Goodale: Fire the DC liars

Here is James Goodale’s recent piece in the Guardian, calling for the firing of officials who lie about national security issues.

The Guardian home

To reform the NSA, fire officials who lie

I saw this at first hand over the Pentagon Papers case: the NSA has a culture of lying. That should be Obama’s first concern

·        James Goodale

·         

o   James Goodale

o   theguardian.com, Wednesday 25 September 2013 07.30 EDT

o   Jump to comments (104)

James Clapper, the US director of national intelligence.

James Clapper, the US director of national intelligence, who has admitted misleading Congress. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

The NSA has lied to the Congress, the courts, and perhaps even to the president himself, but no one seems to care.

The Director of National Intelligence James R Clapper admitted he lied to Congress about the NSA metadata collection program. He said the NSA had no such program – and then added that that was the least “untruthful” remark he could make. General Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency, lied in 2012 that the NSA does not hold data on US citizens, and repeated similar misstatements, under oath, to Congress about the program:

We’re not authorized to do it [data collection on US citizens], nor do we do it.

NSA lawyers lied to secret Fisa court Judges John D Bates and Reggie B Walton. In recently released opinions, Bates said he had been lied to on three separate occasions and Walton said he had been lied to several times also.

But Clapper and Alexander have not been held in contempt of Congress. Nor have the Justice Department attorneys, who lied to Judges Walton and Bates, been disciplined. Part of the answer as to why this is so came out last week.

The Justice Department told USA Today that it had no intention of investigating the attorneys who lied to those judges. In the ordinary course, the Justice Department’s office of professional responsibility investigates the behavior of lawyers who have been subject to accusations such as those made by Judges Bates and Walton.

That office, for example, investigated opinions given by the Office of Legal Council that torture was legal. But in the case of NSA lies, the Justice Department doesn’t seem to care.

The big fish, of course, are Alexander and Clapper. Congress usually comes down hard on those it suspects of lying to it. In this case, Generals Clapper and Alexander were not merely suspected of lying: Clapper admitted he lied to Congress and Alexander effectively said the same thing. Yet, nothing has happened. There should be accountability for their behavior.

In an address to the nation on 9 August 2013, President Barack Obama said he had five reforms in mind with respect to dealing with the NSA “problem”: he would provide that the Fisa court have adversarial representation (sorely needed); the NSA would expose to the public what it was doing on its website (laughable); the NSA hire a civil rights advocate (inconsequential); and Congress should amend section 215 of the Patriot Act (good idea); and lastly, he would appoint experts to examine NSA practices.

The latter idea on its face would seem to be a reasonable one. In practice, though, it does not seem to be going anywhere thus far. The group of experts consist of former OMB Director Peter Swire, former Deputy CIA Director Richard Morell, counter-terrorism expert Richard Clark, and two some-time University of Chicago law professors, Cass Sunstein and Geoffrey Stone.

The committee does not have a promising name: the review group on intelligence and communications technology. It’s not communications technology that needs to be reviewed, but the culture of lying at the NSA. This needs to be changed without delay. Perhaps the only way to do this is to fire Alexander (and Clapper, too) and start all over again.

The committee has been criticized as being too pro-national security and too pro-Obama. The criticism may be justified. Sunstein and Stone, as distinguished as they may be, taught with Obama at the University of Chicago law school; and Clark and Morell have pro-national security credentials.

The committee has had one reported meeting. It dealt with complaints from internet companies, technical in nature, which covered their relationship with the NSA. Other meetings, if any, have not been reported.

As noted, the real issue before the committee is the deceptions of the NSA. We expect the NSA to have a culture that lies to and deceives the enemy. But the American public is not the enemy.

The NSA‘s culture of lying to the public and its courts is not a new phenomenon. This has been a part of an ingrained culture that goes back for years. For example, in the Pentagon Papers case in 1971, the NSA was doing the same thing. As secret records in the case show, the NSA made an entirely bogus claim that publication of the papers would disclose the secret that the US had broken the North Vietnamese communications code.

It was proven to the lower courts that this “secret” had already been published in the Congressional Record; it was not a secret at all. Nonetheless, the NSA persuaded Erwin Griswold, the former dean of Harvard law school, the then solicitor general of the United States, to knowingly lie to the United States supreme court that it was still a secret. The court ignored this false assertion and permitted the information to be published anyway.

It is too late now to attack the NSA for destroying the reputation of the dean of one of the great law schools in this country. It is not too late, however, to force the NSA to change its culture.

Obviously, if this culture seeps into popular culture, lies and deceits will be easily tolerated – and we will all be the worse for it. President Obama should focus on this issue before it is too late. But it is not at all clear that he cares about it any more than Congress or the Justice Department do.

The ‘Illustrated Courtroom’ Has Facebook Page

Elizabeth Williams, one of the five legendary courtroom artists who are behind our upcoming (spring 2014) book THE ILLUSTRATED COURTROOM, featuring 50 years of the best illustrations from this remarkable intersection of journalism and art, has launched a Facebook page for the book. Look here for the latest posts, and to like the page for updates such as the just-posted illustration and comment from the court testimony of Captain Phillips, from the current Tom Hanks movie.

‘Citizens Rising’ Author: Citizens Are New Fourth Estate

David Hoffman, the founder of the NGO Internews and the author of our upcoming book, Citizens Rising: Independent Journalism and the Spread of Democracy, says new media is helping citizens become the new Fourth Estate. In a blog for Huffington Post, he says everyday people are embracing the role of oversight traditionally undertaken by the traditional media:

“As the new media disrupt the industrial model of information, citizens have become empowered to oversee the doings of their elected representatives. A more direct form of democracy is emerging. The availability of information and, more importantly, the ability to communicate and self-organize has created a diverse “citizens movement” that serves as a check and balance on the prerogatives of government. It is a worldwide phenomenon. Millions of citizens have taken to the streets of Sao Paulo, Tel Aviv, Manila, Madrid and Bangkok demanding good governance and an end to corruption. Demonstrators have swept away autocratic governments in scores of countries. Citizens in India demand protection from rape. In China tens of millions of bloggers have become a virtual citizens lobby pushing for environmental change, blocking huge new dams and petrochemical plants. In Italy and other European countries new citizen parties have emerged to challenge established political powers.”

Citizens Rising is available for pre-order from the CUNY Journalism Press.

Our first NY Times review

James Goodale’s Fighting for the Press scored a mini-review in the NY Times Book Review on August 18. The review called the book ‘an engaging memoir’ of Goodale’s behind-the-scenes story of the Pentagon Papers when he was the Times’ general counsel. Papers despite concerns from outside counsel and Times executives about threats of criminal prosecution by the Nixon administration. Finally, reviewer Jeffrey Frank noted that Goodale’s comments on the Bush and Obama campaigns against reporters and for government secrecy represent ‘a warning flare’ for press freedom and the First Amendment.

Goodale piles up more good reviews

James Goodale, author of Fighting for the Press: The Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers and Other Battles, sends us an excerpt from yet another good review, along with links to several others:

“But here’s the shocker: this book is not only well-written, it is elegantly straightforward. I read the entire book in less than five days, and never once did my eyes glaze-over from lawyerly mumbo jumbo or linguistic prevarication. In fact, I could barely put the book down. Goodale has wisely and shrewdly prepared the book in a tight, accelerated style, with short, rapid-fire chapters—some of which are only four or five pages long. He has also excised what could have been an excruciating storm of legalese, shepherding the reader through the high stakes confrontation like the best of the crime or action adventure writers of our times. (Dan Rather, who wrote a blurb for the book, calls it ‘a story worthy of John Grisham, except this one actually happened.’)”  — from the Thursday Review.
(Here’s the link:
http://www.thursdayreview.com/PentagonPapers.html

http://boingboing.net/2013/06/28/espionage.html  BoingBoing

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/world/europe/wikileaks-back-in-news-never-left-us-radar.html?hpw – New York Times

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2013/06/24/For-Snowden-the-Punishment-Should-Fit-the-Crime.aspx#page1 The Fiscal Times

http://www.hankeringforhistory.com/fighting-for-the-press-book-review/#ixzz2W7T59NQx Hankering for History

http://www.newspaperalum.com/2013/06/whats-on-your-summer-reading-list-some-us-journalists-reveal-theirs.html – Arthur Sulzberger’s choice

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/05/james-goodale-on-obama-nixon-the-free-press.html – New York Magazine

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/05/21/obama-the-media-and-national-security/only-nixon-harmed-a-free-press-more New York Times Opinion Pages

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/us/20iht-letter20.html?_r=0  New York Times/Bloomberg View by Albert Hunt

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/decades-after-the-pentagon-papers-the-press-is-still-under-assault/275831/ – The Atlantic, Peter Osnos

http://observer.com/2013/05/just-a-crook-pentagon-papers-lawyer-thinks-obama-is-worse-than-nixon/ New York Observer

http://realtalkrealdebate.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/pentagon-papers-lawyer-james-goodale-attorney-general-eric-holder-should-resign-2/ Real Talk

http://historyandthesockmerchant.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/book-review-fighting-for-press-inside.html – History and the Stock Merchant

http://www.information.dk/462082 Danish newspaper “Information”

http://peru21.pe/impresa/manicomio-usa-2-2123920 Peruvian newspaper

http://www.lepoint.fr/technologie/video-exclusive-la-france-a-t-elle-aide-wikileaks-22-03-2013-1644218_58.php French press

http://wsm.ezsitedesigner.com/share/scrapbook/23/236109/Norwegian_Business_Daily.pdf Norwegian Business Daily

 

Goodale on NPR’s ‘On Point’ Discussing Snowden

Here’s a note we just received (June 24) from James Goodale, whose book Fighting for the Press is getting tons of attention amid the Obama administration’s actions against leakers and journalists, and now the efforts to prosecute former CIA contractor Edward Snowden:

Tonight at 8:00 PM I will be on NPR for an hour on Tom Ashbrook’s program “On Point”.  It is broadcast in New York on WNYC AM 820.  It is also broadcast nationwide at various times and on line at http://onpoint.wbur.org/.   Because of the Snowden leak and flight my comments are sought in connection with my book “Fighting for the Press: the Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers and Other Battles.”  Here are links to recent broadcasts (both TV and radio)

C-SPAN (one hour TV): http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/313185-3

Listening Post (Al Jazeera, one half hour) : http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2013/06/2013614145837882956.html

Leonard Lopate (one half hour): http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2013/may/28/inside-story-pentagon-papers-and-other-battles/

Best, –JGoodale

Goodale does 50min on C-Span

Here’s a remarkable discussion from C-Span with James Goodale on his book Fighting for the Press: The Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers and Other Battles, that not only looks at at never-told behind-closed-doors stories from the case leading up to the 1971 landmark Supreme Court decision on freedom of the press, but also analyzes the Obama administration’s crackdown on whistleblowers and what Goodale asserts is an assault on the free press.

What Are News People Reading? Goodale

A former newspaperman named Bill Lucey runs a nice site called NewspaperAlum.com, devoted to other former newspaper editors and reporters, and what they are doing these days. Bill recently asked a number of well-known news people what they are reading, and started with New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., whose list was topped by James Goodale’s Fighting for the Press: The Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers and Other Battles.

Liz Smith Dishes on ‘Fighting for the Press’

The venerable Liz Smith’s widely circulated column references the CUNY Journalism Press book written by Jim Goodale:

People are talking about attorney James Goodale’s call for the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder in the Daily Beast…

Writer Goodale, who has represented The New York Times in the past, says this all comes from his chapters on President Obama in his new book Fighting for the Press: The Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers and Other Battles.

A Note to Readers: Jim Goodale on His Media Whirlwind

The book I have written “Fighting for the Press” has had a rollercoaster ride since the Associated Press  and Rosengate stories hit the headlines because I say Obama may be worse than Nixon. 

I have done at least 50 TV, print, Net and radio interviews since then.  I will be on the Leonard Lopate Show on NPR today at 12:00 noon EDT.

My piece for the Daily Beast and a Huff Post story drew over 6,000 comments virtually, to coin a phrase, unprecedented.

“Is Obama Worse for Press Freedom than Nixon?” by James C. Goodale, The Daily Beast, May 14, 2013

DOJ’s AP Probe Helps Fuel Obama-Nixon Comparisons,” by Jack Mirkinson, The Huffington Post, May 15, 2013

“Decades After the Pentagon Paper’s the Press is Still Under Assault,” by Peter Osnos, The Atlantic.com, May 14, 2013

“Just a Crook? Pentagon Papers Lawyer Thinks Obama is Worse Than Nixon,” by Michael H. Miller, New York Observer, May 14, 2013

Uniformly the reaction to the book is that it is a thriller and a good read.Real Talk on Fighting for the Press: the Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers and Other Battles, May 7, 2013.  

Best, –Jim 

Goodale Cited By Many in Media

Should reporters be prosecuted for covering government leaks? Is Obama worse for the First Amendment than Nixon?

Everyone from Fox News to NPR is talking about:

Fighting for the Press: The Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers and Other BattlesBy James C. Goodale, published by CUNY Journalism Press

“When it comes to the leaks, the president should be sobered by an interesting new book, Fighting for the Press: The Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers and Other Battles.” – New York Times

“Goodale believes there may be a secret indictment against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, and that he could be accused of conspiring with Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning to violate the Espionage Act.”  – American Bar Association Journal

“Goodale, also known as the ‘father of reporters’ privilege’ and author of a new book titled Fighting for the Press, says Obama is censoring the media by using an illegitimate justification of national security concerns.” –  New York Observer.

“James Goodale: Is Obama worse for press freedom than Nixon?” – @newsweek

“It has been forty years since the Pentagon Papers made its indelible mark on journalism, but Goodale contends that many of the same issues that were central then remain today. He sees the continuing WikiLeaks case as a second Pentagon Papers, except that so far, the government’s attempts to stifle First Amendment rights have proceeded unchecked.” – TheAtlantic. com

“James Goodale knows a thing or two about whistleblowers.” – New York magazine