James Bamford: The Secrecy of the Obama Administration, interviewed by Peter B. Collins and Sibel Edmonds + Thomas Drake sentenced for info leak

Updated: July 17, 2011; added video

by Peter B. Collins and Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
July 17, 2011

Image by Bebopsmile via Flickr

James Bamford joins us to discuss the case of NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake, the government’s overreach in bringing espionage charges against him, and the Obama Administration’s unprecedented level of retaliation against government whistleblowers. He discusses the Obama Administration’s shift from military wars to covert-secret wars, the increased use of the CIA as a war branch, and Obama’s violation of the Presidential War Powers Act. Mr. Bamford talks about the CIA operations in Yemen and the use of cluster bombs there as early as December 2009, the implications of WikiLeaks, the absurdity of Obama’s Nobel Peace Award and his recently given Transparency Award, the ineffectiveness and uselessness of NSA in monitoring Osama Bin-Laden’s activities, the absence of real coverage and analyses in the US Mainstream Media, and more!

James Bamford is one of the country’s leading writers on intelligence and national security issues. His books include “The Puzzle Palace,” “Body of Secrets,” “A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq and the Abuse of America’s Intelligence Agencies,” and most recently “ The Shadow Factory”. Mr. Bamford coproduced NOVA’s “The Spy Factory”, which was based on his latest book. He has written for many magazines, including investigative cover stories for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine and The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and is a contributing writer for Rolling Stone. His 2005 Rolling Stone article “The Man Who Sold the War” won a National Magazine Award for reporting. He also spent a decade as the Washington investigative producer for the ABC News program, World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, and taught at the University of California, Berkeley, as a distinguished visiting professor.

Here is our guest James Bamford unplugged!

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Thomas Drake sentenced for info leak

RTAmerica on Jul 17, 2011

Thomas Drake, a former National Security Agency employee accused of leaking classified information to the media, has been sentenced to a year of probation. This is one of the most serious criminal cases the Obama administration has pursued against government whistleblowers, despite the president’s pledge to have the most open and transparent presidency in history. David K. Colapinto, general counsel for the National Whistleblowers Center, joins RT’s Lauren Lyster to talk more about Obama’s crackdown.

see

Julia Davis: The Terror Within, interviewed by Peter B. Collins and Sibel Edmonds

Project on Government Oversight Refuses to Take Back Obama Transparency Award by Sibel Edmonds

Whistleblower Susan Lindauer: Libya, Lockerbie and 9/11, interviewed by Cindy Sheehan

Inside Obama’s “Orwellian World” Where Whistleblowing Has Become Espionage: The Case of Thomas Drake (must-see)

When It Comes To Whistleblowers, Obama is the Worst President by Sibel Edmonds