressed concern for our country.
JEFFREY STERLING: I reached out to the Senate Intelligence Committee. I gave them my concerns about an operation I was involved in, and I thought it could have an impact — a negative impact — on our soldiers going into Iraq.
RAY MCGOVERN: Operation Merlin was a cockamamie, hair-brained scheme developed by covert action operators who had lots of money.
JEFFREY STERLING: The Senate Intelligence Committee and the House Committee, they have clearances to hear this. That is what they are there for. They are there for oversight.
RAY MCGOVERN: They are not oversight committees, they are overlook committees.
NARRATOR: Before reporting Operation Merlin to the Congress, Sterling had sued the CIA for racial discrimination.
ANNOUNCER 2: Sterling became the first African American case officer to sue the CIA for racial discrimination. He claimed a pattern of prejudice derailed his career.
JEFFREY STERLING: Shortly after 9/11 I felt anger, anger to the point that, you know, I want to do something about this. I will drop my discrimination claims. I want to come back and help. The response was I got at that offer — dropping my suit — was, you’re fired. John Brennan, the head of the CIA at the moment. he personally came down to the administrative office to tell me that I was fired. Someone told me, he was like, well, you pulled on Superman’s cape.
NARRATOR: Eventually the court dismissed Sterling’s discrimination lawsuit on grounds that the trial would reveal "state secrets."
JEFFREY STERLING: After I had been fired, I had no where to go. No one would hire me. I was living out of my car, essentially, and I had hit rock bottom. By happenstance, friends had just had a baby in the St. Louis area, a friend that I had gone to college with. They had a small room for me there and... It was difficult to come to that realization that I go from being a case officer in a Central Intelligence Agency, I have a law degree, to, I’m a manny. But such is life. And I was there, and it always adds a bit of joy to — holding, taking care of a newborn baby.
HOLLY STERLING: Is a part of our family. We’re a package deal.
JEFFREY STERLING: I got the job with — as a company — a health insurance company. That was great. I felt, OK, things are turning around and I thought, well, why don’t I put myself out there?
JEFFREY STERLING: My lovely assistant, Holly, here.
JEFFREY STERLING: And that’s how I met Holly, my wife. And we hit it right off.
HOLLY STERLING: Jeffrey and I have an incredibly strong foundation in our relationship. It’s been since day one.
JEFFREY STERLING: No you won’t —
HOLLY STERLING: This is not my forte.
JEFFREY STERLING: I’m kidding.
HOLLY STERLING: I like to eat.
HOLLY STERLING: We met via match.com. That was our first date. Second date, but, we said we were going to get married on the beach, barefoot. And that’s exactly what happened. We got married in Jamaica.
JEFFREY STERLING: So life is just feeling good. I hadn’t heard anything. I’d left that world behind, and I’m moving on. I had been getting calls from previous attorneys that they’re still looking into me, and that didn’t make any sense to me. I was like, why? Shortly after that, you know, I receive information about there was a possible leak and that everyone’s pointing a finger at me. Evidently they had never taken me out of their sights. I was like, I need to find some help. So I went to a local congressman, Lacy Clay. And one of his staff members looked at me very succinctly and said, you should just leave the country. And that — that hurt. Here’s a black man who works with a black representative, knowing what we’ve gone through in this country, and me trying to exert and stand up for my civil rights. You mention CIA to them and the only response that I got was I should run away. Well, my mother didn’t teach me that. You don’t run away, you stand up for yourself.
I grew up in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, which is about two hours south of St. Louis, right on the Mississippi river. I was the youngest of five brothers. One went to the Army, one was in the Navy, and another went to the Marines. My stand up for yourself, be yourself sort of attitude, that was instilled to me by my mother. Despite this extraordinary ordeal that Jeffrey and I have been through for over a decade, we both believe in standing up for ourselves and we’ll face this till the end, no matter the consequences.
NARRATOR: January 2006. Reporter James Risen revealed information about Operation Merlin in his book "State of War."
JEFFREY STERLING: In 2006 they started coming to our doorstep.
HOLLY STERLING: They flew me out to Virginia and I was — went to FBI headquarters and was interrogated for seven hours. And then the next day they surrounded the home, actually. They just went methodically through the home. They went to my family. They went to my employer. Just incredibly intrusive and incredibly disturbing. Your whole sense of security in your home and privacy was violated.
JEFFREY STERLING: We were wondering — the next thing has to be they’re going to arrest me. Well, we go over four years with nothing, not hearing a word. If I was so dangerous, where have they been.
NARRATOR: January 6, 2011.
SCOTT THUMAN: Sterling is accused of leaking details about a botched CIA operation in Iran to New York Times journalists.
ANNOUNCER 3: He made his initial court appearance today in leg shackles.
ALYONA MINKOVSKI: Prosecutors allege that Sterling was trying to get revenge on the CIA when he served as a source for Risen about an agency operation meant to deter Iran’s nuclear program.
JEFFREY STERLING: So one morning I wake up and I’m behind bars. And for what? I didn’t do anything. Actually three days before the trial starts, and the government made a move that the judge did not like and basically the government said they couldn’t go forward. So that day in September, 2011, I mean, we were like, OK, this is over.
HOLLY STERLING: Our lawyers gave some indication they thought it was done.
JEFFREY STERLING: But the government appealed, and that process took three years. And my wife had to sit with this Sword of Damocles over our head. And in responses from the government, it was all about the approach to the reporter. To the mainstream press, it became the Risen case, and I’m the defendant. I’m the one facing the charges. I was convicted on January 26, 2015. It was a shock. I’m still in shock by the verdict.
ANNOUNCER 4: A former CIA officer faces decades in prison after being convicted of espionage. A federal jury in Virginia found Jeffrey Sterling guilty on all nine counts against him, Monday.
NARRATOR: Five weeks after Sterling’s conviction, news broke that former CIA director David Petraeus got a plea deal with no jail time for leaking top secret information.
JESSELYN RADACK: How three past CIA directors, including Leon Panetta, including General David Petraeus, including Brennan have all leaked covert identities and suffered no consequence for it.
NORMAN SOLOMON: Very disturbing. Not only the selective prosecution, but also the fact that no African-Americans on the jury. All of the evidence presented by the prosecution was circumstantial email and phone call metadata without content of any incriminating nature. The conviction is a major victory for the Obama administration and it’s unprecedented crack down on government leaks.
JEFFREY STERLING: They shut me up with my discrimination case, and they’ve closed the door with the criminal case.
RAY MCGOVERN: They’re trying to make an example of Sterling. I don’t know whether he did it or not, but whoever did it, did a service to our country, because our country needs to know.
JEFFREY STERLING: Thankful I can experience the tremendous amount of support that we received, not only locally, but, essentially, globally. It’s very encouraging.
HOLLY STERLING: We are surrounded by wonderful friends and family. Our family decided to make GoFundMe account to assist with finances for Jeffrey and I. It’s been very well received.
HOLLY STERLING: We just — we love you and thank you for your support.
SUPPORTER: You’re welcome —
HOLLY STERLING: It was over 50,000 people that signed the petition to drop the charges against Jeffrey.
SUPPORTER: Alright, talk to you soon.
HOLLY STERLING: It’s been incredibly difficult to watch him not being able to change the circumstances.
JEFFREY STERLING: Marry me again?
HOLLY STERLING: Absolutely.
HOLLY STERLING: I married the love of my life and my best friend. My greatest fear is Jeffrey going to jail.
JEFFREY STERLING: I’m absolutely scared of me being sent to prison, particularly for something I did not do. But I am comfortable with myself and the choices that I’ve made, 'cause I know I wouldn't have done it any other way. I like who I see in the mirror.
AMY GOODMAN: Former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling in a piece produced by ExposeFacts.org. Joining us now is Norm Solomon, coordinator of ExposeFacts.org. He was in the court room on Monday when Jeffrey Sterling sentenced to three and a half years in prison. We only have a minute, Norman. What do you think is most important to understand right now with this sentencing to three and a half years.

NORMAN SOLOMON: Well, there are a dozen aspects. But it’s really the continuation of a war on whistlblowing and journalism; to clamp down on the absolutely essential flow of information for democracy. The Obama administration continues its war on the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment, on journalism and on whistleblowing, and the courtroom sentencing yesterday was part of the attack on our freedom and liberties, really.

AMY GOODMAN: And how it compares to what happened to General Petraeus.

NORMAN SOLOMON: Well, General Petraeus’ not even slap on the wrist, but fondle on the wrist by the government was hovering over the court room yesterday. And I think, thanks that the counterpoint of Jeffrey Sterling going to prison, three and a half year sentence, and Petraeus getting off totally is just showing the absurdity and tyranny of what the administration continues to do. I should say that Democracy Now! airing this documentary this morning as a world premier, is extremely important and I would urge everybody to go to democracynow.org and share this film, because we really want it to go worldwide. One more quick thing; Sterling Family Fund is essential for Jeffrey and Holly Sterling to really survive this transition into prison and people can find a link to it at RootsAction.org.

AMY GOODMAN: Norman Solomon, we want to thank you for being with us; long time activist, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, Co-Founder of RootsAction.org and coordinator of ExposeFacts.org. Among his books, "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning us to Death." That does it for out broadcast.

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