Treason: Former CIA officer (Dem staffer) Charged in Leaking Classified names to Al Qaeda

From Atlas Shrugs:

Treason: Former CIA officer (Dem staffer) Charged in Leaking Classified names to Al Qaeda

I would hang 'em high for treason and would vote for a patriot who promised the same.

Drudge headline says he was a Dem staffer, but I did not see that in the article. The NY  Times and ABC were also involved in the publication of covert names.We knew; we protested the NY Crimes here, remember?

I did note this pearl:

"Critics warn that the crackdown will erode the ability of news organizations to expose government abuses."

That must be President Bush and Republican abuses, since the press obviously has no interest in Obama's abuses of the Constitution.

Senate Democratic staffer arrested for disclosing identities of CIA operatives to al Qaeda Gitmo inmates...

Former CIA officer charged in alleged leaks Washington Post (hat tip Van)

The Justice Department on Monday charged a former CIA officer with repeatedly leaking classified information, including the identities of agency operatives involved in the capture and interrogation of alleged terrorists.

The case against John Kiriakou, who also served as a senior Senate aide, extends the Obama administration’s crackdown on disclosures of national security secrets. Kiriakou, 47, is the sixth target of a leaks-related prosecution since President Obama took office, exceeding the total number of comparable prosecutions under all previous administrations combined, legal experts said.

Kiriakou, who was among the first to go public with details about the CIA’s use of water-

boarding and other harsh interrogation measures, was charged with disclosing classified information to reporters and lying to the agency about the origin of other sensitive material he published in a book. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

In its criminal filing, the Justice Department obscured many of the details of Kiriakou’s alleged disclosures. But the document suggests that Kiriakou, 47, was a source for stories by The New York Times and other news organizations in 2008 and 2009 about some of the agency’s most sensitive operations after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. These include the capture of alleged al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaida and the interrogation of the self-proclaimed mastermind of the attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

The Justice Department said that the information Kiriakou supplied to journalists also contributed to a subsequent security breach at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, enabling defense attorneys there to obtain photographs of CIA operatives suspected of being involved in harsh interrogations. Some of the pictures were subsequently discovered in the cells of high-value detainees.

Kiriakou, who worked for the CIA from 1990 to 2004, was charged with four counts, including disclosing the identity of an undercover officer and providing classified information to individuals not authorized to receive it.

In an appearance Monday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria Monday afternoon, Magistrate Judge John F. Anderson set bond at $250,000 for Kiriakou, who was also forced to surrender his passport and restrict his travel to the Washington, D.C. area.

Kiriakou did not comment on the charges in court. He wore a blue dress shirt and black dress slacks but no tie. Plato Cacheris, Kiriakou’s attorney, said his client would plead not guilty and expected to be released on bond.

The surge in such prosecutions is seen as a measure of the Obama administration’s determination to root out leaks but may also reflect the government’s expanded ability to mine suspects’ e-mail accounts and other digital devices for incriminating evidence.

The complaint filed Monday includes numerous passages apparently taken from Kiriakou’s e-mail exchanges with reporters as well as former CIA colleagues.

Critics warn that the crackdown will erode the ability of news organizations to expose government abuses. Steven Aftergood, an expert on government secrecy issues at the Federation of American Scientists, noted that Kiriakou is accused of being a source on stories about CIA interrogation measures that President Obama described as torture.