Following Pfc. Bradley Manning’s statement in court, Justice Department whistleblower Jesselyn Radack shares her reaction to the statement and thoughts on his case. She addresses whether Manning is a whistleblower and considers the prosecution she went through, along with her work at the Government Accountability Project representing whistleblowers.

The film, Silenced, profiles Thomas Drake, former NSA employee who blew the whistle on NSA wiretapping.

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who was sentenced to thirty months in jail last Friday after pleading guilty to providing the name of a covert officer to a reporter, appeared on NBC’s morning program, “The Today Show.” He was interviewed by Savannah Guthrie and, although the questions were mostly favorable to the government, Kiriakou was given an opportunity to explain himself on a show viewed by millions of Americans each morning.

A military judge granted a government motion and ruled the defense could not argue motive during the trial of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the soldier being prosecuted by the military for releasing classified information to WikiLeaks.

The decision, which is not available to the press or public, found the defense would not be able to discuss whether Manning had “good faith” when presenting argument on charges that he “wrongfully and wantonly cause[d] to be published on the internet intelligence belonging to the United States government,” or for charges where the government only has to prove Manning had “reason to believe such information could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation.”

The Chaos Communication Congress, which organizers describe as “an annual four-day conference on technology, society and utopia,” began on December 27. Yesterday, this blog featured Tor software developer and WikiLeaks volunteer Jacob Appelbaum’s talk. Later in the day, three United States whistleblowers gave presentations, which should be considered required viewing.

John Kiriakou, a former CIA agent, pled guilty this morning to disclosing information identifying a covert agent. The plea was part of a deal with prosecutors to only go to jail for up to thirty months.

Ex-CIA agent John Kiriakou, who blew the whistle on torture authorized by the administration of President George W. Bush, is accused of leaking classified information to journalists on the identities of a “covert CIA officer” and details on the other role of “another CIA employee in classified activities.” He was indicted in April on charges that included one count of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, three counts of violating the Espionage Act and one count for “allegedly lying to the Publications Review Board of the CIA” so he could include classified information in his book.

In a latest development in the case, Kiriakou’s defense is pushing for classified information on the CIA’s capture of alleged al Qaeda operative, Abu Zubaydah. It also is seeking testimony from journalists on the “leaks” and “jury emails,” which detail the “CIA’s unsuccessful requests to stop the New York Times from publishing an article that named one of the exposed operatives.”

A “Daily Show” clip with correspondent Jason Jones aired last night on “super spy” Thomas Drake, who worked for the National Security Agency as an analyst until he was ultimately charged as “a spy” under the Espionage Act for blowing the whistle on the NSA. The segment nicely plays up the fact he did not commit espionage and, instead, was a “cost-benefit analysis expert,” who had examined two intelligence gathering programs and decided one was cheaper and would lead to less fraud, waste, abuse and illegalities.

Attorney General Eric Holder appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, June 12, for a Justice Department oversight hearing. With politicians in a frenzy over leaking by the Obama administration, Holder was forced multiple times to defend and explain his plan to investigate and get to the bottom of the leaks. Republican senators took issue with Holder’s plan to have two US attorneys linked to the Justice Department investigate the leak when leaks likely came from the Justice Department.