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The Guardian: NSA collected US Email Records in Build For More than Two Years Under Obama June 27, 2013 Summary: More secret documents obtained by The Guardian reveal a detailed timeline of events from inside the federal government leading up to the implementation of the data–mining PRISM program and this month’s other groundbreaking disclosures. This latest article, along with this companion piece, reveals that the Stellar Wind program – started in the months following 9/11 (see GAP clientsBill Binney and J. Kirk Wiebe) to collect and create chains of users’ online metadata – continued for at least two years under the Obama administration. While that program has ended, additional documents suggest that the NSA launched a new communication analysis program as late as December 2012. The email metadata collection being revealed is significantly more intrusive on Americans’ private lives than toll records or telephone metadata. According to the article: "The calls you make can reveal a lot, but now that so much of our lives are mediated by the internet, your IP [internet protocol] logs are really a real-time map of your brain: what are you reading about, what are you curious about, what personal ad are you responding to (with a dedicated email linked to that specific ad), what online discussions are you participating in, and how often?" said Julian Sanchez of the Cato Institute. "Seeing your IP logs – and especially feeding them through sophisticated analytic tools – is a way of getting inside your head that's in many ways on par with reading your diary," Sanchez added. GAP National Security & Human Rights Director Jesselyn Radack responded to the most recent Guardian article here. The new documents also show that the 2004 hospital room confrontation between then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and acting Attorney General James B. Comey (now President Obama’s nominee for FBI head) had to do with the legality of NSA surveillance. These documents vindicate former AT&T technician and whistleblower Mark Klein, whose 2006 disclosure to Wired magazine alleged that the telecom company passed domestic and international online user data to the NSA. The New York Times: The Criminal NSA June 27, 2013 Summary: An op-ed from two prominent law professors challenges the federal government's contention that the recently revealed domestic surveillance programs are legal, saying they "violate both the letter and the spirit of federal law." The piece picks apart the rationale provided thus far by federal officials seeking to justify a constitutional violation. Key Quote: The government claims that under Section 215 [of the Patriot Act] it may seize all of our phone call information now because it might conceivably be relevant to an investigation at some later date, even if there is no particular reason to believe that any but a tiny fraction of the data collected might possibly be suspicious. That is a shockingly flimsy argument — any data might be “relevant” to an investigation eventually, if by “eventually” you mean “sometime before the end of time.” If all data is “relevant,” it makes a mockery of the already shaky concept of relevance.  NBC: Obama – Not “Scrambling Jets’ To Get Leaker Snowden June 27, 2013 Summary: President Obama, speaking in Senegal yesterday, said he would not be “wheeling and dealing” with China and Russia in order to extradite “29–year–old hacker” Snowden. The President also mentioned his concern that Snowden may continue to release top-secret documents to the press and has urged both Russia and Ecuador – where Snowden has filed his request for asylum – to “recognize that they are part of an international community” and extradite Snowden to the US. GAP National Security & Human Rights Counsel Kathleen McClellan, speaking with Ian Masters, responded to the President’s remarks by saying, “I think it’s a case of classic whistleblower retaliation. Institutions often focus on the messenger rather than the message … the fact that the story is about Mr. Snowden rather than that the government has been spying on innocent Americans … is evident of just how anti–whistleblower the culture has become in the national security state.” New Yorker: Demonizing Edward Snowden – Which Side Are You On? June 24, 2013 Summary: This analysis of the media response to Edward Snowden and the impact of his disclosures attempts to reach the core of the world’s reaction to the NSA whistleblower. To do this, the editorial points out that Snowden’s disclosure created no serious threat to national security, and therefore reactions to Snowden’s behavior and actions must be much more personal than political. The article also uses a quote from NSA whistleblower/GAP client Thomas Drake as its core argument in support of Snowden. Key Quote: “I consider Edward Snowden as a whistle-blower. I know some have called him a hero, some have called him a traitor. I focus on what he disclosed. I don’t focus on him as a person. He had a belief that what he was exposed to—U.S. actions in secret—were violating human rights and privacy on a very, very large scale, far beyond anything that had been admitted to date by the government. In the public interest, he made that available.” – NSA whistleblower/GAP client Thomas Drake Washington Post: Protections for Pending Federal Whistleblower Cases June 27, 2013 Summary: In a landmark victory for whistleblowers, the Merit Systems Protection Board has ruled that the provisions of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) signed into law last year will be applied to whistleblower cases filed within the agency before the legislation became law. Key Quote: “This is a major victory for whistleblowers,” said Tom Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit group. “We all should be grateful to the Merit Systems Protection Board majority for leadership restoring credible whistleblower rights to pending challenges of retaliation, not merely new harassment. The ruling will have a professional life-or-death impact in numerous pending cases. It also means the WPEA will control newly-filed challenges to harassment that occurred while passage was delayed through secret Senate holds for eight years.” Gannett: House Passes Whistleblower Protections for Sexual Assault Victims in the Military June 27, 2013 Summary: The House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill, 423–0, that will require military inspector general office investigations into all service member complaints of sexual assault. Representatives hope that the bill will decrease fears of retaliation and encourage more to come forward so that the widespread and systemic problem of sexual assault in the military may be dealt with effectively. The measure awaits consideration in the Senate before it can become law.

GAP's mission is to promote corporate and government accountability by protecting whistleblowers, advancing occupational free speech, and empowering citizen activists. GAP has been the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization since 1977. The Government Accountability Project 1612 K Street NW, Washington DC 20006