Count me in for "all the above".
What the Government is doing is wrong. But they're just following all the protocols we allowed them to put in place. He broke the law. I'm glad he revealed this to us, but I won't shed a tear when he's renditioned back to the US.
Not quite true. Technically, we never had proof that there were massive, systematic metadata searches of near all phone calls and credit card transactions. Folks "knew" it, but never had real proof. And we were specifically told we were not allowed to have proof, because "national security". Which, as far as I am aware, is not listed as trumping the Constitution on a regular, wide spread basis. Congress was not given broad and detailed oversight. United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is 15 Senators, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has 21 Reps. And those members, as I recall, cannot legally divulge classified illegal programs. Kinda, sorta, not really, maybe.
Technically, there is a mechanism for reporting intel related fraud, waste and abuse. ICWPA is for employees, or contractor employees, of the Defense Intelligence Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, and the National Security Agency can report matters of "urgent concern" to the intelligence committees of Congress. DoD IG Instruction 7050.11 sorta implements the ICWPA within the DoD Office of Inspector General. But what happens when the top of the ICWPA chain refuses to deal with an illegal project, program or action?
I dunno. I fall into "All of the Above". As much as I bitch and gripe here, there are lines I haven't, don't and won't cross. Anything in the public domain already is fair game if it's reasonably well documented or independently validated. Because, well, duh. There's some bad stuff that I know about, that I kept my mouth shut. Because that is the right thing. But what happens when you see something blatantly illegal, unconstitutional and systematic? That Congress knows about, and is ignoring. On one hand, he broke his oath. Or did he? Which comes first? The people, or its laws? It's highest laws or its routine laws?
It's a tough spot. I'm glad I'm not there. These are questions that should have clear answers, and never will. I don't think I would have leaked it if I was in the position to possess such documents. I haven't looked at the details, but from what I understand, he leaked in the most responsible way he could. That he solely leaked the classified court orders, with no sources and methods. That buys ... a measure of respect. Manning leaked sources and methods. He deserves burning, just for that alone. I may be wrong, that is solely what I heard thus far. We'll see.
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