Global surveillance and journalism

Allegation of a US "war on whistleblowers"

The Obama administration has been characterized as much more aggressive than the Bush and other previous administrations in their response to whistleblowing and leaks to the press, prompting critics to describe Obama's crackdown as a "war on whistleblowers." A public statement by the Obama campaign bragged that "the Obama administration has prosecuted twice as many cases under the Espionage Act as all the other administrations combined.

Eight people have been charged under the previously rarely used leak-related provisions of the Espionage Act of 1917. They include Thomas Andrews Drake, a former National Security Agency (NSA) employee who was critical of the Trailblazer Project, Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, a State Department contractor who allegedly had a conversation about North Korea with James Rosen of Fox News Channel, and Jeffrey Sterling, who allegedly was a source for James Risen's book State of War. Risen has also been subpoenaed to reveal his sources, another rare action by the government. Also, Shamai Leibowitz, a contract linguist for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was convicted of leaking information from embassy wiretaps, John Kiriakou, a former CIA analyst pleaded guilty to passing classified information, Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst for the US Army pleaded guilty to passing classified information to the Wikileaks organization, and James Hitselberger, a former contract linguist for the US Navy in Bahrain is charged with possessing classified documents. Most notably, Edward Snowden, a technical contractor for the NSA and former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is currently at large and has been charged with theft and the unauthorized disclosure of classified information to columnist Glenn Greenwald.

Reporters Without Borders' 2014 Press Freedom Index saw a drop of 13 ranks for the United States due to their "treatment of whistleblowers, leakers, and those who assist them" in 2013. The country fell to 46th place, between Romania and Haiti. The United Kingdom fell three places for similar reasons. The Index is meant to highlight places where journalists and photographers are free to do their work, as well as places where the work puts them in danger. Reporters Without Borders' executive director Christian Mihr stated: "In the US, state persecution of investigative journalists and their sources by security services has reached an unprecedented level. If sources can no longer be trusted, we face a significant curtailment of press freedom and a dramatic step backwards when it comes to democracy."

Allegations of government intimidation of The Guardian

The Guardian, founded in 1821, is a UK-based international newspaper. In 2013, The Guardian received a copy of data from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Legal threats and forced computer destruction

In June and July 2013, Prime Minister David Cameron sent Jeremy Heywood, the Cabinet Secretary, to meet with Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian. Accordingly, Heywood ordered the editor cease publishing articles based on the Snowden disclosures. According to the Guardian, Heywood said: "We can do this nicely or we can go to law", adding that "A lot of people in government think you should be closed down."

On July 20, the destruction was carried out by three Guardian staffers under observation of GCHQ experts.

The Guardian was clear that there were multiple copies of the data in other nations. One staffer involved in the destruction discussed the experience, saying "It was purely a symbolic act. We knew that. GCHQ knew that. And the government knew that. It was the most surreal event I have witnessed in British journalism."

Arrest of David Miranda

In August 2013 the Metropolitan Police detained Greenwald's partner David Miranda at London's Heathrow Airport under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, while he was traveling home from Berlin. A February 2014 court decision upheld the detention as appropriate.

Greenwald described his partner's detention as "clearly intended to send a message of intimidation to those of us who have been reporting on the NSA and GCHQ". Miranda was detained for nine hours and his laptop and other items were seized. He has since sued the Metropolitan Police for misuse of their powers. According to The Guardian the claim, "challenging controversial powers used under schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000, maintains that Miranda was not involved in terrorism and says his right to freedom of expression was curtailed".

In December 2013, Greenwald and Miranda openly advocated for asylum in Brazil for Edward Snowden in exchange for the fugitive leaker's cooperation in investigating the NSA. Brazil responded by saying that it was not interested in investigating the NSA.

Journalists as accomplice?

Director Clapper has referred to Snowden's "accomplices", while Rep. Peter King explicitly accused Greenwald of having Snowden as an "accomplice". UK Conservative politician Liam Fox has contacted the UK Director of Public Prosecutions to consider whether journalists at The Guardian "breached counter-terrorism laws".

Pressure

Computer Science Professor Matthew Green of Johns Hopkins University posted a statement critical of the NSA. The university issued a statement it had "received information that Matthew Green's blog contained a link or links to classified material", after which it asked him to remove the post.