Former intelligence analyst Manning has drafted a 31-page bill to re-establish protections for freedom of speech and the press that have been challenged by the Justice Department in recent court decisions involving whistleblowers and journalists.
Manning’s bill, The National Integrity and Freedom of Speech Protection Act (NIFSPA) of 2015, sent the US Senate and the US House of Representatives, also included a section-by-section analysis of the proposal.
The bill would amend sections of the Freedom of Information Act, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the Espionage Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Federal Disclosure Rules for Journalists.
“We need to create a media ‘shield’ law with teeth and substance that creates an effective federal privilege for communications between a journalist and her sources, preventing the government from compelling testimony from the journalist and to protest the documents, records and other information created by the journalist and the actual communications between the journalist and her sources,” stated Chelsea Manning in an op-ed published in the Guardian.
“The privilege should be in effect unless the government can prove with clear and convincing evidence that very clear and dangerous circumstances should merit an exception,” she wrote.
Manning’s bill also proposes narrowing the offense of “aiding the enemy” to the creation of an explicit“treason” for “those who openly wage war and attempt to overthrow the US government.” Another proposal would to reform the FOIA to live up to its “commitment to transparency.”
Read the rest of the story at RT.