The Fed Who Blew the Whistle

"In judging Tamm's actions - his decision to reveal what little he knew about a secret domestic spying program that still isn't completely known - it can be hard to decipher right from wrong."

Poppycock - there is nothing hard about it.

Tamm is right, and should be exonerated.
Bush, Cheney, Yoo and Ashcroft are wrong. Try them all for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Very simple.

well we know Scalia and Roberts are for this illegal *** because they are Catholics as in inquisition. in the name of god more crimes have been committed in this admin. enough to make me shout: tax the christian bastards!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This guy is a hero. Give him a medal right now. And fire the FBI.

The bush administration gets very ruffled when they are compared to the Nazis and yet this is the very direction they were headed with their attempts to work around the law. Given time they clearly would have tried to change the law so that the civil rights would virtually disappear when they deemed it appropriate. It was not that they did not have a legal means to pursue their search for information on terrorists but rather that they did not want to be bothered with the law. I see the criminal(s) in this matter as being those who set up this program and then abused their power in trying to destroy someone who made their illegal activities public.

Bank records phone taps of Americans..One will find out that it was NSA that took down the Governor of New York for Polictical hit job...Not to say he was guilty as charged just big brother watching you...Those that complain that New York Times reported it...You may be next.

One dig deep enough you will find that NSA got the bank records of Governor of New York...It was a political hit job, not saying he wasn't guilty.

It's not hard for me to decide right from wrong. If you first make a man swear that he will keep the law and defend the constitution and then force him to break the law and violate the constitution, then you end up with a corrupt government. When we hear, only years later, of corruption, like we are hearing about with $100 billion wasted in Iraq reconstruction that is a failure and we wonder why no one said anything, this is why. We have institutionalized corruption and illegality. The whistle blower law should protect federal and state employees as well as private companies is our laws are being broken. These jerks get away with murder--and more--because no one talks. We need to make it easier to talk, not harder. Until we do, we can expect lawlessness and thievery at the highest levels of our government.

There is no question that the program was illegal, thus reporting it was not only legal, but mandatory for a government employee. That we tolerate the FBI's abuse of this brave man is proof that we, not he, are the cowards and traitor to our constitution. Call your local FBI office and tell them that you resent their attacking this hero. Let them know that the nation will not tolerate their disgusting actions against an American hero. The Feds should be arresting Bush, not Tamm!

Newsweek: Wrong subtitle to the article. Not "Is he a hero or a criminal?" -- it should be: "Tom Tamm: Hero." This story reflects a perfect example of the evil that (soon to be) was Bush / Cheney = chasing Tamm as a criminal for blowing the whistle to held uphold our Constitution. Indict Cheney and Rumsfeld and give Bush a plea bargain to testify against them (that might be the best thing W could do to improve his legacy).

Newsweek: Wrong subtitle to the article. Not "Is he a hero or a criminal?" -- it should be: "Tom Tamm: Hero." This story reflects a perfect example of the evil that (soon to be) was Bush / Cheney = chasing Tamm as a criminal for blowing the whistle to held uphold our Constitution. Indict Cheney and Rumsfeld and give Bush a plea bargain to testify against them (that might be the best thing W could do to improve his legacy).

Newsweek: Wrong subtitle to the article. Not "Is he a hero or a criminal?" -- it should be: "Tom Tamm: Hero." This story reflects a perfect example of the evil that (soon to be) was Bush / Cheney = chasing Tamm as a criminal for blowing the whistle to held uphold our Constitution. Indict Cheney and Rumsfeld and give Bush a plea bargain to testify against them (that might be the best thing W could do to improve his legacy).

I believe Thomas Tamm acted in the best tradition of American patriotism, to uphold the Constitution of the United States -- not the politicians who violated it. In short, Thomas Tamm is a hero! I will be endeavoring to e-mail President-elect Barack Obama to pardon Tamm; not only will a pardon give peace of mind to the Tamm family, it might heal the wounds and mend the fractures between the Bush and Obama presidencies. But if the FBI and Justice Department feel obligated to pressure and investigate Thomas Tamm for whistle-blowing, why not investigate George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and John Ashcroft for unconstitutional crimes for illegal wire-taps behind FISA's back? And why go after Tamm, following what Scooter Libby and the rest of the Bush administration did to "out" CIA agent Valerie Plame? Wasn't that against the law, too? Yet President Bush commuted Libby's sentence so that Libby did zero time in prison.

For those who argue that Tamm should have done his president's bidding, I disagree. When I entered the military, I swore an oath to defend the CONSTITUTION (not the president) against all enemies, foreign and domestic. If the president circumvents FISA law, the courts, and the Congress, then this president has violated the Constitution; that is the paramount issue we should prosecute, not the whistle-blower. We The People need to remind the world that even a president is not above the law. We made a good start on November 4, 2008.

Let's take back Tenet's Presidential Medal of Freedom and give it to Tamm. If Pelosi and Reid had any guts, they would have impeached Bush and Cheney for illegally wiretapping and many other reasons. I'd like to thank Mr. Tamm for doing the right thing.

Tamm your legacy is that you are a hero.While people like Cheney,Bush will be known as the sellout crooks that they are.They have tried to murder our constitution and will be held accountable make no mistake.

The reason there are so many left wing nutty posts is because this story is linked to the Puffington Host, these poor losers are all going to start biting their tongues once Obama keeps all the same programs that Bush set up , Obama already has backed tracked on FISA , was against FISA then voted for it. probably even go further then Bush ever did, what these losers don't know and most of the media won't report was that it was Clinton who started rendition and that was before 911, imagine what his administration would have done it they were in power when 911 happened. That's why Obama won the Presidency because the powers that be know that unless there is a democrat or even better some one they think is a liberal like them America's left and liberals won't shut up about what America has to do to stay safe and one step ahead.

Tamm is a hero and I think the Obama people should thank him and reward "whistleblower" status. He was trying to do what's right, more than people like Pelosi, Harman, Rockefeller and the others did.

I regard Thomas Tamm's decision as equivalent to decision mad by many German soldiers to refuse orders to wantonly kill men, women and children civilians in the German Death camps in Word War II. They knew they were risking transfer to almost certain death in the Eastern Front, but many, sadly not enough, German soldiers refused those illegal orders (even under German Law and the Laws of War it was illegal for German Soldiers to kill such noncombatant civilians. Any soldier refusing such order was not subjected to court-martial, he was indeed transferred to a combat unit, and likely used as cannon fodder.

There is a higher law than the President of the United States. It is called the Constitution of the United States. When a superior officer gives an illegal order to a subordinate, it is the subordinates duty to object, and to disobey. If disobeying the order can not stop it; his duty is clear. He must attempt to keep the order from being implemented, by going to the civil authority. If that is not successful, he must report the illegal order to the media to allow the public to know that an illegal order had been issued.

Thomas Tamm, on behalf of an American Citizen who believes in the operation of law, I salute you, for if we citizens ignore or support such obvious disdain for the law, we will all become concentration camp guards.

The second TIME I almost did it.

On top of one's difficulties with the language Iit would help a bit if Newsweek had a slightly bigger and more readable window to post this stuff