The man suspected of leaking sensitive Pentagon documents is showing up in court today after being arrested by FBI agents. Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, accessed and shared highly classified documents on social media.
The creation of a secret police force and intelligence service operates outside of the judicial system poses a significant threat to democracy, allowing the possibility for the government to arrest and detain people with no trial, merely for speaking out against the administration. This development strips the public from having a say in what happens in the intelligence community, letting it operate with unchallenged surveillance.
The CIA's director Richard Helms authorized an illegal domestic surveillance program called "Chaos," inducing the left to feed on itself and causing sectarian strife to evolve into outright violence by the summer of 1969 in California.
The question of whether to prosecute Reality Winner hinges on whether she was disseminating classified information or simply retaining it. If she had promptly responded to the National Archivist and the Department of Justice, she may not be facing potential criminal charges.
The impact of a particular whistleblower can be overblown, as their level of knowledge may not be as important as the truthfulness of their claims, according to a discussion about the recent Pfizer and Pentagon document leaks.