Obama/ Whistleblowers

Updated Wed 21 Aug 2013, 4:23pm AEST

.Obama's prosecutions against whistleblowers. (Reuters)

Map: United States

WikiLeaks founder and Australian Senate candidate Julian Assange has accused the Obama administration of waging a war on whistleblowers.

Mr Assange made the comments after a military judge found US soldier Bradley Manning guilty of several counts of espionage but not of aiding the enemy.
"Barack Obama has proceeded with more prosecutions against whistleblowers for espionage than all previous presidents combined going all the way back to 1917," he told the ABC's AM program on July 31, 2013.
"In fact he's done double," he said.
Mr Assange said the case was "part of Obama's war on whistleblowers, part of Obama's war on journalism in fact".

• The claim: Julian Assange says Barack Obama has prosecuted more whistleblowers for espionage than all previous US presidents combined since 1917. He says the number was double.
• The verdict: Seven whistleblowers have been prosecuted for espionage during Mr Obama's presidency. The number for all previous presidents since 1917 is six.

The Obama administration's record

Since Mr Obama took office in 2009, charges have been laid against seven current or former federal government employees or contractors:

1. Edward Snowden, 2013
2. John Kiriakou, 2012
3. Jeffrey Sterling, 2010
4. Bradley Manning, 2010
5. Thomas Drake, 2010
6. Stephen Kim, 2010
7. Shamai Leibowitz, 2009

In each case, the charges were brought under the Espionage Act of 1917.
They included the former National Security Agency contractor now living in Russia, Edward Snowden, a state department contractor accused of leaking classified information about North Korea to Fox News, Stephen Kim, and a CIA officer who was charged in 2010 with leaking information about Iran's nuclear program to the New York Times, Jeffrey Sterling.
No journalist who received the leaks has been prosecuted, but James Risen of the Times has been ordered to testify in the Sterling case.

Audio: Listen to Julian Assange's full interview(AM)

Prosecutions before 2009

Before the Obama administration, the Espionage Act was used three times against five individuals who leaked information to the media.
Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo were indicted together in 1971 for the leaking of the Pentagon Papers. Formal charges against them were later dropped.
Samuel Morison, a civilian analyst with the Navy, was convicted in 1985.
Larry Franklin, an employee of the US Department of Defence, Steve Rosen, the director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington, and Keith Weissman, an analyst at AIPAC, were prosecuted together in 2001.

Assange's terminology

Read more about the federal government employees or contractors who have had charges laid against them since Barack Obama took office.

Professer Steven Vladeck from the Washington College of Law has told ABC Fact Check Mr Assange's statement could have been clearer.
In relation to prosecutions before Mr Obama took office, Professor Vladeck says: "I think it's right to say those were the three incidences where the Espionage Act was used on someone that was not a spy - so, an information leaker, whistleblower or otherwise."
He says when Mr Assange used the term "prosecutions", he should have been less precise and instead spoken about "charges laid".
Other commentators have referred to the prosecution of James Hitselberger under the Espionage Act as the administration pursuing a whistleblower, but he retained the information and did not leak it.

The verdict

Mr Assange is right that the Obama administration has proceeded with more whistleblower prosecutions than all other presidents combined since the Espionage Act was passed in 1917.
However, he went too far when he added that the number was double previous prosecutions.
Seven whistleblowers have been prosecuted under the Espionage Act during Mr Obama's presidency.
Before 2009, charges were laid against six whistleblowers, albeit in only three cases.
If Mr Assange had not gone on to say that Mr Obama had prosecuted twice the number of whistleblowers than all other presidents combined, ABC Fact Check would have rated his claim as correct.
Whether seven prosecutions amounts to a "war on whistleblowers" or journalists is a matter of opinion.

Sources

• Julian Assange, AM, July 31, 2013
• Edward Snowden criminal complaint
• John Kiriakou indictment
• Jeffrey Sterling indictment
• Bradley Manning charge sheet
• Thomas Drake indictment
• Stephen Kim indictment
• Shamai Leibowitz charge
• Samuel Morison indictment
• Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo inidictment
• Lawrence Franklin, Steve Rosen and Keith Weismann indictment
• James Hitselberger indictment
• Cory Currier, ProPublica, 'Charting Obama's Crackdown on National Security Leaks', July 31, 2013
• Zach Dyer, Journalism in the Americas, 'The Obama administration has aggressively prosecuted leaks and whistleblowers. Who are they?', May 14, 2013
• David Carr, The New York Times, 'Blurred Line Between Espionage and Truth', February 26, 2012
• Sharon LaFraniere, The New York Times, 'Math Behind Leak Crackdown: 153 Cases, 4 Years, 0 Indictments', July 20, 2013
• The University of Texas, College of Education, 'The Espionage Act and The Limitations of the First Amendment'
• US Merit Systems Protection Board, 'Blowing The Whistle: Barriers to Federal Employees Making Disclosures'
• US Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of the Whistleblower
• Criminal Prohibitions on the Publication of Classified Defense Information