Does this mean Rockefeller is off the hook?
He's not a whistleblower. There are defined processes for that, that do not require leaking classified information into the public eye.
No, this guy is a traitorous leaker.
Has he admited it under oath?
And yet I don't have a single problem with this statement whatsoever.
ABC jumped on this guys statement and "confessions" early in my opinion, I think he will be debunked shortly by the NSA as a guy with a score to settle with the Bush administration.
The interesting comment out of last night's ABC interview was when he said "potentially" could be used to listen to millions of Americans. He did not say that NSA was listening to non-terrorist linked American citizens, but the system has the potential to do it. He also described the data mining and didn't seem to see that it was a way to find folks wanting to harm the US rather that it might lead to finding out what uncle abner and aunt minnie were going to do on their next vacation.
If this guy has a psychological problem, it is that he is denying that there is any threat to the United States and that his co-workers will not follow the rules in gathering intelligence against terrorists and not unrelated citizens.
I'm still for hanging Pelosi (except she's already dead).
There is no indication that he is the person who leaked the information. He said he was one of a dozen sources, and he might have simply told the times that he thought the NSA was breaking the law, without telling them WHAT they were doing or details about the program.
It seems more likely that this guy saw that the democrat leadership was backing this leak, and since he lost his job last year, realised that he might be able to make some good money by coming forward as a "whistleblower".
After all, he would surely say to himself, how can he get in trouble for talking about it now that elected members of our government are calling him a hero?
BTW, I not only have no doubt, but I also think it good, that the NSA probably has millions of americans on tape somewhere.
You can't apriori filter what you are going to record, or you will miss what you need to hear. My guess is that most of the tapes (more likely electronic storage) are simply wiped out and overwritten, like a security camera.
How many democrat leaders are protesting how the govermnent has, briefly at least, film of almost every american, surriptitiously captured, without their knowledge, right here in the USA, with no warrant or any reason to believe any of those people are committing any criminal acts?
I refer of course to red light cameras, airport security cameras, traffic cameras, street cameras, cameras installed at federal buildings and museums, etc.
And when there is a report of a crime, those tapes are turned over to law enforcement, which looks at everything EVERYBODY did on those tapes. And if they see signs of a crime YOU might have committed, I believe they will come and arrest you, even if that wasn't the crime they were trying to catch on tape.