Assessing the Candidates: Obama’s Whistleblower War Leaves Dangerous Legacy for Future Presidents
Here’s the thing about President Obama’s war on whistleblowers: In bringing espionage charges in nine cases involving disclosures or alleged misuse of classified information, the current administration has set a floor, rather than a ceiling, on the number and types of whistleblower espionage cases a future President can bring.
And here’s another thing: With leaders of both political parties having either kept silent or cheered on the Obama administration’s unprecedented crackdown on whistleblowers, who in high position in Congress would have one shred of moral authority or credibility to challenge a future president’s excesses under the Espionage Act? On the question of keeping American citizens in the dark and of punishing whistleblowers who dare to enlighten them, we truly have bipartisan authoritarianism.
'It’s
an open question as to whether any future president could be more
aggressive than Obama in going after whistleblowers. But based on the
vengeful views of many of the large crop of Republican candidates and on
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton’s tough statements on Edward
Snowden’s NSA spying disclosures, prospects are not good for a sharp
departure from the whistleblower crackdown of the last six years.'
(Photo: Laura Poitras)
an open question as to whether any future president could be more
aggressive than Obama in going after whistleblowers. But based on the
vengeful views of many of the large crop of Republican candidates and on
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton’s tough statements on Edward
Snowden’s NSA spying disclosures, prospects are not good for a sharp
departure from the whistleblower crackdown of the last six years.'
(Photo: Laura Poitras)
