TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The recent outbreak of cases where former US state employees leaked their own nation’s secrets to the world has grabbed the attention of millions around the world. The most popular recent cases include WikiLeaks’ Bradley Manning, who leaked thousands of classified documents to the world, and whistleblower Edward Snowden. But how many ‘betrayals’ has the US actually suffered in the past?
Since 1971, nine people have been charged with espionage for leaking government secrets to the media. Below is a list of these squealers.
Daniel Ellsberg: In 1971, this former US military analyst was charged with releasing the Pentagon Papers, which detailed the US government’s decisions related to the Vietnam War. The charges were later dismissed.
Samuel Morison: This former intelligence professional that served in the Navy was found guilty of espionage and theft of government documents in 1985 for leaking secret satellite photos of Russian ships to the media. He was pardoned in 2001.
Lawrence Franklin: This former Department of Defense employee was found guilty of espionage for leaking secret information regarding US policy towards Iran to Israel through the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). He was sentenced to ten months house arrest.
Shamai Leibowitz: He worked as a linguist for the FBI where he monitored wiretaps on the Israeli Embassy in Washington. He was found guilty of leaking information to bloggers and sentenced to 20 months imprisonment in 2009.
Thomas Drake: A former senior executive at the NSA accused of ‘mishandling’ documents at the NSA. He spilled information challenging the Trailblazer Project to a journalist and was charged with espionage in 2010. The charges against him were dropped in 2011 when he confessed.
Stephen Kim: A former State Department contractor who was charged with unauthorized disclosure about North Korea’s nuclear program to Fox News in 2010. He is currently awaiting trial.
Bradley Manning: Probably one of the most publicized whistleblowers in US history accused of leaking over 700,000 secret US military documents to WikiLeaks in 2010. He was also indicted for aiding the enemy. He was just recently found guilty of 22 counts yet was acquitted of aiding the enemy.
Jeffrey Sterling: This former CIA agent was charged with allegedly revealing details about a secret intelligence operation involving Iran’s weapons capabilities. He is currently awaiting his trial.
John Kiriakou: A former CIA agent who was sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2012. He was found guilty of passing classified information to the press and acknowledging waterboarding as an interrogation technique.
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