News and Commentary

By Chip Gibbons: The Dissenter Americans have repeatedly been told to keep the United States safe they must surrender their core civil liberties to a vast national security apparatus. Yet when this apparatus fails at this supposed objective, the response is to further expand its surveillance powers. Rarely is the exercise of these powers seriously explored. Instead, the national discussion centers on a baseless notion that a shortage of surveillance powers is the root cause of intelligence failures.

By Pitasanna Shanmugathas: Jurist.org To readers of JURIST who may not be aware, tell us, who is Julian Assange, and what are some of the key revelations that his organization, Wikileaks, is responsible for bringing to public attention?

By Jeffrey Sterling It doesn’t take much to shock me, but that Donald Trump has been charged with violating the Espionage Act has me unequivocally astonished. I can’t say that I have many, if any commonalities with current or former presidents and I certainly take no pride in the shared tribulation I have with Donald.

By Thomas Drake Let me first take a moment to express my heartfelt appreciation for your continuing donations. I remain incredibly grateful for all your support since I announced earlier this year how I ended up dealing with a lymphoma cancer diagnosis last Fall. Health is stabilizing and longer-term prognosis is good. Seems the very expensive targeted capsule pills I take daily are really working! Have additional tests in late August and in September that will provide a progress check.

Institute for Public Accuracy Former President Trump is facing 31 counts under the Espionage Act, the same federal statute that was the basis for the prosecution of U.S. Air Force veteran Daniel Hale, who is now serving a 45-month prison sentence as a drone whistleblower.

Institute for Public Accuracy Pentagon Papers whistleblower and longtime peace activist Daniel Ellsberg died on Friday at the age of 92. In a pair of articles published this afternoon — “Daniel Ellsberg Wanted Americans to See the Truth About War” and “Daniel Ellsberg Has Passed Away. He Left Us a Message.” — author and activist Norman Solomon reflects on the dimensions of Ellsberg’s commitments and historic impacts.

by Norman Solomon, opinion contributor: TheHill.com Donald Trump and Daniel Hale have each been indicted on charges of violating the Espionage Act, but the similarity ends there. While the former president prepares for arraignment in a Miami federal courtroom this afternoon, Hale — a U.S. Air Force veteran and drone whistleblower — continues to serve a 45-month prison sentence.

Video by Big Brother Watch 3 intelligence agency whistleblowers, who are friends of Big Brother Watch, give their insights on Edward Snowden's revelations, mass surveillance and the future of privacy.

The Stream: Aljazeera.com It’s been over four years since Julian Assange was forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian embassy and placed in a high security prison in the UK, where he is battling extradition to the United States. The Wikileaks co-founder is wanted on 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse for publishing documents that exposed US war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the US military prison at Guantánamo.

By Matthew Guariglia, Cindy Cohn, and Andrew Crocker: Electronic Frontier Foundation On May 20, 2013, a young government contractor with an EFF sticker on his laptop disembarked a plane in Hong Kong carrying with him evidence confirming, among other things, that the United States government had been conducting mass surveillance on a global scale. What came next were weeks of disclosures—and official declassifications—as Edward Snowden worked with some of the world’s top news organizations to reveal critical facts about the National Security Agency vacuuming up people’s online communications, internet activity, and phone records, both inside and outside the U.S..