Attorney General Jeff Sessions has announced that the FBI has formed a new team focused on investigating potential leaks to the press. During a press conference on Friday, Sessions said that leak investigations have tripled since President Donald Trump took office. Civil liberties groups criticized Sessions's remarks. Ben Wizner of the ACLU said, "A crackdown on leaks is a crackdown on the free press and on democracy as a whole." We speak with John Kiriakou, the former CIA analyst who exposed the Bush-era torture program and became the only official jailed in connection with it.

https://www.democracynow.org/2017/8/8/formerly_jailed_cia_whistleblower_john_kiriakou

The parent company of The Intercept—First Look Media—has announced that it will provide support for the legal defense of Reality Leigh Winner, the NSA contractor who stands accused of leaking a top-secret document to The Intercept. She faces up to 10 years in prison, if convicted. Winner, who remains in jail, was charged for allegedly leaking a top-secret document showing how Russian military intelligence attempted to hack into several states’ voting infrastructure. The Intercept’s handling of the story faced widespread scrutiny. The Department of Justice claimed in an affidavit and search warrant that it caught the leaker in part by actions taken by The Intercept. We speak with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald, co-founder of The Intercept.

https://www.democracynow.org/2017/7/13/whistleblowers_shouldnt_be_prosecuted_like_spies