Yale professor David Bromwich on the pernicious paternalism of Eric Holder:
Attorney General Holder is a bland and unassuming official who is not given to hyperbole. But his actions have been hyperbolic. During the first 92 years of the existence of the Foreign Espionage Act of 1917, three persons were prosecuted. In the first four years of the Holder justice department, six persons have been prosecuted, their good names taken from them, their lives turned upside down. Mark Mazetti among others has noted the predictable and intended result of the Holder prosecutions: government employees have become exceedingly reluctant to speak with reporters about anything the government does. The intimidation has been comparable in its effect to the Palmer Raids of 1918-1921. None of the quarries fits any common definition of a spy; they were trying to warn the American public of what was done behind their backs. Nor have their activities given information to the enemy so much as they have given eyes and ears to Americans. Yet, in keeping with the pattern of misrepresentation, Holder, when he was asked what element of the crime had necessitated the seizure of AP records, said that the leak "put the American people at risk, and that is not hyperbole."
Roughly two years ago, I was asked by a reporter whether it seemed that the Obama administration had gone after more whistleblowers than any previous Administration. Since then, it's become clear that the "most transparent Administration in history" is anything but: more whistleblowers have been investigated or even prosecuted than at any point in American history. But don't let anyone tell you that there's ever been a "golden age" for whistleblowers. I know from personal experience what it feels like to have the agency you work for gunning for you.
When my wife and I began raising the issue of potential chemical exposures among Desert Storm veterans, CIA officials--at first--treated us as an internal nuisance. When I began to note increasing media interest in the issue and the likelihood that CIA would get tarred with DoD unless the Agency took the issue seriously, we went from being a nuisance to a threat--at least in the eyes of the number two official in charge of intelligence analysis.
This memo from CIA Security, which I had to sue via FOIA to obtain, tells the story in part. But what's noteworthy is the mentality that led to the investigation to begin with--a mentality that blossomed post-9/11 into a true witch-hunt mentality across the national security community.
Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 8:55AM