Ecuador continues to review WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange’s request for political asylum. Ana Albán, Ecuador’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, met with President Rafael Correa and other heads of state to discuss the potential implications of granting asylum to Mr. Assange. In the meantime, he remains in the Ecuadorean embassy in the United Kingdom. The Ecuadorian foreign minister Ricardo Patino has said people can be holed up in embassies for a day, three weeks or five years waiting for a decision on asylum requests.

The trial for Pfc. Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of releasing classified information to WikiLeaks, has now been moved from September to November or January of next year. The judge moved the trial date because of “discovery issues” in the court martial. This was entirely predictable. All along, the military prosecutors and government have been engaged in secrecy games that have made it nearly impossible for the defense to obtain evidence that could be material to the guilt or innocence of Manning or that could help reduce his sentence if he were convicted for his alleged leaks.

I appeared on “The Alyona Show” to provide an update on what happened and also talk about John McCain is criticizing the Obama administration’s selective leaks on the “kill list,” cyber warfare, etc.

The third motion hearing in the case of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the soldier who is being prosecuted by the US government for allegedly releasing classified information to WikiLeaks, commences today. It is taking place at Fort Meade in Maryland and is expected to last for three days. I’ll be live-blogging from the hearing.

The State Department has taken action against one of its employees, Peter Van Buren, which the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) believes is in retaliation for criticism of the State Department’s reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Here’s an “unauthorized” interview with Van Buren.

The Los Angeles Times, Associated Press and New York Times all in the span of twenty-four hours managed to speak with sources that confirmed an international sting operation had been unfolding. But we don’t know who leaked the story or why, and thus have no way of judging its entire credibility.

In a recent segment from Current TV‘s show “Viewpoint,” host Eliot Spitzer interviewed three National Security Agency whistleblowers: William Binney, a former technical director; Kirk Wiebe, former senior analyst; and Thomas Drake, a former senior official. Each man talked about what he saw the NSA do when they were employees. Each of these whistleblowers directly explained [...]

A nonprofit watchdog group, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), obtained a report through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that concludes officials in the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General are guilty of “persistent sloppiness and a systematic disregard for Pentagon rules meant to protect those who report fraud, abuses, and the waste [...]

On Tuesday, I will return to Fort Meade, Maryland, where court martial proceedings against Pfc. Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of releasing classified information to WikiLeaks, resume. The focus of those proceedings will involve an effort by David Coombs, Manning’s defense lawyer, to have an “aiding the enemy” charge dismissed. This is one of the more egregious charges Manning faces and is based on the contention by the government that Manning knowingly provided “intelligence” to al Qaeda and other related terrorist groups indirectly when he allegedly released information to WikiLeaks.

The surveillance state in the United States has only grown in America since the September 11th attacks. It has increasingly been used to spy and intrude on the lives of journalists and activists. And, during a Democracy Now! special, a full hour was spent delving into the National Security Agency’s evolution into an entity that illegally collects and sifts through private emails, cell phone calls and possibly Internet searches and other personal data of Americans.

The special also looked closely at the stories of two individuals that have been targeted by the Homeland Security Department—journalist Laura Poitras, who has directed documentaries on the Iraq War and Yemen, and computer security researcher Jacob Appelbaum, who once served as a stand-in for Julian Assange at a hackers conference.