Elected on a promise of a more transparent government, President Barack Obama has taken "unprecedented" aim at leakers who divulge classified information to journalists, critics say.
"We've seen the current president bringing five prosecutions so far... against people for whistleblowing, for leaks of classified information," said Daniel Ellsberg, famous for his 1971 leak of the "Pentagon Papers," which helped turn the tide of public opinion against the Vietnam War. "All previous presidents put together brought three prosecutions... We see a campaign here against whistleblowing that is highly unprecedented in legal terms." The White House declined to answer questions about its policy towards those who leak government secrets.
The five prosecutions include the case of US soldier Bradley Manning, who is accused of having handed hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks.
