Slashdot Mirror
Wiretap Whistleblower, a Life in Limbo?
Newsweek has an interesting report on Thomas M. Tamm, the individual who blew the whistle on the Federal Government's warrantless wiretaps. The piece takes a look at some of the circumstances leading up to the disclosure and what has happened since. "After the raid, Justice Department prosecutors encouraged Tamm to plead guilty to a felony for disclosing classified information — an offer he refused. More recently, Agent Lawless, a former prosecutor from Tennessee, has been methodically tracking down Tamm's friends and former colleagues. The agent and a partner have asked questions about Tamm's associates and political meetings he might have attended, apparently looking for clues about his motivations for going to the press, according to three of those interviewed."
Very chilling. Do not take your freedom for granted. I'll share my personal story to show how quickly a thriving democracy can turn into an oppresive regime, here in the US.
Remember the times that led to the invsasion of Iraq? American flags on every highway overpass?
I just happened to be in the process of getting my green card, which means my future was at the mercy of a faceless US government bureaucrat. A rejection and I'd have to pack with my family (including two US born children) and find another place in the globe to settle.
I had published a couple of letters to the editors in the San Jose Mercury News, discussing politics. I was reading foreign media which were hinting that US intelligence on Iraq WMD was bogus. Guess what? I stood very quiet, very silent. Who knows who was listening and how far the goverment was willing to go to silence dissent. If it had been just me, I would have stood up and fought for my rights, but with my family in mind, I decided to cave.
Think about this for a second: the best place on earth, and still scared of what the government might do to me. Call me paranoid, but it felt like a very real threat. It's only in the last two years or so, with Obama rising, that the oppressive feeling has left.
--
http://fairsoftware.net/
here's a clue: he believed it was illegal
Errr I'm taking a massive shot in the dark here but I'm guessing that the motivation would be
CONCERN ABOUT THE MASSIVE SUBVERSION OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND THE CONSTITUTION
I mean I know its a crazy mad sort of idea that someone might be motivated by decency and the desire for what is right rather than some political ideology. When George W. Bush and Dick Cheney talk about the principles of American freedom... well that is what this man has stood up to defend.
How sad that its the defender of freedom who is being shafted, while those who look to subvert the constitution are getting away scot free.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
How about basic patriotism?
blew the whistle on the Federal Government's warrantless wiretaps... [agent] looking for clues about his motivations for going to the press
Concern over illegality and the fact that his superiors didn't seem to care that it was? Isn't that the obvious answer? Are they expecting to find that he's a communist mole, sent to destroy us by exposing our blatant disregard for our own laws? I thought that's what whistleblowers were *supposed* to do. Who cares why?
Magic doesn't work in my presence. My power of disbelief is too strong.
What the hell is this Lawless dude's deal anyway? Checking out Tamm's motivations? Oh, I'm sure he must be a terrorist, right?
Fsck that. Tamm reported what he clearly felt was illegal activity being performed by the federal government. As far as I'm concerned, I don't want Lawless spending another red cent of my tax dollars going after Tamm. Tamm is a patriot as far as I'm concerned. We should all stand up and applaud his efforts in exposing this ugly, terrible government corruption. These acts are illegal, going against our highest laws, morals and ideals. The Founding Fathers are rolling in their graves at this immense injustice.
If anyone is a criminal, it's Agent Lawless.
My blog
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I think this statement says it all: "..If somebody were to say, who am I to do that? I would say, 'I had taken an oath to uphold the Constitution'..."
I think that counts for a lot. If the gov is doing something unconstitutional, then it's your duty to uphold that document first. As a gov official, you have an oath to that body of laws first and foremost. Loyalty to gove agencies or executives is secondary at best.
Health Insurance Quotes
With all the bad news I read about every day, it warms my heart to read about heroes. Even in terrible circumstances like this.
Thomas M. Tamm is a hero to the world and to the American public. He put the needs of the greater good above those of his own. He is fighting the fight that the vast majority of us are too scared to fight - a fight for his country, and a fight for freedom.
When the perpetrators of this current facism are vanquished, like they always are, we will look back and remember the good that rose to counter.
A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
Every second these people are allowed to live is another denial of any true justice.
These people should not be allowed to return to a life of luxury when so many people who actually worked for a living have lost everything they own.
I'd like to see these "men" marched out of the whitehouse forced to their knees and shot publicly. Anything less is a denial of justice.
I bet Obama pardons them all.
"Money stands for money, the devil for his own" -Billy Bragg
Realisticly every agent participating in this harassment needs to be fired and banned from holding a government job.
I've had quite enough of ineffective pussyfoot solutions.
Government officials of the American Republic swear an oath to the Constitution, NOT to the President or any other individual.
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
The government may not classify something to prevent disclosure if it would cover up an illegal act. That's not the right wording, but it is the gist of the law. Basically, classifying info to cover it up is, in itself, illegal. The problem is that the people who are classifying the material are most likely the ones doing the illegal act in the first place, and adding a cover up charge is relatively inconsequential to the actual illegal activity. It's like perjury - if you lie and lose, you're no worse off; if you lie and win, you generally are scott free (since, based on the evidence available, you didn't actually lie).
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Yes, Mr. Tamm is a REAL American hero, sacrificing his career and potentially his freedom to preserve and protect the basic rights that are the pillars of our society. As the saying goes, "Evil prospers when good men do nothing." Shame on the cowards at the FBI Justice Department who retaliated against him.
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be-T J
The flow of money will find a way; for instance were we to set hard caps on campaign money and level the playing field the money (incentives) would just find another way from the constituency to the politician. It's the sickness that is democracy...ironically there's a sense in which it's democracy's greatest strength.
The best of a bunch of bad options :)
"After the raid, Justice Department prosecutors encouraged Tamm to plead guilty to a felony for disclosing classified information -- an offer he refused. More recently, Agent Lawless, a former prosecutor from Tennessee, has been methodically tracking down Tamm's friends and former colleagues. The agent and a partner have asked questions about Tamm's associates and political meetings he might have attended, apparently looking for clues about his motivations for going to the press, according to three of those interviewed."
uh, that's maybe supposed to sound all spooky and scary and stuff, but that's stuff that happens BEFORE you even get a clearance!
It's always amazes me how those who scream bloody murder about privacy around cases such as this, especially when there is evidence of wrongdoing... throw caution to the wind and blatantly violate someone else's privacy.
Oh right... it's ok for you to do it because... Lawless is bad and Tamm is good? Because you agree with one and not the other? One persons privacy is more valuable and should be protected over another?
If not... haven't you just lost the ability to cry if someone investigates you or posts your personal information online?
Do tell the class... what is the point of your posting agent Lawless's personal information here? Harassment? Intimidation?
Ahh moral supremacy at it's finest!
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
totalitarian, authoritarian
You keep using those words. I do not think they mean what you think they mean.
Actually, I think the irony is the name "Justice Department".
From my perspective, the man is a hero. The Constitution was put in place to protect the people from a tyrannical government. In the spirit of the Constitution, he saw a tyrannical government on the horizon, and with a sworn duty to protect the Constitutional rights of the people, he made a sacrifice to stop it. That's the definition of an American hero. Anything else that the Bush administration tries to state about him and is actions is nothing more than the Bush administration trying to cover their own asses.
I think it's indicative of just how fouled up the government is when one's motivations are investigated when you spill the beans on blatantly illegal government activities. Seems to me that questioning one's motivations in a case like this isn't too far removed from the old Soviet Union's practice of labeling anyone that criticized the government of being mentally ill.
Tamm wasn't an elected official and likely never had to swear to uphold the Constitution, the laws of the land, and all that, but I am sure glad he took it upon himself to call the New York Times when he found out what the government was up to.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
That is how Aistotle put it 2000 years ago.
He also added that the reason Democracy is a good idea is because in a random pool of people
the bad guys push in random directions depending on their needs.
The good guys push in about the same direction.
The net effect in the long term is in the right direction.
G
Seriously, we don't allow anybody to live in the U.S. who can't understand what a totalitarian government is.
Hint: Generally, totalitarian governments don't simply quit every few years because that's what the law says they must do. There are many other reasons, but I suspect you don't quite understand yet.
It's pudge. Read his blog/website. He's about as authoritarian as they come.
The problem with the authoritarian type is that they see no problem with laws that are mutually exclusive, nor do they see problems with laws that produce bad side effects. It's the law, it has to be obeyed. If it's a bad law, the courts will throw it out. Any issues that arise during the process of throwing out the bad law are merely consequences of disobeying the law, and should therefore be supported by the general population.
Fun, isn't it? In this world view, there is no way out of a bad law, unless someone in the legislature decides to change the law. Everyone else is lawbreaking scum.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
Why would the Slashdot editors delete public information of a public official obtained from public sources?
Was there a black-friday 2-for-1 sale on bags of stupid that I didn't hear about?
If everyone who ever had anything to do with Tamm (to the best of their admittedly human and therefore fallible memory can recall) got word to Agent Lawless that they might have something to contribute, said Lawless (Agent) might suddenly suffer an overabundance of leads to follow.
The fact that he (Tamm) apparently smuggled his sister out of a research hospital aboard a Firefly class ship would probably be at the extreme end of such reports. Most would probably be more plausible. "He told me he knew how to make free long distance calls." (Later - He said all I needed to do was call those that started with 800.)
Tamm might go down for this. The guy who did the same to the tobacco companies did too. But, they made a movie based on it ("The Insider") so people could know there was a story, and all the billions of dollars the tobacco companies paid to the states (most subsequentely wasted by the states) were a pay off they made before the statute of limitations expired and their true culpability became known. One day it will.
Hopefully Tamm will get picked up by a large enough concern to protect him. There are, after all, corporations that are large enough to deflect such puny attempts at law enforcement, whether questionable or not.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B