Chip Gibbons says the Trump administration should not be using the Espionage Act against Bolton, who himself used the overly broad, archaic law as a tool for political persecution.
John Bolton speaking at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, in National Harbor, Maryland. (Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY-SA 2.0)
By Chip Gibbons
Defending Rights & Dissent
John Bolton is an unrepentant war criminal and one of most odious national security hawks in Washington. As part of his antipathy for press freedom, whistleblowers and anyone who challenges the national security state, he called for both Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden to be executed for exposing abuses of power by our government.
Similarly, he called for journalist Julian Assange to get “at least 176 years in jail” for publishing truthful information about U.S. war crimes. Now, Bolton, like Manning, Snowden, and Assange has been indicted under the Espionage Act.
[See: The Pathology of John Bolton]
We at Defending Rights & Dissent were one of the leading voices in Washington in support of Manning, Snowden and Assange. And we remain the leading voice on reforming the Espionage Act so it can no longer be used to prosecute courageous whistleblowers and journalists.
As part of our reform proposal, we advocated the Espionage Act be amended to require the government to prove a defendant intended to harm the national security of the U.S.
Nothing in the indictment of Bolton indicates the government believes Bolton had that level of intent. As a result, we do not believe Bolton should be indicted under the Espionage Act. This is the same position we took regarding Donald Trump, who himself has been responsible for abusing the Espionage Act to silence journalists and whistleblowers.
[See: How the Espionage Act Ensnared Julian Assange]
The Espionage Act is an overly broad, archaic law. As a result, it is ripe for selective, politically motivated enforcement. It is for these reasons that Bolton championed it as a tool for political persecutions against whistleblowers and journalists. And it is for this reason the Trump administration has chosen it as a tool for their petty retaliation against a national security hawk who shares much of their views on the use of the Espionage Act.
Enough is enough. It is well past time to reform the Espionage Act once and for all.
Chip Gibbons, policy director at Defending Rights & Dissent, has advised multiple congressional offices on reforming the Espionage Act, and he has covered multiple Espionage Act proceedings, including Julian Assange’s extradition proceedings, as a journalist.
This article is from Defending Rights & Dissent, a national civil liberties organization that defends the American people’s right to know and freedom to act through grassroots mobilization, public education, policy expertise, and advocacy journalism.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
“As part of our reform proposal, we advocated the Espionage Act be amended to require the government to prove a defendant intended to harm the national security of the U.S.” Obviously, Defending Rights’ & Dissent’s advocacy, influence, consideration has fallen on deaf ears. ”Row. Row. Row your boat?” NOT!!! Like JRBolton’s destiny, “Up the River w/o a Paddle!”
Three (3) Years, later, no doubt, H.R.8533 – Espionage Act Reform Act of 2022, Introduced on JULY 27, 2022, by Rep. Khanna, Ro [D-CA-17] has, obviously, been abandoned!!! It gets f/worse. No f/where in H.R.8533 is the verbiage “Requiring” the USG/MIC/U$Treasury aka “government” to come clean. hXXps://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/8533 …. Concluding, “when pigs fly!”
7/27/22,Washington, D.C. — Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. re-introduced the Espionage Act Reform Act today to [REWRITE] the hundred-year-old law governing when reporters and whistleblowers can be prosecuted for discussing government secrets. The Khanna-Wyden-Massie legislation reaffirms First Amendment protections for journalists who publish classified information, and ensures whistleblowers can effectively report waste, fraud and abuse to Congress. The bill mirrors the original legislation introduced in Twenty-Twenty (2020), but with bipartisan support.” ‘DEMOCRACY IS TWO WOLVES AND A LAMB VOTING ON WHAT TO HAVE FOR LUNCH’.
Agreed, “Enough is Enough!” “It is well past time to reform,” once & for all, John R. Bolton, via the “overly broad, archaic Espionage Act”, “petty retaliation,” and Bolton’s rabid, right-wing, rancid Republican disposition. “Some humans ain’t human.” Once and for all, “it is for this reason,” every f/tool in the USG’s toolbox, IMO, “Whatever it takes!!!” To send John R. Bolton, a national security hawk, up the f/river w/o a paddle, i.e., bankruptcy, his “golden” years in that roach motel in hell, prison, is just & right f/on!!!
“Keep the lights for him.” I’m keeping my fingers crossed John R. Bolton, like the Democrats, is done & dusted!!!
This should be good! Bombs away Bolton and the orange ogre.
Evidently only Trump, a President, can be punished for absconding with Top Secret info (which he had the power to define). Other DC creatures can wander off with government secrets with impunity.
Keep up the great work!
“John Bolton is an unrepentant war criminal and one of most odious national security hawks in Washington.”
Most definitely. He manipulated Trump into withdrawing from the INF treaty with unproven claims of Russian cheating having failed in his efforts to get the George W. Bush administration to withdraw from it (long before the claims against Russia arose).
And Trump’s criticism of the START treaty on strategic nuclear forces seemed to echo Bolton but we should not forget that every former Republican secretary of state supported that treaty’s ratification.
With the said treaty due to expire next year, it is encouraging to see that Trump now speaks far more favourably of it.
I would ask everybody to visit the White House website and politely urge President Trump to support an agreement with Russia to abide by its provisions after it formally expires early next year.
From the Arms Control Association website:
Speaking to reporters July 25, U.S. President Donald Trump said: “[New START is] not an agreement you want expiring. We’re starting to work on that.”
“It’s a problem for the world,” he added. “When you take off nuclear restrictions, that’s a big problem.”
We may not agree with Trump on many things but we should certainly agree with him on that.
Thank you.
Calling it “archaic” doesn’t even get at the heart of the matter. The Espionage Act was a tool for repressing dissent and entrenching the powerful from its very outset. It was never about protecting “national security”.
Bolton ought dangle.
What goes around comes around.
Let, Chips fall where they may ?
“Nothing in the indictment of Bolton indicates the government believes Bolton had that level of intent.”
It’s not in the indictment, but does Gibbons think Bolton had the intent “to harm the national security of the U.S.” ?