DOJ Drops Probe Of Thomas Tamm

Chandos the Red · Apr 29, 2011

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In a national broadcast exclusive, we speak with Thomas Tamm, the former U.S. Justice Department attorney who helped expose the Bush administration’s domestic warrantless eavesdropping program that intercepted private email messages and phone calls of U.S. residents without a court warrant.
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Why bother with the Rule of Law if you are the Bush/Cheney government? It only gets in the way.

Who is Thomas Tamm?

Based in part on his tip, the Times went on to expose what many believe was a highly illegal program. The Times even won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting. Meanwhile, Thomas Tamm lost his job. The FBI raided his house and began monitoring his phone calls and email. Up until this week, he faced possible arrest for disclosing classified secrets.
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But the truth has a price. I had always believed that reporting a crime, or something illegal was the right thing to do for a citizen. However:

Well, I mean, it’s a relief that the long ordeal is over. Unfortunately, I ruined my career. I had loved working at the Justice Department, particularly in the Criminal Division. It was an honor to represent the people of the United States. As a result of that, I incurred significant legal fees, which I still owe. I borrowed money for those legal fees. And, you know, really, probably the biggest impact was on my family. I wasn’t home when the 18 FBI agents rammed through my house, but my wife was, and my kids were. My kids were awakened in their beds by strangers wearing guns. And I don’t think that they will ever get over that. My wife doesn’t feel the same way about our house, doesn’t feel as safe in our house.
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But it was the Times, THE liberal media. Nevertheless:

And what’s significant there, that date, December of 2005, after holding on to this for almost a year, that’s the month after the election that elected George W. Bush.
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So much for being the liberal media, I guess....

Well, the oath that I took was to preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States against enemies foreign and domestic. And, you know, it’s my belief that we are a stronger country because of our Constitution and because of our democratic institutions, like the courts and the Congress, as well as the presidency.
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Well, you can see where believing in the country and the Constitution gets you these days.

I mean, it’s very difficult to prosecute someone such as myself, recognizing that what I did was reveal something that was against the law. And I also believe that it would have been a problem proving the case against me, because President Bush, the day after that article was published, basically acknowledged that the program existed. In fact, he almost seemed like he was proud of the fact that there was warrantless wiretapping, you know, to supposedly protect the country. In my opinion, he revealed more classified information than I ever did. And the bottom line is, as we mentioned earlier, I didn’t turn over any documents, I didn’t reveal any sources. And really, the bottom line is, I don’t think I ever broke the law.
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Does it matter?

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/28/doj_drops_probe_of_whistleblower_who

Chandos the Red · May 17, 2011

Another name to add to the list, Thomas Drake:

When President Barack Obama took office, in 2009, he championed the cause of government transparency, and spoke admiringly of whistle-blowers, whom he described as “often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government.” But the Obama Administration has pursued leak prosecutions with a surprising relentlessness. Including the Drake case, it has been using the Espionage Act to press criminal charges in five alleged instances of national-security leaks—more such prosecutions than have occurred in all previous Administrations combined. The Drake case is one of two that Obama’s Justice Department has carried over from the Bush years.

Gabriel Schoenfeld, a conservative political scientist at the Hudson Institute, who, in his book “Necessary Secrets” (2010), argues for more stringent protection of classified information, says, “Ironically, Obama has presided over the most draconian crackdown on leaks in our history—even more so than Nixon.”

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/23/110523fa_fact_mayer#ixzz1MYfTMGdW
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I recommend this article and offer it as a degree of proof that liberals do hold Obama accountable for his hypocrisy - as well he should be. It's very tragic what has happened to civil liberties in the United States. I guess it's better to be "safe" than "free."

Chandos the Red · Jun 10, 2011

Update on Thomas Drake:

Instead, under a plea deal reached with prosecutors, former NSA official Thomas Drake has agreed to plead guilty in federal court on Friday to a single misdemeanor count of "exceeding authorized use of a computer" -- a minor charge for which he will receive no jail time, a senior administration official told NBC.

"This is close to being a total fiasco,” said Steve Aftergood, a national security specialist with the Federation of American Scientists who writes the widely read Secrecy News blog and has closely followed the case. “It’s a massive face-saving retreat by the government.”
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This is a relief. But still it is a disappointment that Obama continued to go down this road. He should have known better.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43349086/ns/us_news-security/

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DOJ Drops Probe Of Thomas Tamm

Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire

Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire

Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire