Hillary Clinton’s Statement to the OSCE Regarding Arrests of Natasha Lennard and Other Journalists During Occupy Wall Street Protests

On October 1, 2011, Natasha Lennard, then a freelancer for the New York Times, was arrested covering the Occupy Wall Street protests. Her arrest was just one of many arrests of journalists that have occurred since Occupy Wall Street started. 

These arrests sparked a widespread outcry about the sanctity of journalists. Among the parties that expressed their concern was Europe’s last remaining autocracy Belarus. Belarus took the matter to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. This prompted Hillary Clinton to issue the statement  below:

    State Department Statement to OSCE RE: OWS Media Arrests     

Is the DIA Monitoring Media Coverage of the Bradley Manning Support Network

In response to a FOIA request seeking the Defense Intelligence Agency’s records on the Bradley Manning Support Network, it appears that the DIA is monitoring media coverage of the Bradley Manning Support Network. DIA refusal to release their copies of media coverage makes it impossible to confirm, but the DIA has been shown to have its own collection of Bradley Manning Support Network media reports as well as media reports culled from the NSA and the CIA.

DIA BMSN Letter

CIA/ DIA Records on the Bradley Manning Support Network

In response to a FOIA request to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the CIA’s Open Source Center has released two reports on the media coverage of the Bradley Manning Support Network. The reports are innocuous in of themselves. One briefly mentions that a member of the Bradley Manning Support Network commented on an Al-Jazeera show on the transfer of Bradley Manning to Fort Leavenworth. The second report contains a comment from a “Martiaan” who called for another commenter to give a shout-out of support to Bradley Manning during a planned disruption.

The value of these documents is in the fact they were referred back to the CIA by the DIA for release. This provides further evidence that the Defense Intelligence Agency is conducting an investigation of some kind into the Bradley Manning Support Network.

BMSN Article I

BMSN Article II

"One of the Absolute Best Writers on the Right"

Was how Slate columnist David Weigel described John Derbyshire less than a month ago. Now that John Derbyshire has exposed his full on racism, Weigel has fully joined in the stomping of  Derbyshire's reputation. However, Weigel's comments will live on forever here.

CIA Glomars FOIA Request Christopher Hitchens

In response to a FOIA request, the CIA has invoked Glomar and refuses to confirm or deny the existence of any records pertaining to Christopher Hitchens.

I honestly suspect there are some records due to his past associations with communists and just the global nature of his work, fame, and persona. I am willing to wage a modicum of my meager wage that we will have some confirmation of this when the FBI responds to FOIA requests seeking Bureau records on Hitchens.

The CIA Glomars Request for Christopher Hitchens Records

Against it Before He Used it: Joe Biden and the Intelligence Identities Protection Act

This week former CIA case officer John Kiriakou was charged with two counts of violating the Espionage Act, one count of making false statements (Kiriakou is accused of having lied to the CIA's pre- publication review border about portions of his books being “fictionalized”), and one count of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. 

Passed in 1982, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act was designed to deter and punish people like Philip Agee, a CIA officer turned rogue, who published a book on the agency (Inside the Company: CIA Diary) and a newsletter titled “CovertAction Information Bulletin,” in which he outed CIA case officers stationed abroad. So far, there has only been one prosecution under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, that of Sharon Scranage who was charged under the act  in 1985 because she passed information to her Ghanaian boyfriend who turned out to be a Ghanaian intelligence operative.

Lying to the federal government is frequently punished and the Obama's use of the Espionage Act to suppress whistle blowers is almost routine. However, neither fact reduces the irony of the Obama-Biden administration's use of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act to prosecute a CIA case officer's whistle blowing to the media. 

The irony of Kiriakou's situation arises from the fact that as Senator Biden, Joe Biden opposed the Intelligence Identities Protection Act on the grounds that it would deter legitimate media investigations into national security issues. As shown by Biden's April 6, 1982 op-ed in the Christian Science Monitor. Titled "A Spy Law That Harms National Security," Biden worried that the language as it stood then and as it passed would he called supporting the Act a "mistake" that would hinder[] the press from performing this vital function”

because 

"the mere threat of such prosecution would be enough to dissuade many news organizations from pursuing stories of this kind, out of fear of the legal entanglements and cost which might result even if a reporter is finally acquitted”

and this would 

"curtail legitimate journalistic scrutiny of a particularly important and sensitive area of government, creating the possibility that wrongdoing or wrong- headedness could flourish in that area, unchecked by public awareness.”

All of which Biden argued, posed a real risk to American national security.

While opposition to the Intelligence Identities Protection Act was sparse (only 32 voted against in the house, while Biden was one of only 4 senators to oppose in the senate. He was joined by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Gary Hart, and one Republican Charles Mathias), it did exist. After the bill passed the Senate, Moynihan warned that:

"It now appears that we will soon have a law which, while making it easier to convict scoundrels, will chill the exercise of First Amendment rights." (1)

It seems Biden and Moynihan are being proved right. 

(1) "Bill to Penalize Uncovering of Agents Passed by Senate," New York Times, 6/11/1982. pg a20

The Pakistan Media's Take On the Stanley McChrystal Firing

While Matthew Hastings' article on the shenanigans and poor attitude of General Stanley McCrystal and his staff provoked a great deal of heated debate. Leading scions of media criticized Hasting for how he obtained his information, for the fact that he reported on the matter at all. Even Hastings' patriotism was questioned. Obama's decision to remove McCrystal provided controversy as well.

In contrast, mainstream Pakistani media enthusiastically approved of Obama's dismissal of McChrystal. A June 25, 2010 cable from the American Embassy in Islamabad to the Secretary of State on the big stories in the Pakistani media documented the reaction of mainstream Pakistani media. Below are the choice selections of the reactions captured by the US Embassy in Islamabad:

Editorial: Institutions Above Individuals, an editorial in the populist, often sensational national English daily "The News" (cir. 55,000) (06 /25)

The dismissal of a top-ranking general by the U.S. President may be an unusual event, but, as President Obama has said, the tough decision, taken at a vital point in the nine-year war in Afghanistan, drives home the importance of institutions and the fact that they are more important than individuals.... The U.S. military, despite its strength and size, has through time developed sufficient maturity to keep itself aloof from affairs of government and to accept decisions made by Presidents. This has a long background of institution-building, with the dismissal of General Douglas McArthur in the 1950s too resulting in no disruption in U.S. affairs; there was no coup d'etat, no warning statements from the men in uniform.

The tradition of civilian authority held firm.... The wider impact of the change in command in Afghanistan is yet not known. Pakistan will be watching events to its west attentively, given that developments in Afghanistan have a direct impact on the war against militancy at home. Only time will tell if there is to be any change and the nature of this if one does indeed occur.

Editorial: The FaIl Of A General, an editorial. in the center-right national English daily "The Nation" (cir. 20,000) (06 / 25)

"If the top commander in a theatre of war entertains disparaging views of the civilian bosses, there would be a disconnect between the two in this vital matter. McChrystal's exit, no doubt establishes civilian control over the military - a fundamental principle of democratic set-ups - but, as the General has supporters both in the armed forces and civilian institutions, like for instance, Congress, it is not going to be smooth sailing for the President. However, with President Obama asserting, "it is a change in personnel-, but it is not a change in policy", one should not expect a much more different outcome of the war when General David Petraeus takes over.... Did the realization that the war efforts have come up against a dead-end cause McChrystal frustration and also lead him to adopt this questionable attitude?"

Opinion: McChrystal's Sacking And Afghan Endgame, an op-ed by Shafqat Mahmood in the populist, often sensational national English daily "The News" (cir. 55,000) (06/25)

"More than the notion of establishing civilian supremacy, it was important for the first black president in U.S. history to assert his authority over the military.... People like McChrystal argued that to make the Taliban amenable to negotiations, they have to be put under pressure. This view prevailed despite opposition. Hence, the troop surge and the operation in Helmand and another in the works for Kandahar. The first operation has been unsuccessful and the second will fare no better. The Taliban will perhaps negotiate but on their own terms. The demand on Pakistan is strange. On the one hand, we are being asked to launch a military operation against the Taliban in North Waziristan and apprehend them in other places if they are here. And, on the other, there is a desire for us to facilitate dialogue with them. Thus, they are asking us to attack those who they want us to help become friends with. These and other contradictions will play themselves out in the next two years. Since

it is in the vital interest of Pakistan to have a friendly Afghanistan, we will have to broaden our links to all the Afghan people. The Americans will leave but we have to live here. It is best to start building bridges with everyone. "

Further commentary is document in pages 4-7 of the PDF. The rest is a potpourri of commentary of other American issues such as Gary Faulkner's journey, Holbrooke's meetings, and American policies. 

Pakistani Media Reaction Cable