January 30, 2025
Surveillance Equipment on a table
Published by Defending Rights & Dissent at January 30, 2025

Opposition to Snowden and Assange Prosecutions, Mass Surveillance Should Not be Disqualifying for Director of National Intelligence

Washington, DC — Defending Rights & Dissent rejects comments by members of Congress and former intelligence officials stating that Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s past opposition to mass surveillance programs and the abuse of the Espionage Act against publisher Julian Assange and
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January 16, 2025
Published by Chip Gibbons at January 16, 2025

Defending Rights & Dissent Joins Press Freedom Community in Urging Biden to Pardon Julian Assange

The US government's pursuit of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange remains one of the most abusive attacks on press freedom in recent memory. President Biden must stand for press freedom and grant Mr. Assange a full, unconditional pardon.
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December 19, 2024
Eastern District of Virginia courthouse, where the government successfully argued for pretrial detention of Asif Rahman
Published by Chip Gibbons at December 19, 2024

In Unprecedented Move, Judge Keeps CIA Employee Facing Espionage Act Charges In Jail

Originally published in The Dissenter, link here. Reprinted with permission. On December 11, five days after Magistrate Judge Ivan Davis ordered accused CIA leaker Asif William Rahman to be released from jail, District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles overruled the decision.
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November 14, 2024
One of two documents at the center of the Espionage Act indictment of Asif Rahman
Published by Defending Rights & Dissent at November 14, 2024

Statement on the Espionage Act Indictment of Asif Rahman

The DOJ last week charged CIA official Asif Rahman with two counts of violating the Espionage Act. The indictment alleges Rahman released two documents showing American intelligence assessments of Israel’s plans for airstrikes on Iran. The classified documents, dating to
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October 28, 2024
Seal of the Department of Justice and FBI
Published by Chip Gibbons at October 28, 2024

Under Project 2025, Journalists and Sources Would Face Spying and Prosecution

This article was originally published in Truthout. Link to the original article here. The last two decades have been an abysmal time for the right to press freedom in the U.S. Successive administrations — from both parties — have normalized
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October 27, 2024
Event card for The State of Press Freedom: Today and Tomorrow
Published by Cody Bloomfield at October 27, 2024

Defending Rights & Dissent Convenes Experts to discuss the state of press freedom

On October 21, 2024, Defending Rights & Dissent convened an expert panel of press freedom advocates, First Amendment experts and journalists for an event held at Nabala Cafe in Chicago about today’s gravest threats to press freedom (recording available here).
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October 1, 2024
Assange testifies; journalists react event flier.
Published by Defending Rights & Dissent at October 1, 2024

DRAD & Assange Defense Host Journalist Reaction Panel to Assange Testimony

On October 1, 2024, Julian Assange broke his silence. The WikiLeaks founder testified before the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) about the chilling effect his detention and conviction
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September 23, 2024
CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling
Published by Defending Rights & Dissent at September 23, 2024

Defending Rights & Dissent Welcomes Jeffrey Sterling to Board of Directors

Defending Rights & Dissent’s board unanimously elected CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling to the board of directors at its September meeting. Sterling is a prominent advocate for whistleblower rights and press freedom, and an expert on the Espionage Act. He is
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September 20, 2024
Partial FBI seal. Defending Rights & Dissent sued the FBI for WikiLeaks and Assange files.
Published by Cody Bloomfield at September 20, 2024

DRAD Joins X Spaces with the Freedom of the Press Foundation to discuss WikiLeaks FOIA lawsuit

On September 19, 2024 DRAD Policy Director Chip Gibbons joined The Dissenter Managing Editor Kevin Gosztola and Freedom of the Press Foundation Directory of Advocacy Seth Stern for an X Spaces discussion of DRAD’s FOIA lawsuit against the FBI. Last
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August 6, 2024
Julian Assange raising a fist
Published by Defending Rights & Dissent at August 6, 2024

Defending Rights & Dissent and the long fight to free Assange

After 14 years, the US government’s long war against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange came to a close on June 24. After WikiLeaks exposed US war crimes thanks to documents given to them by Chelsea Manning, the US was ruthless in
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July 3, 2024
Published by Defending Rights & Dissent at July 3, 2024

Reflection and Celebration of Assange’s Freedom: Dispatches from those covering the case from the start

On Monday, July 1, Defending Rights & Dissent and Assange Defense Committee hosted an online event, which can be viewed here.  Matthew Hoh is a former Marine who resigned from the State Department in 2008 to protest the escalation of
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June 24, 2024
Protest in support of Julian Assange
Published by Defending Rights & Dissent at June 24, 2024

Defending Rights & Dissent Welcomes Julian Assange’s Freedom, Opposes The Government’s Abuse of the Espionage Act

Defending Rights & Dissent welcomes the news that Julian Assange will go free for the first time in over a decade. For over five years, Assange has been confined to Belmarsh Prison in London, as he contested his extradition to
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June 6, 2024
Edward Snowden on a giant screen speaking at the 2015 International Students for Liberty Conference at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Published by Defending Rights & Dissent at June 6, 2024

11 Years After the Snowden Revelations: It’s Time to Fix the Espionage Act

We owe courageous truthtellers that much. Eleven years ago Americans learned the dirty secrets of the NSA’s illegal surveillance of US citizens – thanks to a courageous whistleblower, Edward Snowden. Yet, because of the anti-democratic, free-speech-killing Espionage Act, Snowden is
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April 12, 2024
Julian Assange, publisher of WikiLeaks
Published by Defending Rights & Dissent at April 12, 2024

“There’s many ways to assassinate a journalist”: Journalists reflect on Assange’s fifth year in Belmarsh Prison

On April 11, 2024, DRAD Policy Director Chip Gibbons joined Stefania Maurizi, Abby Martin, and Chris Hedges to mark five years of Julian Assange’s detention in Belmarsh Prison in the UK. On the grim anniversary, the panel of journalists reflected
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March 27, 2024
Image of the UK High Court, which recently granted Julian Assange limited appeal rights. Panel response embedded at the bottom of this page.
Published by Defending Rights & Dissent at March 27, 2024

Defending Rights & Dissent joins rapid-response panel following UK Assange decision

On March 26, 2024, less than 12 hours after the UK High Court’s decision, Defending Rights & Dissent Policy Director Chip Gibbons joined an expert panel to deliver rapid-response analysis. The panel featured Chip alongside other First Amendment and human
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