Espionage and journalism do not seem to be occupations which can come side by side, but there are some who are involved in doing both. Edward Snowden is seen as a traitor by the government of the United States. It is a crystal-clear fact that he will receive harsh penalties for exposing confidential documents of the state in the case that he is caught.

Bradley Manning was sentenced to 35 years of imprisonment for leaking information to Julian Assange. He was even tortured. Whomever you ask about Manning, they will call him a traitor. There are many instances of this throughout the world, but there are especially countless examples of this in the United States, the country thought to have extensive democracy and limitless freedom. It is normal for such incidents to take place in the U.S.; a country which is capable of creating innovation in all spheres, which has great technological power and military capacity. It would be beneficial to summarize it in short:

Bradley Manning

He was put on trial for leaking information regarding the activities of the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq and received a 35-year imprisonment penalty. The information exposed by Manning included the fact that Afghan and Iraqi civilians were being killed, and the recordings of U.S. airstrikes. Manning had expressed that his motive behind exposing such information was to show people what is really going on in Afghanistan and Iraq, and he had attempted to give the information to a reporter from the Washington Post; but the latter was reluctant, so Manning attempted to contact the ombudsman of the New York Times. Manning stated that he uploaded the information on Wikileaks when he did not receive a response from the NYT ombudsman.

Manning, who was detained for over 1,000 days accepted ten of the charges laid against him, while the judge hearing the case took into consideration Manning’s severe punishment conditions and stated that regardless of the results, Manning’s imprisonment would receive 112 days of abatement.

Thomas Drake

Thomas Drake, a former National Security Agency (NSA) executive who leaked information about the agency committing serious crimes by damaging the state and breaking the laws through a program called Trailblazer, used information collection and intelligence work by the agency and was put on trial for keeping documents related to national security, obstruction of justice and giving false statements. The case in which Drake stood trial with a request of 35-year imprisonment was dismissed after the state withdrew charges laid against him.

Shamai K. Leibowitz

Leibowitz, who worked at the FBI from January 2009 to August 2009, had given documents containing correspondence including phone conversations between the Israeli Embassy in Washington and American congressmen to Richard Silverstein, the owner of “Tikun Olam” blog who criticizes right-wing policies in Israel and is known for his liberal views. Silverstein stated that Leibowitz had given the documents with patriotic motives as he thought the activities of Israel may damage the interests of the U.S., and added that he personally burned them in his backyard. However, the same documents published on his blog reveal that the FBI had wiretapped all embassies in Washington to determine who was involved in espionage activities. Was the operation against Iran blocked by the leaks? Following the hearing, Leibowitz received 20 months of imprisonment sentence and stated he exposed the documents to prevent a catastrophe, which could have been caused by Israel’s aggressive stance on influencing the U.S. public and its potential to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities. His case was conducted in such secretive manner that even the judge did not know the contents of the documents leaked by Leibowitz.

John Kiriakou

Kiriakou, who exposed the methods of systematic torture implemented on suspects detained by CIA during the tenure of George W. Bush, was sentenced to a 30-month imprisonment for exposing a secret-service agent in January. He was the first person to be found guilty of opposing the law on the protection of a secret service agent in the U.S. after 27 years.

Jeffrey Sterling

Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA employee who has revealed details of the U.S.’s plans to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, called Operation Merlin, to Pulitzer Prize winner journalist James Risen, was convicted under the scope of the Espionage Act. While Sterling denied charges, James Risen, a New York Times reporter was not called to give testimony in the court. However, Risen has expressed that it became very difficult to be a journalist in the U.S. as he claimed he was put under significant pressure.

Stephen Kim

Stephen Kim, a former State Department contractor and senior intelligence employee had exposed confidential information about North Korea to James Rosen, a reporter at Fox News. Rosen’s permission to enter the Pentagon was limited and he can no longer freely enter the compound.

All of these incidents deserve to be explained individually. I had previously written about Gary Webb and Julian Assange, whom I did not mention above. Frederick Shauer, a professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Virginia, stated that it became possible for journalists in the U.S. to expose information about security, but many of them are hesitant to do so. However, the state is taking a tougher stance against journalists as it did against the exposure of confidential state documents to the public. Turkey will never allow for espionage activities to take place. It would be better for those who criticize Turkey in this matter to look at the U.S. first.

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