James Risen, Surveillance and Obama’s Threat to Journalism | Democracy Now!
The Obama administration’s espionage case against alleged CIA
whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling is expected to come to trial soon, six
years after he was indicted. In addition to Sterling, also on trial will
be a central pillar of our democratic society: press freedom.
Federal prosecutors allege that Sterling leaked classified
information to New York Times reporter and author James Risen. Risen has
written many exposés on national security issues. In one, published in
his 2006 book “State of War,” he details a failed CIA
operation to deliver faulty nuclear bomb blueprints to the government
of Iran, to disrupt that country’s alleged weapons program. Federal
prosecutors think Sterling leaked the details of that operation to
Risen. They want Risen to divulge his source in court, which he has so
far refused to do, asserting the First Amendment’s protections of the
free press. James Risen has vowed to go to jail rather than “give up
everything I believe in.”
The role confidential sources play in investigative journalism was
perhaps best demonstrated by journalists Bob Woodward and Carl
Bernstein. They had a confidential source dubbed “Deep Throat,” who gave
them leads, confirmed details, and instructed them to “follow the
money.” With the help of that source, they uncovered wrong-doing at the
highest levels of government that ultimately led to the President
Richard Nixon’s resignation from office in 1974, to avoid impeachment.
At about the same time, revelations about FBI, CIA and the NSA
misconduct and outright criminality led to Congressional investigations
that prompted creation of new laws, like the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act (FISA), which was supposed to rein in abuses, requiring a court-issued warrant for surveillance.
Then, 9/11 happened, and, as common wisdom now holds, “everything
changed.” The administration of George W. Bush initiated a wide spectrum
of activities, including torture, kidnapping, warrantless wiretapping,
and, of course, the invasion and occupation of Iraq based on falsified
intelligence and a sprawling propaganda initiative, conducted with a
largely compliant mass media.
These abuses came to light thanks to the work of investigative
journalists like Risen, and to whistleblowers who take great risks,
personally and professionally, to bring abuses of power to public
attention. Risen has taken his case to court, where a Federal district
judge threw out the subpoena against him. The Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals, which, importantly, has jurisdiction over Virginia and
Maryland, where the CIA and NSA
are headquartered, respectively, reinstated the subpoena. The U.S.
Supreme Court, at the Obama administration’s urging, failed to hear the
case. Risen has thus exhausted his legal appeals, and will either have
to testify in Sterling’s trial, or face contempt of court charges, which
can include massive fines and jail time.
“As long as I’m attorney general,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder
promised, “no reporter who is doing his job is going to go to jail.”
If Sterling’s federal prosecutors compel Risen to testify, it’s not clear what Holder’s promise will be worth.
One of the reasons that the district court judge threw out the
subpoena against Risen is that, the judge reasoned, the prosecutors
already have a strong case against Sterling, and they don’t need Risen’s
confirmation that Sterling was the source. The case against Sterling
includes Risen’s credit card and bank statements, telephone records, and
other information allegedly linking the two. Therein lies another
profound threat to journalism: the unprecedented level of surveillance
happening. Ironically, it was James Risen and his colleague Eric
Lichtblau who first exposed the Bush administration’s warrantless
wiretapping program, in an article written in 2004 but withheld until
after the 2004 presidential election by then-executive editor Bill
Keller.
Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union jointly
released a report in July, “With Liberty to Monitor All: How Large-Scale
U.S. Surveillance is Harming Journalism, Law, and American Democracy.”
In detailing the negative impacts on journalism by mass surveillance,
they quote Brian Ross, chief investigative correspondent for ABC
News, who said, “I feel ... like somebody in the Mafia. You’ve got to
go around with a bag full of quarters and, if you can find a pay phone,
use it, or, like drug dealers use, [a] throwaway burner phones. These
are all the steps that we have to take to get rid of an electronic
trail. To have to take those kind of steps makes journalists feel like
we’re criminals and like we’re doing something wrong.”
Of course, investigative journalists are not guilty of doing
something wrong. The online activist group Roots Action has petition
with more than 125,000, calling on President Barack Obama and Attorney
General Holder to halt legal action against James Risen. Scores of press
freedom organizations have publicly supported Risen, as have 20
Pulitzer Prize winners. A crack down on the press ultimately violates
the public’s right to know.
There is a reason why journalism is protected by the U.S.
Constitution: A free press is an essential check and balance, necessary
to hold those in power accountable. Journalism is essential to the
functioning of a democratic society.
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