i was at a house judiciary meeting in the summer where i testified alongside ken wainstein who was onhe panel this morning. and, you know, i don't think it's an overstatement to say that the members of the majority on the committee were very enthusiastic that more journalists should be subpoenaed to testify before grand juries, and if they wouldn't testify, indicted not just for contempt or for obstruction, but for violating the espionage act. you know, it is certainly true, and it is unquestionably the case that the principal constraint on government overreaching in this field historically has been sound prosecute tore y'all discretion, and it hasn't mattered what party was in the oval office, right? it has always been the case, republicans, democrats, president bush himself, right, were adamant about not using the espionage act in this way, about not pushing the envelope which helps to preserve, which helps to chemothe pendulum -- keep the pendulum from swinging too out of kilter. but it's a pendulum constraint and not a real one. and i think the real question is ultimately, a polit

but i think it was interesting that earlier i think it was ken wainstein who said, who made this distinction which seemed to be, um, you know, on behalf of "the new york times." because there is a continuing grand jury investigation of wikileaks -- and presumably julian assange and the other folks who have worked for wikileaks -- if they actually brought a successful prosecution, it'd be the first time, correct me if i'm wrong, that a nongovernment employee would be prosecuted successfully for disseminating classified information. so even though there is a distinction between the tom drakes and the bradley mannings, i'm very uncomfortable with the idea that there is, um, a very clear cut distinction for two reasons. one is, um, i feel somewhat awkward say, oh, yeah, that manning, he was completely irresponsible, and that assange, you know, he deserves what he gets when i spent months writing stories based on the documents that they, in effect, stole and provided to the new york times. [laughter] so that would be somewhat two-faced of me and, i think, of "the new york times" to take that posi

there are differences, and you articulated them, it was interesting that earlier i think it was ken wainstein said, who made this distinction which seem to be on half of "the new york times," because there is a continuing grand jury investigation of wikileaks, and presumably julian assange and the other folks have worked for wikileaks, if they actually brought a successful prosecution for the first time, correct me if i'm wrong, that a nongovernment employee would be prosecuted successfully for disseminating classified information. so even though there is a distinction between the tom drakes and the bradley manning, i'm very uncomfortable with the idea that there is a very clear-cut distinction for two reasons. one is, i feel somewhat awkward saying oh, yeah, that manning can he was completely irresponsible, and that assange, he deserves what he gets. when i spent months writing stories based on the documents that they in fact still and provided to "the new york times." so that would be somewhat two-faced of me come at a think of "the new york times" to take a position. the other thing is i d

neil mcbride and ken wainstein are two of the most dedicated and distinguished prosecutors i've ever conference this conference will address which is why do we classify stuff and how much do we classify and why do we need to classify it, and is it really secret? nobody disputes the proposition that governments have to keep something secret. but what things and for how long, and that what costs? by which i mean not just dollars dollars, to maintain our impossibly complex security system, and it really is impossibly complex, but costs in terms of public understanding, participation and trust in government. i am not an expert in the field. my experience is, i think of myself as a cog in the elaborate years of government secrecy. and in that capacity i've encountered a lot of it. i mean my first encounter with it was when i was a lieutenant in the office of naval intelligence. i was working for doing an administrative job while going to night law school. and the admiral decided that he wanted me to be a briefer in flight plot which was really a big deal. i would get about 3:00 in the mor