Tag: information leak

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Why The Trump White House Leaks So Much

Donald Trump

Last week, the political world was in an uproar over White House aide Kelly Sadler declaring during a meeting in the West Wing that Sen. John McCain’s opposition to CIA nominee Gina Haspel was largely not important because “he’s dying anyway.”

Not a kind way to speak about a man who’s devoted his whole life to service to country.

Today, the White House is trying the spin the story into a “leak” scandal.

“When you work in any work environment…if you aren’t able in internal meetings to speak your mind, or convey thoughts, or say anything that you feel without feeling like your colleagues will betray you, that creates a very difficult work environment,” said White House press secretary Raj Shah.

Writing for Axios, Jonathan Swan took time to explore why the Trump White House has so many leaks to the press.

“To be honest, it probably falls into a couple of categories,” one current White House official tells me. “The first is personal vendettas. And two is to make sure there’s an accurate record of what’s really going on in the White House.”

“To cover my tracks, I usually pay attention to other staffers’ idioms and use that in my background quotes. That throws the scent off me,” the current White House official added.

“The most common substantive leaks are the result of someone losing an internal policy debate,” a current senior administration official told me. “By leaking the decision, the loser gets one last chance to kill it with blowback from the public, Congress or even the President.”

“Otherwise,” the official added, “you have to realize that working here is kind of like being in a never-ending ‘Mexican Standoff.’ Everyone has guns (leaks) pointed at each other and it’s only a matter of time before someone shoots. There’s rarely a peaceful conclusion so you might as well shoot first.”

Axios‘ Mike Allen, who covered the White House for 20 years, says “we learn more about what’s going on inside the Trump White House in a week than we did in a year of the George W. Bush presidency.”

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Bradley Manning sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking military documents

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was sentenced Wednesday to 35 years in prison for giving hundreds of thousands of secret military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks in one of the nation’s biggest leak cases since the Pentagon Papers more than a generation ago.

Flanked by his lawyers, Manning, 25, stood at attention and appeared not to react when military judge Col. Denise Lind announced the punishment without explanation during a brief hearing.

Among the spectators, there was a gasp, and one woman put her hands up, covering her face.

“I’m shocked. I did not think she would do that,” said Manning supporter Jim Holland, of San Diego. “Thirty-five years, my Lord.”

The former intelligence analyst was found guilty last month of 20 crimes, including six violations of the Espionage Act, as part of the Obama administration’s unprecedented crackdown on media leaks.

But the judge acquitted him of the most serious charge , aiding the enemy, an offense that could have meant life in prison without parole.

The native of Crescent, Okla., digitally copied and released more than 700,000 documents, including Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports and State Department cables, while working in 2010 in Iraq.

More at LGBTQ Nation.

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NSA leaker/whistleblower Eric Snowden charged with espionage and theft of government property

The AP is reporting that NSA leaker Eric Snowden has been charged with:

• unauthorized communication of national defense information
• willful communication of classified communications intelligence information
• theft of government property. All three crimes carry a maximum 10-year prison penalty

Each crime could result in a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

After providing the news media with information regarding two highly classified NSA surveillance programs, Snowden is believed to be hiding in China.

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NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden speaks out

Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA who currently works for defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, revealed his identity and spoke out about why he leaked information about the NSA surveillance state in the U.S. in an interview and video released yesterday.

In a Q and A, Snowden says he fears for his partner:

“My family does not know what is happening … My primary fear is that they will come after my family, my friends, my partner. Anyone I have a relationship with … I will have to live with that for the rest of my life. I am not going to be able to communicate with them. They [the authorities] will act aggressively against anyone who has known me. That keeps me up at night.” 

The Guardian reports:

Snowden will go down in history as one of America’s most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He is responsible for handing over material from one of the world’s most secretive organisations – the NSA.

In a note accompanying the first set of documents he provided, he wrote: “I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions,” but “I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.”

(source)