SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Taking on the Most Difficult Undertaking in Prison (So Far)
Not shooting from the hip — writing opinions and a bill in prison is hard work
Nov 03, 2015
I recently published an op-ed in The Guardian and a bill to abolish the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and to transfer the controversial surveillance authority from the secretive court to a good ol' fashioned U.S. District Court.
I'm way ahead of your question -- What the hell did I get myself into?
The answer is: the most difficult undertaking since arriving here after my court-martial in 2013.
It all started earlier this year -- with the Second Circuit ruling declaring the intelligence community's "bulk collection" and "mass surveillance" programs unconstitutional. The problem was -- it actually didn't, and couldn't.
I realized that I should probably weigh in on this, with an eye towards substance and meaning.
So, I embarked on my journey. I had some people out there in the world send me the USA Freedom Act, which dances around the problems, without actually fixing the root issues. It had a damn good name too -- ("U.S.A. Freedom Act," who could vote against that? May as well call the next budget the "Ice Cream and Hot Dogs Act of 2015.")
The key to the success of FISA and the USA Freedom Act is in their sheer complexity and mind-numbingly boring jargon -- "business records," "trap and trace device," "minimization procedures" -- but every word is potential minefield of interpretations that could be the difference between 3 people getting surveilled to 300 million.
I drowned in research and notes. Then, in July, my cell was searched by investigators without an explanation. I feared the worst, but my notes were still there. It slowed me down a bit.
Then, I reached a screeching halt. I was charged with 4 prison offenses and threatened with time in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) where people spend all day long staring at the wall and going crazy, excepted when shackled to go to appointments or the shower.
I didn't start back up for over a month, until I began my eventual punishment -- rec. restriction for 3 weeks without library time (except for law library), recreation yard and running track time, or time in the gym.
In that 3 weeks, I wrote my bill. Then I spent nearly 5 days typing up on a word processing computer that doesn't save anything -- I had to print it our in sections, slowly, hoping I didn't make any typos.
Phew -- and now it's done. I even took the time to incorporate some protections for the so-called Cybersecurity Bill, CISA.
It took me all summer to create this 139 page monster -- and it's far from perfect. The important thing is: there are alternatives.
It's too easy to shoot from the hip and criticize policy these days -- as many people actually do. But, it takes grit, determination, hard work, painstaking research to create a meaningful alternative. I can do it, then you can too.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
© 2023 Medium
Chelsea Manning
Whisteblower Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley) is the US Army Private (Pfc) who leaked military and government documents to the online media outlet Wikileaks which became the basis for the Collateral Murder video, which showed the killing of unarmed civilians by a US Apache helicopter crew in Iraq. Leaks made by Manning also resulted in the Afghan War Diary, the Iraq War Logs, and a series of embarrassing US diplomatic cables that became known as Cablegate. In 2013, she was convicted by a military court or the disclosures and sentence to 35 years in prison. In 2017, in the last days of his presidency, President Barack Obama coummuted her sentence. She is expected to be released from prison in May of 2017.
I recently published an op-ed in The Guardian and a bill to abolish the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and to transfer the controversial surveillance authority from the secretive court to a good ol' fashioned U.S. District Court.
I'm way ahead of your question -- What the hell did I get myself into?
The answer is: the most difficult undertaking since arriving here after my court-martial in 2013.
It all started earlier this year -- with the Second Circuit ruling declaring the intelligence community's "bulk collection" and "mass surveillance" programs unconstitutional. The problem was -- it actually didn't, and couldn't.
I realized that I should probably weigh in on this, with an eye towards substance and meaning.
So, I embarked on my journey. I had some people out there in the world send me the USA Freedom Act, which dances around the problems, without actually fixing the root issues. It had a damn good name too -- ("U.S.A. Freedom Act," who could vote against that? May as well call the next budget the "Ice Cream and Hot Dogs Act of 2015.")
The key to the success of FISA and the USA Freedom Act is in their sheer complexity and mind-numbingly boring jargon -- "business records," "trap and trace device," "minimization procedures" -- but every word is potential minefield of interpretations that could be the difference between 3 people getting surveilled to 300 million.
I drowned in research and notes. Then, in July, my cell was searched by investigators without an explanation. I feared the worst, but my notes were still there. It slowed me down a bit.
Then, I reached a screeching halt. I was charged with 4 prison offenses and threatened with time in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) where people spend all day long staring at the wall and going crazy, excepted when shackled to go to appointments or the shower.
I didn't start back up for over a month, until I began my eventual punishment -- rec. restriction for 3 weeks without library time (except for law library), recreation yard and running track time, or time in the gym.
In that 3 weeks, I wrote my bill. Then I spent nearly 5 days typing up on a word processing computer that doesn't save anything -- I had to print it our in sections, slowly, hoping I didn't make any typos.
Phew -- and now it's done. I even took the time to incorporate some protections for the so-called Cybersecurity Bill, CISA.
It took me all summer to create this 139 page monster -- and it's far from perfect. The important thing is: there are alternatives.
It's too easy to shoot from the hip and criticize policy these days -- as many people actually do. But, it takes grit, determination, hard work, painstaking research to create a meaningful alternative. I can do it, then you can too.
Chelsea Manning
Whisteblower Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley) is the US Army Private (Pfc) who leaked military and government documents to the online media outlet Wikileaks which became the basis for the Collateral Murder video, which showed the killing of unarmed civilians by a US Apache helicopter crew in Iraq. Leaks made by Manning also resulted in the Afghan War Diary, the Iraq War Logs, and a series of embarrassing US diplomatic cables that became known as Cablegate. In 2013, she was convicted by a military court or the disclosures and sentence to 35 years in prison. In 2017, in the last days of his presidency, President Barack Obama coummuted her sentence. She is expected to be released from prison in May of 2017.
I recently published an op-ed in The Guardian and a bill to abolish the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and to transfer the controversial surveillance authority from the secretive court to a good ol' fashioned U.S. District Court.
I'm way ahead of your question -- What the hell did I get myself into?
The answer is: the most difficult undertaking since arriving here after my court-martial in 2013.
It all started earlier this year -- with the Second Circuit ruling declaring the intelligence community's "bulk collection" and "mass surveillance" programs unconstitutional. The problem was -- it actually didn't, and couldn't.
I realized that I should probably weigh in on this, with an eye towards substance and meaning.
So, I embarked on my journey. I had some people out there in the world send me the USA Freedom Act, which dances around the problems, without actually fixing the root issues. It had a damn good name too -- ("U.S.A. Freedom Act," who could vote against that? May as well call the next budget the "Ice Cream and Hot Dogs Act of 2015.")
The key to the success of FISA and the USA Freedom Act is in their sheer complexity and mind-numbingly boring jargon -- "business records," "trap and trace device," "minimization procedures" -- but every word is potential minefield of interpretations that could be the difference between 3 people getting surveilled to 300 million.
I drowned in research and notes. Then, in July, my cell was searched by investigators without an explanation. I feared the worst, but my notes were still there. It slowed me down a bit.
Then, I reached a screeching halt. I was charged with 4 prison offenses and threatened with time in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) where people spend all day long staring at the wall and going crazy, excepted when shackled to go to appointments or the shower.
I didn't start back up for over a month, until I began my eventual punishment -- rec. restriction for 3 weeks without library time (except for law library), recreation yard and running track time, or time in the gym.
In that 3 weeks, I wrote my bill. Then I spent nearly 5 days typing up on a word processing computer that doesn't save anything -- I had to print it our in sections, slowly, hoping I didn't make any typos.
Phew -- and now it's done. I even took the time to incorporate some protections for the so-called Cybersecurity Bill, CISA.
It took me all summer to create this 139 page monster -- and it's far from perfect. The important thing is: there are alternatives.
It's too easy to shoot from the hip and criticize policy these days -- as many people actually do. But, it takes grit, determination, hard work, painstaking research to create a meaningful alternative. I can do it, then you can too.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.