Obama Promises Disappear from Web. Change.gov, the website created by the Obama transition team in 2008, has effectively disappeared sometime over the last month. While the front splash page for Change.gov has linked to the main White House website for years, until recently, you could still continue on to see the materials and agenda laid out by the administration.
This was a particularly helpful resource for those looking to compare Obama's performance in office against his vision for reform, laid out in detail on Change.gov. According to the Internet Archive, the last time that content (beyond the splash page) was available was June 8th -- last month. Why the change? Here's one possibility, from the administration's ethics agenda: Protect Whistleblowers: Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Obama's Crackdown on Whistleblowers. The NSA Four reveal how a toxic mix of cronyism and fraud blinded the agency before 9/11. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) In the annals of national security, the Obama administration will long be remembered for its unprecedented crackdown on whistleblowers.
Since 2009, it has employed the World War I–era Espionage Act a record six times to prosecute government officials suspected of leaking classified information. The latest example is John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer serving a thirty-month term in federal prison for publicly identifying an intelligence operative involved in torture. It’s a pattern: the whistleblowers are punished, sometimes severely, while the perpetrators of the crimes they expose remain free. Research support provided by the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute. About the Author Tim Shorrock Tim Shorrock, who has been contributing to The Nation since 1983, is the author of Spies for Hire: The Secret World of... Also by the Author. Barack Obama worst president for whistleblowers, says film-maker | Media. Barack Obama has the worst record of any US president when it comes to dealing with whistleblowers, according to the Oscar-nominated director of a documentary about the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers in the 1970s.
Judith Ehrlich, whose 2009 film The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers explored the 70s leak of US government documents on the Vietnam war, said Obama had indicted five alleged whistleblowers since taking office, making him the "worst president in terms of his record on whistleblowing". One of these is Bradley Manning, the US army private who is in detention, accused of leaking 250,000 diplomatic cables to the website WikiLeaks. The WikiLeaks exposé, published in late 2010 in partnership with papers including the Guardian and New York Times, has been compared to the Pentagon Papers in terms of its scale. Ehrlich praised Manning for his "courage" if he were responsible for the US embassy cables leak, adding: "There is no safe way to leak. The Obama administration's disturbing treatment of whistleblowers | Paul Harris. Later this month six Americans will be honoured with a Ridenhour prize which celebrates truth-telling in the public interest.
They are a varied bunch. Eileen Foster helped expose systemic fraud at America's largest mortgage provider Countywide Financial. Lt Col Daniel Davis spoke out against the top brass's portrayal of US military actions in Afghanistan while he was still a serving soldier. Author Ali Soufan wrote The Black Banners, a history of Al-Qaida. The two makers of Semper Fi – a documentary about a Marine's investigation into the death of his daughter – gets a Ridenhour for film and Congressman John Lewis – a hero of the Civil Rights struggle – gets a courage award.
All spoke out even when the forces arrayed against them were large, powerful, or questioned their motives and patriotism. But that was then. To do that it is using the bluntest of tools: the Espionage Act, a first world war-era law intended to combat the threat from spies, not internal dissenters. The Obama administration's war on whistleblowers. Last week marked the two-year anniversary of WikiLeaks’ publication of the Afghan War Diary. The anniversary is a reminder of the Obama administration’s systematic silencing and prosecution of whistleblowers and leakers who have pointed out the federal government’s failures. For those who may have forgotten, the Afghan War Diary is a collection of more than 91,000 U.S. military documents covering the War in Afghanistan from January 2004 to December of 2009 that offers a dark picture of the conflict, including evidence of civilian killings, incidents of friendly fire, and the hiring of child prostitutes by Defense Department contractors.
Additionally, many documents suggest a robust insurgency whose opposition to coalition forces is proving more challenging than expected due to its use of advanced weaponry, sustained involvement by al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden, and varying levels of foreign support for the Taliban from Pakistan, Iran, and North Korea. The answers are unsettling.