Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American, and the more panicked talk we hear from people like him, Feinstein, and King, the better off we all are.Edward Snowden • Offering his thoughts on the opinions of politicians like former Vice President Dick Cheney and Speaker Boehner who have criticized the man responsible for leaking information on the National Security Agency’s classified PRISM program. Snowden made the comments during a Q&A session moderated by The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald on Monday, and also discussed a myriad of other issues surrounding his decision to leak the PRISM information, including claims that he might be a Chinese spy. source
Seriously, if you’re rabidly eating up the Lindsay Mills news but haven’t a clue why China hates us when consequences of this leak start getting real, I will have no pity for you, nor will I explain. You should have listened up when you had the chance.Digital Trends writer Molly McHugh • Offering a scathing, but spot-on, critique of the attention Edward Snowden’s girlfriend has received in the week since the news of Snowden’s identity became public. As McHugh points out, both Snowden himself and Mills, a dancer who has many photos of herself floating around the internet, have become more popular search terms on Google Trends than PRISM has. “And I get it: When something really complicated and important happens, a lot of people cling to the most personally identifiable thing that has to do with it,” McHugh writes. “This one happens to be a pretty girl who got broken up with (sort of) and gave us plenty of photo insight into her life.” But that we have a national security version of the “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” still doesn’t mean we should skip over the actual issue at hand here, McHugh explains.
We have a real double standard. A few weeks ago we were all complaining that we didn’t have enough information about those kids in Boston and we needed broader intelligence sharing. Now we say we want to clamp down on how the information moves.Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) • Speaking after an off-record briefing, attended by roughly half of the Senate’s members, about the NSA’s surveillance programs. Despite McCain’s skeptical take on the matter, momentum seems to be growing in favor of more limitations on information-sharing, with one key defender of the NSA programs, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), claiming that legislation was on its way. “We will certainly have legislation which will limit or prevent contractors from handling highly classified and technical data, and we will do some other things,” she said.
This guy’s name is Gen. Keith Alexander. He heads the National Security Agency. He says that the surveillance programs the agency has implemented under the Patriot Act have stopped “dozens of terrorist plots.” He says the program isn’t as bad as it’s being made out to be. “I think what we’re doing to protect American citizens here is the right thing,” he told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. “We aren’t trying to hide it. We’re trying to protect America.” (photo by Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
Some 8,400 have signed a We The People petition calling for a full pardon for the NSA whistleblower.
npr:
Edward Snowden: ‘I do not expect to see home again’ The whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations speaks out.
The man who leaked NSA information to the press revealed himself over the weekend. Read and listen to analysis from NPR’s Tom Gjelten on NPR’s The Two-Way.
Edward Snowden is currently holed up in a hotel room in Hong Kong—a move NPR’s Frank Langfitt explores in his Morning Edition story filed from Shanghai.
It appears, by the way, that Snowden made a tactical error by heading to Hong Kong, which has an extradition agreement with the United States. He should’ve traveled to Iceland, where he might have had more of a shot.
EDIT: The Washington Post reports that Snowden checked out of his hotel room.
The NSA tipster reveals himself.
“I am not afraid, because this is the choice I’ve made.” From the interview, he sounds relatively calm about his choices, but has one regret. ”The only thing I fear is the harmful effects on my family, who I won’t be able to help any more. That’s what keeps me up at night,” he said.
He was selective. He had access to literally hundreds of millions of documents as an all-source analyst, and these were the documents that he released…because he was hoping to make the world a better place.Attorney David Coombs • Defending his client, Pfc. Bradley Manning, from U.S. Army prosecutor Capt. Joe Morrow, who claimed the young soldier “systematically” leaked information he knew would endanger the lives of his fellow soldiers. Pfc. Manning’s trial began on Monday, more than three years after his arrest back in May 2010, and the proceedings are expected to last up to 12 weeks. source
Nothing’s changed. It’s the same old crap — kill the messenger.Legendary NYPD whistle-blower Frank Serpico • Discussing the current plights that police officers who speak up face within the department—for example, the plight of Officer Pedro Serrano, who has spoken up about the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk program. Serrano’s suffered the indignity of having a rat sticker pasted on his locker, but that’s far from the worst of the problems he faced. In case Seripco’s name sounds vaguely familiar, there’s a reason for that: His whistle-blowing case was the subject of a legendary Al Pacino film bearing his last name.
The judge presiding over the prosecution of the WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning has ruled that the US soldier was brought to trial in good time within the military rules governing a court martial.
The ruling dashes the defence team’s hopes of having the charges against Manning dismissed. His lead lawyer, David Coombs, had argued in legal argument to the court that “extreme foot-dragging” by the prosecution had violated the accused’s right to a speedy trial.
The ruling has yet to be completed, with Colonel Denise Lind still set to rule on whether or not Pfc. Manning’s rights were violated under the Sixth Amendment and/or Article 10 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, though Col. Lind is not expected to side with Manning on those claims either. Assuming there are no changes, Pfc. Manning’s 12-week trial is scheduled to begin on June 3.
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I didn’t feel that PFC Manning should be detained more than 90 days in the brig.Daniel Choike, former commander of Marine Corps Base Quantico • Testifying on recommendations he made to the Pentagon regarding the long-term detention of Pfc. Bradley Manning during a pre-trial hearing today. The hearing in Fort Meade, Maryland is scheduled to last until Sunday, and Manning’s legal team hopes to convince the judge that the young soldier was subjected to illegal pre-trial punishment. If they are able to do so, Manning’s charges and sentence could be reduced or dismissed entirely. source
Judge Denise Lind has scheduled a six-week period, from February 4 until March 15 2013, for the trial of Bradley Manning. Manning, who will face a total of 22 charges due to his alleged work with Wikileaks, will also appear in court on November 27 as his lawyers fight to have 1,384 emails related to his incarceration released by the U.S. Army. His defense team hopes to prevent further incarceration by proving that his time/treatment at Quantico qualified as cruel and unusual punishment. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images) source
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