David Sirota Quotes
There should be a precedent that says that when government higher-ups are committing crimes that whistle blowers should be able to blow the whistle in a way that exposes the crimes that they’ve committed. Whistle Blowers who expose systemic crimes against the population … deserve to be treated as heroes, not as criminals.
Generally, government agencies and officials see whistleblowers as traitors, not as heroes. They often slander the whistleblower to discredit his/her revelations about the agency’s activities.
David Sirota, Political Commentator & Talk Radio Host, CNN News, December 16, 2013
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
at the NSA collection of every American’s private e-mails, phone calls, and other digital communications. Referring to the NSA program of collecting information on all electronic communications of all American Citizens. See {636963} for more on the case.
Once he assumed the Presidency however, he flip flopped on this issue and approved prosecution of the Drake case and other whitle blowers. At the beginning of his second term, Edward Snowden, tried to get his superiors to do something about the massive surveillance of the American Public that the intelligence agencies were carrying out in secret. When Snowden was ignored, he went public through two newspapers. Obama castigated him for revealing that the government officials had lied and were operating a secret spying and eavesdropping system monitoring virtually every American. The Obama Administration chased him around the world trying to get him extradited for criminal trial in the United States.
At the time there was no Secrecy & Classification System nor any laws enforcing secrecy or confidentiality. However there was no freedom of information laws of expectations even on the part of journalists. This was the first Freedom of Information policy of the American government. Some politicians were more open than others but there was no national, governmental before this. There were however leakers and whistleblowers though the terms were not in use. Note that Roosevelt herein created the first whistle blower protection—himself.
Who does and does not get parole often depends more on politics and political contributions than on any issue of merit. Keeping all the records secret and the meetings closed allows much of this to happen. In Georgia, the politicians are so desperate to be sure that no one can determine the truth about parole decisions that they have passed a law that even the highest judges of the state cannot subpoena parole board records even if they are material and necessary for criminal or civil trials.
Senator Church was the chairman of the committee. It’s reports (14 in all) are the most extensive documentation of U. S. intelligence ever compiled.
See {158152} for his view on secrecy in government.
See Louis D. Brandeis for an earlier phraseology.
- Born: November 2, 1975
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David J. Sirota is an American journalist, columnist at The Guardian, and editor for Jacobin. He is also a political commentator and radio host based in Denver. He is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, political spokesperson, and blogger. In March 2019, he began working as the senior advisor and speechwriter on the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign.
