Selectively punishing politically damaging leaks

[cal04]

The CIA's firing of the official who allegedly leaked the existence of Eastern European black prisons to Dana Priest of The Washington Post has prompted an orgy of celebration among Bush followers, who apparently believe that the dreams they harbor -- whereby anyone who discloses information which results in political harm to the leader will be imprisoned -- are about to be realized. The NSA leakers are next, they gleefully proclaim, followed by the whole parade of nefarious, traitorous "cockroaches" -- including reporters -- who have leaked and/or published information that resulted in embarrassment to The Commander-in-Chief in this Time of War.

As a general proposition, a government has the right to keep sensitive information classified and to fire employees who disclose it. But that is a power that also can be abused. The mere fact that information is classified does not mean that it ought to remain concealed. It has been extremely common for our government to attempt to conceal its wrongdoing by classifying information because it would reveal that wrongdoing. Whether the power to maintain the secrecy of classified information is being used properly or abusively is typically reflected by which type of unauthorized disclosures prompt strong action.

The Bush administration is extremely and transparently selective about the leaks it seeks to investigate and punish. The only leaks which they dislike are the ones which bring the President political embarrassment, not which generate harm to our national security. They exhibit anger and concern about leaks only when the leaks expose conduct by them which is highly controversial and where even its legality is dubious, at best.

A substantial part of the case for the invasion of Iraq was made by the administration through selective leaks of classified information to The New York Times. Almost every front page Judy Miller story was based upon leaks from anonymous "senior administration officials" designed to plant evidence of Saddam's massive WMD arsenal. None of those leaks has been decried by the administration or investigated, because they were employed in the service of the administration's political goals.

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http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/04/selectively-punishing-politically.html
Glenn Greenwald

[Vincardog]

1. Well I am shocked. They leak the they want and punnish anyone who tells c

OMG this is from our Fristian pResident?

[Inland]

2. Now, everything is "classified" to keep domestic pol. opposition in dark

for the purpose of keeping it out of our hands. The criterion for classification seems to be to keep sensitive information from falling into the hands of the admin's enemies...not alqaeda, silly, but democrats and congress and the media. Sensitive information is information that tells us how evil and incompetent our government is.

EG, the NSA spying program. A-Q knew their phones could be tapped and emails read. But Americans didn't know their innocent emails and calls were being screened. The spying program had to be kept top secret to keep us from knowing about it and stopping it.

[PublicWrath]

3. I fear they will push for an Official Secrets Act soon. n/t