1/Today we wrote Attorney General #Garland requesting #Biden Administration @TheJusticeDept to open criminal inquiry into war crimes of #Libyan warlord #KhalifaHifter, a US citizen & VA resident. The War Crimes Act of 1996, 18 USC 2441(b), permits prosecution.
1/Last Nov we filed #FOIA lawsuit for @JMadisonProject & @NoahShachtman against @Interior to learn who tweeted this unprofessional Public Affairs msg in response to @TimFullerton. No federal agency should act this way. Today, we settled case & learned @BenGoldey was responsible.
2/@BenGoldey was @USInteriorPress from May '20 to near end of Trump Administration. I have been in DC for 30 yrs & was truly disturbed by unprofessionalism he openly demonstrated as public servant. I don't know if it was his young age or environment.
3/No shock that @BenGoldey went to work for @RepBoebert, which says lot abt him (none good). Apparently even she was too extreme for him. He quit aft ten days due to Jan 6th insurrection attempt by Trump supporters & presumably her connection/comments.
1/This was one of the most successful #natsec#whistleblower cases in history. We had three primary objectives: (1) ensure client lawfully released classified information to appropriate oversight authorities; (2) protect client's anonymity & (3) protect client from retaliation.
You will notice what was NOT our objective, and that was the #impeachment of President Trump, which was a natural and political outgrowth of achieving objective #1.
3/The representation was a perilous one. We received death threats and hostility, including from the President himself (who publicly declared I "should be sued for treason"). One individual was prosecuted for threatening my life and he will be sentenced later this month.
1/BREAKING NEWS: In 2016, attorney #StephenGill, legal advisor pro tempore for Al-Nashiri military commission, was arrested at home in MA, flown to VA & detained overnight to testify as witness in GITMO proceeding.
Today, Fed District Judge in MA ruled USGOVT may be liable.
2/We filed lawsuit under Fed Tort Claims Act in 2018. DC Fed Court transferred case to MA. What military officers did in this case should shock the conscience of any reasonable person. And bc of that, our lawsuit survives.
1/THREAD: NEW DoD SECURITY CLEARANCE REFORM WILL HELP THOUSANDS
In little known move, on 1/14, then Acting USDIS @EzraACohen issued ground breaking memo to significantly reform @DeptofDefense#securityclearance program & enhance individual due process & increase transparency.
2/Many ppl have been working for decades to effect these changes & with one swoop of pen, it is FINALLY now official policy. I cannot speak highly enough of what was accomplished & it needs to be known.
3/Memo follows through on what President Eisenhower started 60 years ago w/Executive Order 10865, still in effect today, what President Clinton created w/EO 12968 in 1995, & what SECDEF Bob Gates ordered in 2011. DoD must now consolidate, centralize & unify all existing