Frog-Marching Tice?

This press release by the so-called "National Security Whistleblowers Coalition" is sure to get the progressive netroots in a tizzy (via Stop the ACLU):

On Wednesday, July 26, Russell Tice, former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence analyst and a member of National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC), was approached outside his home by two FBI agents who served him with a subpoena to testify in front of a federal grand jury. NSWBC has obtained a copy of the subpoena issued for Mr. Tice's testimony and is releasing it to the public for the first time. The subpoena directs Mr. Tice to appear before the jury on August 2, 2006 at 1:00 p.m. in the Eastern District of Virginia. Mr. Tice “will be asked to testify and answer questions concerning possible violations of federal criminal law." [To view the subpoena click here].

In response to the subpoena, Mr. Tice issued the following statement: “This latest action by the government is designed only for one purpose: to ensure that people who witness criminal action being committed by the government are intimidated into remaining silent.” He continued: “To this date I have pursued all the appropriate channels to report unlawful and unconstitutional acts conducted [by the government] while I served as an intelligence officer with the NSA and DIA. It was with my oath as a US intelligence officer to protect and preserve the U.S. Constitution weighing heavy on my mind that I reported acts that I know to be unlawful and unconstitutional. The freedom of the American people cannot be protected when our constitutional liberties are ignored and our nation has decayed into a police state.”

Uh, yeah.

Are we to believe that the purpose of the NSWC is to protect those that illegally leak classified information to the media? I'm only asking, because that is what not only what Russell Tice did, but publicly admitted to doing.

The NSWC is calling this a "witch hunt," but when someone commits a crime, and acknowledges doing so publicly, what responsible authority can decide not to investigate the charges? This is akin to an arsonist standing outside of a burning abandoned, shouting "I DID IT!" and then expressing incredulity when he is taken down to the local precinct for questioning.

To cry foul when the government takes your admission seriously is perhaps even more deranged than stalking a fellow employee and acting surprised when you get disciplined for it.

Perhaps Tice is the only person that may be facing a subpoena at this time, but I strongly suspect that the NSWC is making so much noise because they are concerned that others in their merry little band of leakers might also wind up in front of a federal grand jury.

It appears Tice and his ilk are willing to be patriots only up until the point that they might have to deal with the legal consequences of their actions.

Chickensquawks.