The Constitution explicitly states that "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press", and yet under the Obama administration there have been numerous efforts to go after leaks and whistleblowers. TheBlaze's For The Record has reported extensively on the administration's crackdown on whistleblowers, and now more journalists are speaking out. Over the weekend,The New York Times' Jim Risen called President Obama "greatest enemy to press freedom in a generation" in an interview with liberal NYT columnist Maureen Dowd.
According to the article, Attorney General Eric Holder has been pursing Risen for over six years, pressuring him to expose a source for his 2006 book about a botched CIA intelligence operation that may have resulted in Iran obtaining nuclear secrets. The original subpoena, issued by the Bush administration, expired in 2009. Many were surprised to see it renewed by the Obama administration, but the White House and the Justice Department's crackdown on whistleblowers and leaks has become the rule rather than the exception.
The federal government first pursued Risen for his Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting of the Bush administration's warrantless wire-tapping after 9/11. Risen is being targeted under the Espionage Act, which the Obama administration has used seven times to crack down on whistleblowers.
“It’s hypocritical,” Risen told Dowd. "A lot of people still think this is some kind of game or signal or spin. They don’t want to believe that Obama wants to crack down on the press and whistle-blowers. But he does. He’s the greatest enemy to press freedom in a generation." (emphasis added)
Glenn read the story over the weekend, and posted his response on Facebook Monday morning. He said, "This is an important op-ed from The New York Times. Let's hope that the press cares about the usurpations of all of the rights of man as much as they do with one of their own. We must care about the violations of these rights with all men and maybe even more so about those who are most different from us."