At Least Someone in Washington Gets It

The government leaks that made the public aware of secret national security mechanisms are criminal acts, not whistle blowing, and anyone who is even vaguely honest has to admit that. As a government employee you don’t reveal secrets just because you don’t happen to agree with a policy or a program, and if you do—for any reason—you are a criminal and should go to jail.

Here’s one elected official who understands that and isn’t afraid to call a spade a spade:

House Intel Chairman Hoekstra: CIA Leaks 'Politically Driven'

Kenneth R. Timmerman, NewsMax.com
Wednesday, June 21, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich, told NewsMax that he believes the recent leaks over the CIA's secret prisons and the NSA's terrorist surveillance program were "politically driven," and that the leakers "ought to be prosecuted."

"What we are seeing is a systematic breakdown in the intelligence community when it comes to leaking highly classified intelligence information," he stated.

If intelligence officers have concerns about a particular program, they have various legal avenues to make those concerns known, he said.

"First, there's an inspector general," he noted. "Then there's a House intelligence committee, and a Senate intelligence committee. If you have questions about the legality of some program or some action, that's where you go to make sure what's being done is legal and within the law." An Intelligence officer who goes to the press with grievances and leaks classified information is "no better than a common thief," he said.

"Nobody's given you the authorization to determine what information should be made freely available to the public. Nobody's given you the authorization to determine what should or should not be classified, or to make those decisions for the American people," Hoekstra said.

Technorati Tags: National Security, Whistle Blowers, Crime, Spying, Terrorism