Former intelligence officers, journalists and artists are among more than 100 signatories of an open letter calling on President Trump to close the Grand Jury investigation into WikiLeaks and drop any planned charges against the whistleblower group.
The Courage Foundation is an international organization that supports those who risk life or liberty to make significant contributions to the historical record. The open letter states:
"A threat to WikiLeaks' work — which is publishing information protected under the First Amendment — is a threat to all free journalism. If the DOJ is able to convict a publisher for its journalistic work, all free journalism can be criminalized."
Among those who signed the Foundation's open letter are former senior NSA officials Thomas Drake, William Binney and Kirk Wiebe. Daniel Ellsberg, the former State and Defense Department official who released top secret Pentagon Papers in 1971 and retired FBI Special Agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel Coleen Rowley.
The letter rightly speaks on how the Obama administration prosecuted more whistleblowers than all previous presidents combined as it goes on to state:
“It now appears the US is preparing to take the next step — prosecuting publishers who provide the "currency" of free speech, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson...”
Weeks before the Courage Foundation's open letter, Ron Paul made the following statement echoing the open letter's defense of Wikileaks and the actions of founder Julian Assange:
"Julian Assange, along with the whistleblowers who reveal to us the evil that is being done in our name, are heroes. They deserve our respect and admiration, not a prison cell. If we allow this president to declare war on those who tell the truth, we have only ourselves to blame."
Given the recent firing of FBI Director James Comey and CIA Director Mike Pompeo's public intentions of pursuing Wikileaks and Assange, it appears that the US and the world are living through a fluid power-struggle in which the future of free information and journalism will be decided.
The Courage Foundation is an international organization that supports those who risk life or liberty to make significant contributions to the historical record. The open letter states:
"A threat to WikiLeaks' work — which is publishing information protected under the First Amendment — is a threat to all free journalism. If the DOJ is able to convict a publisher for its journalistic work, all free journalism can be criminalized."
Among those who signed the Foundation's open letter are former senior NSA officials Thomas Drake, William Binney and Kirk Wiebe. Daniel Ellsberg, the former State and Defense Department official who released top secret Pentagon Papers in 1971 and retired FBI Special Agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel Coleen Rowley.
The letter rightly speaks on how the Obama administration prosecuted more whistleblowers than all previous presidents combined as it goes on to state:
“It now appears the US is preparing to take the next step — prosecuting publishers who provide the "currency" of free speech, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson...”
Weeks before the Courage Foundation's open letter, Ron Paul made the following statement echoing the open letter's defense of Wikileaks and the actions of founder Julian Assange:
"Julian Assange, along with the whistleblowers who reveal to us the evil that is being done in our name, are heroes. They deserve our respect and admiration, not a prison cell. If we allow this president to declare war on those who tell the truth, we have only ourselves to blame."
Given the recent firing of FBI Director James Comey and CIA Director Mike Pompeo's public intentions of pursuing Wikileaks and Assange, it appears that the US and the world are living through a fluid power-struggle in which the future of free information and journalism will be decided.
COMEY OUT, INTERIM FBI DIRECTOR HAS CLINTON TIES WHILE WHISTLEBLOWERS & US JOURNALISM ON CHOPPING BLOCK
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RON PAUL & GLENN GREENWALD WEIGH IN ON TRUMP TARGETING WIKILEAKS & PRESS FREEDOM |
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