The Discerning Texan

All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke

Monday, August 06, 2007

UPDATED Has the FBI found the "warrantless wiretapping" Leaker?

You will recall when the New York Times published the story about the NSA surveillance program, and the outrage caused by this leak of highly classified information that alerted our enemies to its existence. Well there is speculation--in lieu of a recent FBI raid--that the leaker might be one Thomas M. Tamm, a lawyer, a contributor to the DNC, and an employee of the Soros-backed Equal Justice USA, who had access to the classified surveillance information (if true, a question that comes to mind is: why would the Bush Admin allow someone with these credentials access to our classified information?)

This is a crime that definitely deserves jail time. But could there be other links (e.g. to Soros himself...)?? ; that thought is probably a bit too much to hope for--but stranger things have happened. In any case I would think the poster "ranger" quoted below might just be on to something:

Newsweek is reporting an interesting development in the FISA leak investigation:
Aug. 13, 2007 issue - The controversy over President Bush's warrantless surveillance program took another surprise turn last week when a team of FBI agents, armed with a classified search warrant, raided the suburban Washington home of a former Justice Department lawyer. The lawyer, Thomas M. Tamm, previously worked in Justice's Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR)-the supersecret unit that oversees surveillance of terrorist and espionage targets. The agents seized Tamm's desktop computer, two of his children's laptops and a cache of personal files. Tamm and his lawyer, Paul Kemp, declined any comment. So did the FBI. But two legal sources who asked not to be identified talking about an ongoing case told NEWSWEEK the raid was related to a Justice criminal probe into who leaked details of the warrantless eavesdropping program to the news media. The raid appears to be the first significant development in the probe since The New York Times reported in December 2005 that Bush had authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on the international phone calls and e-mails of U.S. residents without court warrants.
For some quick background on this investigation, see my article from early 2006.

Tom Maguire notes that Mr. Tamm made a contribution to the DNC in 2004.

[...]

I do not know how long Mr. Tamm worked at DoJ but he received an award in 2000,which means he was a holdover from the prior Administration.

Last week we noted that Secrecy News reported that DoJ has announced that is determined that journalists could be prosecuted under the Espionage Act for publishing classified information.

Update: Tamm works at the EqualJustice USA A.J. Strata reveals:
Equal Justice USA
Trial Attorney, United States Department of Justice, 1972-1974. Thomas L. Crowe, Baltimore, MD ... Thomas M. Tamm, Rockville, MD. Assistant State's ...
http://www.ejusa.org/MD_law_enforcement_letter.htm - 15k - Cached
Equal Justice USA is funded by the Quixote Center through a George Soros grant.

From JOM poster "ranger"
I have a feeling that some senior Dems are very concerned about what might come down next summer. One of the interesting aspects of this case it how a reporter obtained the contents of a letter so sensitive that it was hand written and only two copies existed (one in the office of the VP who was the addressee, and the other in the office of Sen. Rockafeller, who was the author). I seriously doubt that information came from the office of the VP.

Mr. Tamm may have been one of the original leakers, but there were confirming sources at the FISA Court and in the Senate who could become significant political liabilities if indictments were filed or unsealed in 2008.