Obama Has Charged More Under Espionage Act Than All Other Presidents Combined

[Fire Walk With Me]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/06/22/edward_snowden_is_eighth_person_obama_has_pursued_under_espionage_act.html

The U.S. government charged former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden with three felonies, including two under the Espionage Act. He now becomes the eighth person to be charged under the Espionage Act under Obama, according to Firedoglake. That is more than double all previous presidents combined. Prior to Obama’s administration only three people who leaked information had been charged under the 1917 statute that was never really intended for leakers. The arguments that Obama uses now to use that statute to go after those who reveal information were first brought up by Ronald Reagan’s administration when it went after a Navy civilian analyst who leaked photographs to a British military magazine. But now the practice has become widespread.

The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald wonders how these prosecutions are even “remotely defensible” coming from a president who vowed to usher in an era of transparency in Washington. Sure, Snowden may have broken the law, writes Greenwald, but he hardly committed “espionage.” He didn’t sell secrets to foreign governments, or try to profit from them in any way. Snowden simply blew the whistle on something he saw. “The irony is obvious,” writes Greenwald, “the same people who are building a ubiquitous surveillance system to spy on everyone in the world, including their own citizens, are now accusing the person who exposed it of ‘espionage.’”

(Two supporting links at the article. That is the entirety of the text.)

[Tx4obama]

1. That is because there are MORE leakers now.

And also when Bush was in the White House not many people did the jobs they were being paid to do.

[NoOneMan]

3. There was a ton of leaks under Bush

Like Iraq prison scandal & renditions....

But seems like some leakers now want to put their face on it. We live in this age of celebrity where everyone has their picture on facebook. Maybe its a cultural shift.

[loyalsister]

7. That's a good point

We also have more tools and to catch them.

[Tx4obama]

2. Snowden has NOT ''simply blew the whistle on something he saw''.. he STOLE over a 1,000...

... classified records and also equipment.

[HooptieWagon]

4. More crime means more whistle-blowers.

If everything was legal and transparent, what would there be to blow the whistle on?

[railsback]

5. Its all a conspiracy to silence your voices

Take away your right to vote, outlaw abortions, ban gays from marrying and serving in the military, and forcing everyone to carry concealed weapons without background checks… a.k.a FASCISM!!!

[intaglio]

6. Use the sarcasm smiley

Otherwise people will think you are rather silly.

[railsback]

10. I'm not here to appease anyone

especially tin foilers.

[pnwmom]

8. How can the writer say the Espionage Act was never intended for leakers?

The language of the Act plainly seems to apply to leaking:

The complaint, filed on June 14, shows he was charged with “unauthorized communication of national defense information”—an Espionage Act violation—and “willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person,” a violation of United States Code 798 prohibiting the disclosure of classified information and an offense under the Espionage Act.

[Fumesucker]

9. You say that like it's a bad thing

Remember, loo slips stink ships or something..

[think]

11. transparency

can mean many things

I guess....