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Jesselyn Radack, an attorney and recovering whistleblower, talks about the case of CIA officer John Kiriakou, who is going to prison soon in retaliation for truth-telling about torture. This podcast is immediately available to all, no subscription required. Sibel Edmonds co-hosts.Radack was working in the Bush-Ashcroft Justice Department, and was drummed out because she put legal limits on mistreatment of John Walker Lindh, “The American Taliban” guy. She is now an attorney with the Government Accountability Project, and on the Kiriakou legal team.
She describes her own experience as a whistleblower, and Sibel shares some comments on her similar ordeal. We talk about the abuse of the Espionage Act by ObamaCo on leakers, more than any prior president, and Kiriakou’s decision to plead to a lesser charge, confirming to a reporter the name of a CIA agent (who was not undercover, and the reporter didn’t publish it). Radack comments on the inappropriate comments by the judge and the proceedings she presided over at Kiriakou’s recent sentencing hearing, including the use of a secret “victim impact statement” that was not shared with her or the defendant and the public references to charges that had been dismissed. Here is a blog post by Radack about that bizarre hearing.
Radack also represented Tom Drake, a top NSA official who was retaliated against because he advocated for surveillance software that was cheaper, and protected our constitutional rights. Drake now works at an Apple store.
Radack also recaps two new pieces of legislation that purport to improve protections for whistleblowers. The bill authored by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) to cover government contractors in military and national security is a good step, but Obama took exception to it in a signing statement.
Radack answers the question, “who is the new John Yoo”.
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