Rand Paul Vows To Filibuster Patriot Act

Sen. Rand Paul said yesterday that he plans to filibuster against the impending reauthorization vote for the Patriot Act.

"I'm going to lead the charge in the next couple of weeks as the Patriot Act comes forward," he said in a one-on-one interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader. "We will be filibustering. We will be trying to stop it. We are not going to let them run over us. And we are going to demand amendments and we are going to make sure the American people know that some of us at least are opposed to unlawful searches." Paul, the Republican U.S. Senator from Kentucky, said that even architects of the Patriot Act say roving wiretapping by the National Security Agency was not part of the legislation's intent.

More from The Hill:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) has said that he favors a full reauthorization of the measures, but other lawmakers say they would be willing to pass reform legislation. A short-term extension would give lawmakers more time to sort out their differences beyond the current June 1 deadline for renewing the law. A filibuster of the Patriot Act provisions could give Paul more visibility as the presidential campaign ramps up. He lists his opposition to the National Security Agency's surveillance programs on the homepage of his website and sells a “NSA Spy Cam Blocker” in his campaign store.

Oliver Stone To Direct Snowden Biopic

Via the Guardian:

He has tackled the Kennedy assassination and the Watergate break-in, the Vietnam conflict and the Bush administration's "war on terror". Now the Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone is set to whip up fresh controversy with his adaptation of The Snowden Files, an account of the ongoing NSA scandal written by the Guardian journalist Luke Harding. Stone's thriller will focus on the experiences of the American whistleblower Edward Snowden, a contractor at the National Security Agency who leaked thousands of classified documents to the former Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald back in June 2013. The film is to be produced by Stone's regular business partner Moritz Borman, with Harding and other Guardian journalists serving as production and story consultants. "This is one of the greatest stories of our time," Stone, 67, said in a statement. "A real challenge. I'm glad to have the Guardian working with us." Stone's previous films include Platoon, JFK and W. The director has also made documentaries on Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, together with a 2012 TV series, Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States.

Production of the film is set begin at the end of the year.

White House Mistakenly Reveals Identity Of Top CIA Official In Afghanistan

Teabagistan has having a field day.

WASHINGTON: Pentagon Approves Gender Transition For Chelsea Manning

Via the Associated Press:

In an unprecedented move, the Pentagon is trying to transfer convicted national security leaker Pvt. Chelsea Manning to a civilian prison so she can get treatment for her gender disorder, defense officials said. Manning, formerly named Bradley, was convicted of sending classified documents to anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. The soldier has asked for hormone therapy and to be able to live as a woman. The request was the first ever made by a transgender military inmate and set up a dilemma for the Defense Department: How to treat a soldier for a diagnosed disorder without violating long-standing military policy. Transgenders are not allowed to serve in the U.S. military and the Defense Department does not provide such treatment, but Manning can't be discharged from the service while serving his 35-year prison sentence. Some officials have said privately that keeping the soldier in a military prison and unable to have treatment could amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

RELATED: Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said on Sunday that the ban on transgender service members "should be reviewed." Ten nations currently permit transgender military service: Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Israel, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.

Tweet Of The Day - NSA

It's not a butt tweet, it's an encrypted job posting.

Chelsea Manning Granted Name Change

Chelsea Manning is now legally Chelsea Manning.

A Kansas judge granted a request Wednesday to formally change the name of the soldier convicted of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks from Bradley Edward Manning to Chelsea Elizabeth Manning. The former intelligence analyst is serving a 35-year prison sentence for passing classified U.S. government information to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. Manning is serving the sentence at the Army prison on Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. Leavenworth County District Judge David King said he'd allow the name change during a court hearing that lasted about a minute. Manning didn't attend the hearing but issued a statement saying it was "an exciting day." "Hopefully today's name change, while so meaningful to me personally, can also raise awareness of the fact that we (transgender) people exist everywhere in America today, and that we must jump through hurdles every day just for being who we are," Manning said.

Manning remains in a men's prison and the name change "does not compel the military" to transfer her to a women's prison, according to the Associated Press.

Quote Of The Day - Chelsea Manning

"As a trans woman, I appreciate the Pride movement’s significant role in bringing together diverse communities and elevating the public profile of the fight for queer rights, I have always enjoyed attending Pride celebrations given the opportunity, and I'm deeply honored to receive this title." - Chelsea Manning, writing from federal prison in reaction to being named honorary grand marshal of San Francisco Pride.

More from the Advocate:

Organizers of the San Francisco Pride parade that last year scuttled plans for Chelsea Manning to be grand marshal are trying to repair a rift the controversy created. Manning is named as an "honorary grand marshal" on a list published by organizers this weekend via the official pride website. And SF Pride's new board president, Gary Virginia, said in a statement that Manning's nomination in 2013 was "mishandled." "Even with this controversy, thousands of Manning supporters in the 2013 Pride Parade represented the largest non-corporate, walking contingent in the parade," Virginia noted. "I want to publicly apologize to Chelsea Manning and her supporters on behalf of SF Pride, and we look forward to a proper honor this year.”

Manning's selection as SF Pride 2013 grand marshal was met with great controversy. One LGBT military group denounced the selection and another called for a boycott of SF Pride, who then reversed their decision.

RELATED: Manning is serving a 35 year espionage sentence for leaking classified information. Yesterday her lawyer discussed the appeal now in progress.

"The Espionage Act was meant to punish spies and saboteurs....It was never meant for whistleblowers," attorney Nancy Hollander said Sunday night in a Skype call to a gathering of Manning supporters in Washington. "This is a draconian act…It must be stopped if we’re to have any freedom of speech—if the First Amendment is to exist at all." Manning (formerly known as Bradley Manning) was convicted at a court martial last year of leaking hundreds of thousands of military reports and diplomatic cables to Wikileaks. A military judge sentenced Manning to 35 years in prison—far and away the longest sentence ever given in a leak case. The sentence is not yet final because it awaits action by Manning's commander, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan. He can reduce or eliminate Manning's sentence or overturn the conviction.

Glenn Greenwald Returns To US For First Time Since Breaking NSA/Snowden Story

Gay journalist Glenn Greenwald returned to the United States today for the first time since breaking the Edward Snowden story. Some have called for his arrest as Snowden's alleged co-conspirator. Greenwald himself said he expected to be detained at once, but he exited JFK airport without incident. TIME reports on the reason for today's visit:

Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, who broke the Snowden story and met with the whistleblower in Hong Kong, are in New York City to receive the prestigious George Polk Award. Greenwald, formerly a columnist for The Guardian and now a partner in the upcoming First Look Media venture, and Poitras, a documentary filmmaker, will share the journalism award with Ewen MacAskill of The Guardian and Barton Gellman of the Washington Post, the Huffington Post reports. Greenwald, who currently resides in Rio de Janeiro, told The Huffington Post that he wanted to return to the U.S. because “certain factions in the U.S. government have deliberately intensified the threatening climate for journalists.” He noted that language used by government officials suggested that reporters who investigated Snowden’s documents were complicit with him.

Edward Snowden Skypes Into SXSW

Fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden skyped into a SXSW panel today via seven proxy servers, a tactic probably taken to cloak his location. NPR has the story:

Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who has leaked large amounts of classified information about the agency's electronic surveillance programs, spoke via video to a sympathetic audience at South By Southwest Interactive on Monday. Snowden, who is wanted for prosecution in the U.S., was in Russia, where he's been given temporary asylum. Repeating things he's said before, Snowden declared Monday that he would do what he did all over again because he had seen the Constitution being "violated on a massive scale." The Obama administration disagrees, though Snowden's revelations did begin a process that he wants the NSA to stop holding on to massive amounts of "metadata" about the phone calls and electronic communications of millions of people around the world.

The ACLU provides the video.

Obama Slams Edward Snowden

"I’m not going to dwell on Mr. Snowden’s actions or his motivations. I will say that our nation’s defense depends in part on the fidelity of those entrusted with our nation’s secrets. If any individual who objects to government policy can take it into their own hands to publicly disclose classified information, then we will not be able to keep our people safe, or conduct foreign policy. Moreover, the sensational way in which these disclosures have come out has often shed more heat than light, while revealing methods to our adversaries that could impact our operations in ways that we may not fully understand for years to come." - President Obama, in today's speech announcing "major reforms" at the National Security Agency.

New York Times: Pardon Edward Snowden

From the Times editorial board:

Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight. He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service. It is time for the United States to offer Mr. Snowden a plea bargain or some form of clemency that would allow him to return home, face at least substantially reduced punishment in light of his role as a whistle-blower, and have the hope of a life advocating for greater privacy and far stronger oversight of the runaway intelligence community. [snip] When someone reveals that government officials have routinely and deliberately broken the law, that person should not face life in prison at the hands of the same government. That’s why Rick Ledgett, who leads the N.S.A.’s task force on the Snowden leaks, recently told CBS News that he would consider amnesty if Mr. Snowden would stop any additional leaks. And it’s why President Obama should tell his aides to begin finding a way to end Mr. Snowden’s vilification and give him an incentive to return home.

RUSSIA: Government Spies On LGBT Groups, Broadcasts Secret Recordings

J. Lester Feder reports at Buzzfeed:

Russian officials bugged a private strategy meeting convened by Russian LGBT activists and four major international human rights organizations in October, an intensification of the campaign to clamp down on LGBT rights ahead of the Olympic games in Sochi. This surveillance was revealed on Nov. 12, when a state television channel broadcast audio from the meeting as part of a program presented as an exposé of the “threat to Russia” posed by the “homosexualists who attempt to infiltrate our country.”

The inclusion of a few minutes of this audio sent a chill through human rights activists in Russia and abroad. The Russian government has actively suppressed public speech in support of LGBT rights under its ban on the “promotion of non-traditional sexual relations to minors.” But this was the first time activists were aware that authorities had actively spied on strategy meetings organized in private, and it was taken as a sign that the government may be seriously escalating its crackdown on LGBT rights as it looks ahead to the Olympic Games in February.

Human Rights Watch reacts:

Human Rights Watch’s Director of Global Initiatives Minky Worden, who participated in the St. Petersburg meeting, told BuzzFeed that following this broadcast, “Russia should get a gold metal in Olympic spying.” “At a time when Russia ought to be unfurling the red carpet to the international community, it is instead increasingly operating with a Soviet approach,” she said. “This is blatant targeting of gay activists for Soviet-like surveillance, and then using material selectively to stoke an anti-gay campaign broadcast to millions across Russia…. It really ought to make the IOC and the Olympic sponsors — plus Olympic athletes and other governments — profoundly nervous because it gives the lie to the so-called ‘assurances’ by the Russian Government and the IOC that the anti-gay law will not be enforced during the Olympic games.”

Here's the report that aired on Russia television.

Russia To Spy On Sochi Attendees

The Guardian reports:

Athletes and spectators attending the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February will face some of the most invasive and systematic spying and surveillance in the history of the Games, documents shared with the Guardian show. Russia's powerful FSB security service plans to ensure that no communication by competitors or spectators goes unmonitored during the event, according to a dossier compiled by a team of Russian investigative journalists looking into preparations for the 2014 Games. Government procurement documents and tenders from Russian communication companies indicate that newly installed telephone and internet spying capabilities will give the FSB free rein to intercept any telephony or data traffic and even track the use of sensitive words or phrases mentioned in emails, webchats and on social media.

Earlier this year the US State Department warned: "Business travelers should be particularly aware that trade secrets, negotiating positions, and other sensitive information may be taken and shared with competitors, counterparts, and/or Russian regulatory and legal entities."

Chelsea Manning Requests Pardon

Yesterday the lawyer for Chelsea Manning formally requested a pardon from President Obama. You can read the documents in full at the website Pardon Private Manning.

REPORT: Partner Of Glenn Greenwald Was Carrying 58,000 "Sensitive" Documents

Politico reports:

David Miranda, the partner of journalist Glenn Greenwald, was carrying 58,000 classified intelligence documents when he was detained by British authorities earlier this month, according to a new UK national security report. Miranda was detained for nine hours at London's Heathrow airport, a move that Greenwald called "a profound attack on press freedoms and the news gathering process." But today's 13-page report, from UK deputy national security adviser Oliver Robbins, has reinforced Greenwald's critics, who believe he and his partner are hiding behind claims of journalistic freedom while disobeying the law.

Scotland Yard has launched a criminal investigation against Miranda.  Greenwald is quoted today by the Telegraph:

“The UK Government is incapable of pointing to a single story we have published that has even arguably harmed national security. The only thing that has been harmed are the political interests and reputations of UK and US officials around the world, as they have been caught engaging in illegal, unconstitutional and truly dangerous bulk surveillance aimed at their own citizens and people around the world, all with little accountability or transparency - until now."

PBS News Hour On Chelsea Manning

With an interview with Allyson Robinson.

Trans Navy SEAL Slams Chelsea Manning

"What you wear, what color you are, your religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity has no basis on whether you are a CRIMINAL or NOT.  For this person, whether male or female to use gender identity to act 'BADLY' is a slap in the face to me and everyone who does not fit the 'Binary Gender Norm.' It is not an excuse for anything illegal or unjust. This person took an oath to protect American interest and defend the constitution, and took additional oaths due to security clearances to protect information that leaders deem secret. There are legal avenues to whistle blow or bring attention to issues. THIS person is a liar and a thief and a traitor to many people. If Bradley is truly 'Chelsea' then 'she' is a traitor to ME personally. There is no excuse." - Former Navy SEAL Kristin Beck, writing on her Facebook page. Beck herself came out as transgender in June. (Via Towleroad)

LGBT Orgs Respond To Chelsea Manning

ACLU LGBT Project

In response to Chelsea Manning's disclosure that she is female, has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and will be seeking hormone therapy as a part of her transition during her incarceration, public statements by military officials that the Army does not provide hormone therapy to treat gender dysphoria raise serious constitutional concerns. Gender dysphoria is a serious medical condition in which a person's gender identity does not correspond to his or her assigned sex at birth, and hormone therapy is part of the accepted standards of care for this condition.

Without the necessary treatment, gender dysphoria can cause severe psychological distress, including anxiety and suicide. When the government holds individuals in its custody, it must provide them with medically necessary care. The official policy of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and most state agencies is to provide medically necessary care for the treatment of gender dysphoria, and courts have consistently found that denying such care to prisoners based on blanket exclusions violates the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.

Human Rights Campaign

Regardless of how she came to our attention, Pvt. Chelsea Manning’s transition deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. As she requested in her letter, journalists and other officials should use her chosen name of Chelsea and refer to her with female pronouns. Using the name Bradley or male pronouns is nothing short of an insult. Media, having reported on her wishes, must respect them as is the standard followed by the AP Stylebook.

As Pvt. Manning serves her sentence, she deserves the same thing that any incarcerated person does – appropriate and competent medical care and protection from discrimination and violence. The care she receives should be something that she and her doctors – including professionals who understand transgender care – agree is best for her. There is a clear legal consensus that it is the government’s responsibility to provide medically necessary care for transgender people and the military has an obligation to follow those guidelines.

What should not be lost is that there are transgender servicemembers and veterans who serve and have served this nation with honor, distinction and great sacrifice. We must not forget or dishonor those individuals. Pvt. Manning’s experience is not a proxy for any other transgender man or woman who wears the uniform of the United States.

Lambda Legal

Transgender people--like all people--deserve health care and are constitutionally protected in prison. Period. In fact the U.S. Supreme Court has previously ruled in Farmer v. Brennan on the right of transgender people to be free from cruel and unusual punishment while in prison which includes withholding medically necessary treatment.

"It would be a shame if the U.S. military prison system held itself to a lower standard than civil prisons. The Constitution requires that Chelsea Manning receive medical care at Ft. Leavenworth--to do otherwise would be a violation of the Eighth Amendment."

In the 1994 seminal Eighth Amendment case involving a transgender plaintiff, Farmer v. Brennan, the court stated that "prison officials have a duty under the Eighth Amendment to provide humane conditions of confinement. They must ensure that inmates receive adequate food, clothing, shelter, and medical care."

Just last year the U.S. Supreme Court declined review of a 6th Circuit decision in Fields v. Smith striking down as unconstitutional a Wisconsin law that barred medical care for transgender prisoners. Lambda Legal and the ACLU won that case on behalf of transgender prisoners.

Ron Paul Backs Bradley Manning

The screaming across Teabagistan this morning is really something.  And the senior Paul's position is miles away from his son's.

"There do have to be laws to protect some secrets. I think if you’ve got the, you know, the plans on how to make a nuclear bomb that is a state secret. If you give that to the enemy, that is being treasonous,” said the Senator from Kentucky, “Even if you reveal it, you just have to have laws against that. What Manning did was just willy-nilly, just released millions of pages of things and I think some people have said there is potentially some harm from that. You know individual agents that could have been killed or put at risk from this. So there is a problem with that. So I just can’t support that.”

Bradley Manning: Call Me Chelsea

CNN has the story:

WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning intends to begin hormone therapy for gender reassignment and live the rest of his life as a woman, according to a statement from him read on NBC's "Today" show Thursday.  Manning wants to be referred to as Chelsea -- not Bradley -- according to the statement. Manning's announcement comes a day after a military judge sentenced him to 35 years in prison for leaking hundreds of thousands of U.S. military and diplomatic documents.

UPDATE: Politico has Manning's letter.

“As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition. I also request that, starting today, you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except in official mail to the confinement facility). I look forward to receiving letters from supporters and having the opportunity to write back."

Manning's lawyer says he intends to fight to ensure that Fort Leavenworth, where Manning is expected to serve the sentence, provides the treatment.

UPDATE II: Manning plans to petition President Obama for a pardon.

Bradley Manning will send a personal plea to Barack Obama next week for a presidential pardon after he was sentenced on Wednesday to 35 years in prison for passing hundreds of thousands of classified military documents to WikiLeaks. "When I chose to disclose classified information, I did so out of a love to my country and a sense of duty to others," Manning will tell Obama. "If you deny my request for a pardon, I will serve my time knowing that sometimes you have to pay a heavy price to live in a free society."