As we await the High Court decision on Julian Assange, we took a deep dive into the histories of the Espionage & Official Secrets Acts and their impact on the Assange case. Watch the replay here.
As a ruling by the High Court in London is imminent in the U.S. appeal seeking to overturn an order not to extradite imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, CN Live! looked at the High Court’s options and had a fascinating discussion on the parallel history of the U.K. Official Secrets Act and the U.S. Espionage Act, under which Assange has been charged.
Our guests were James Goodale, who was The New York Times counsel during the Pentagon Papers case, and CN legal analyst Alexander Mercouris. Watch the replay here with your host Joe Lauria. Produced by Cathy Vogan. (1 hour, 12 minutes)
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Thanks CN for the wonderful discussion. I found the discussion of the origins of the Official Secrets Act and the Espionage Act and their relation to the exchange of “leading empire” role between the Britain and the USA quite interesting. Goodall’s final point about over classification is most important.
I cant recall where I heard this, but the story goes that there is a manual for how to use a clothes washing machine (you know, add detergent, add clothes, select program, press go) but, because this machine was installed on a submarine, the manual is highly classified. While one hears the argument that classification is about preventing embarassment, and this may be true, there is also the case of sloppy work. How to use the washing machine need not be classified, but its technical operation and maintenance manual probably should.
So now truth-telling is spying! So depressingly certain how Assange is made toy of by the CIA;
for the revenge and amusement of the corporate ruling elite of the military-industrial complex.