FBI Raids Home of Suspected NSA Leaker

During the hours that Congress was debating codifying the Bush administration's wiretapping by revising the FISA law, the Department of Justice was raiding the home of former Justice official Thomas M. Tamm to identify the person who first brought the illicit program to light: "The agents seized Tamm's desktop computer, two of his children's laptops and a cache of personal files... the raid was related to a Justice criminal probe into who leaked details of the warrantless eavesdropping program to the news media... James X. Dempsey of the Center for Democracy and Technology said the raid was 'amazing' and shows the administration's misplaced priorities: using FBI agents to track down leakers instead of processing intel warrants to close the [purported surveillance] gaps."

Comments

Re:Let me correct that last sentence for you:

[lixee]

Untill people do the people in office will abuuse power the temptation is VERY hard to resisit.

Dude, lay off whatever drug you're on.

Re:Actions like these distinguish the system

[zeddgara]

Leakers are not whistleblowers, I applaud the fact that they are going after these people. The same side showing their phony shock faces about desk jockey Valerie Plame being "outed" turn around and decry efforts to uncover the leak of the NSA program, which was far more hurtful to our national security then Plame could of ever been. While I never expect any sort of consistent morality from 9/10'ers it's always fun to point out their hypocrisy, especially when confronted with such an egregious example as this.

About Time

[warp1]

It's about time the Bush administration got serious about going after those who leak national security information in an effort to undermine the war on terror.

Re:What's the solution? Depends ...

[WgT2]

But seriously folks...

"...and shows the administration's misplaced priorities: using FBI agents to track down leakers instead of processing intel warrants to close the [purported surveillance] gaps." Next time you're on a boat with a leak whether that leak gets fixed in transit or whether the 'gap between you and land gets filled' will depend on the severity of the leak... and whether it's too late to fix.

I doubt the general public, at least for a decade or so, will be allowed to know how much of an impact the leaker (whomever it was) had on our work to protect ourselves, the which IS needed - just check the threats that are actually coming in across the news. In any case it was damaging.

Let Me Rephrase This To The Bush Haters

[dammy]

I realize most of the /. readers are far, if not radical left, wingers, but when Hillary is in the White House, I expect not to see word one going against her. You know it, I know it.

But let me give you my opinion as a current Federal Employee. I operate under a ton of US Code which have some rather harsh legal aspects to it if I violate them. Sad fact the matter of the day, I am accountable for my actions, be it admin or criminal violations. If this clown violated a ton of US Code, it's Club Fed time. Justice is in deed blind, and regardless of your dripping venom for Bush, people who violate US Code for their personal agenda (gee isn't that what you want Bush impeached for?) need to face the music for their endangerment of gaing intelligence against a sworn enemy of the US.

There are indeed channels to operate for oversight, leaking highly secret information to the Media is not one of them.

Re:An American Episode of Russian Fascism

[N8F8]

He's a traitor and deserves a bullet in his head.

Re:Actions like these distinguish the system

[MarsDefenseMinister]

I think that when liberals sling around the term "fascism" to describe just about anything they don't like, they ultimately enable fascism. Someday when a real 2nd Hitler comes along, he's just going to say "Cry Wolf" and waltz into power.

The true meaning of the word "fascism" today is more like "the dirty, smelly, hippie idiot who doesn't like the President is using a word he doesn't understand." You can get the meaning from context, usually.

Re:What's the solution? Depends ...

[Mr. Slippery]

You cannot wash away blood with blood

Says who?

Uh, chemistry? Really, there's a reason you don't find blood in the laundry isle.

Justice is only served when the one who kills is killed.

You've confused "justice" with "revenge".

If every killer must be killed for justice to be served, then it follows that those who do the "justice" killing must be killed, and then those who kill them must be killed...very quickly there's no one left. So if your goal is the elimination of humanity, we can accept your premise, otherwise it doesn't withstand the simplest investigation.

I dare also say that you and your ilk are the ones lusting for the death and destruction in that, concerning these men you so revile, you go about spouting off about how you hope they have a massive stroke or heart attack and die.

No, you're the one saying killers should be killed; I think even mass murderering lunatics like George W. Bush should be treated humanely. Hell, I even have hope that with intensive therapy and the right medication, he might come to contact with reality and repent of his crimes.

And don't get me started about the babies in the womb: the most innocent of them all.

Well, I can see you've already started yourself on this topic - idealogues often are "self-starters".

It's not relevant to the matter at hand, but I fear you are again confused; "babies" are not found in the womb. Those are fetuses or embryos. A newborn baby is a biologically independent being, interacting with the world and on the way to personhood; a fetus is a not. An embryo isn't even distinguishable as human.