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02:36 30.12.2015(updated 03:21 30.12.2015) Get
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After a year marked by repeated cyberattacks into US
government databanks, the Department of Defense is tightening up its Uniform
Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to prevent future breaches and leaks, legal and
cyber analysts told Sputnik.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Former CIA
counterterrorism officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou told Sputnik
on Tuesday that the change in the Code seemed focused
on bringing military legal procedures up to date to deal with the
burgeoning field of cybercrime and cyberespionage.
"It may be that the law was outdated and didn't
include ‘cybercrime," Kiriakou said.
The Defense Department has proposed a reform
in the US Code of Military Justice to introduce punishment
for specific computer offenses for the first time.
Retired US Army Major Todd Pierce, an author and
expert on military law and civil liberties, told Sputnik the reform seemed
to be focused on serving military personnel who became whistleblowers
such as Chelsea Manning, rather than on civilian contractors such
as Edward Snowden.
"I think it is more related to Manning
as Snowden wouldn’t have come under the UCMJ as a
civilian," Pierce pointed out.
Chelsea Manning, originally Bradley Manning, was a US
Army soldier who was convicted in July 2013 of violations of the
Espionage Act after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly 750,000 classified
or unclassified, but sensitive military and diplomatic documents.
In August 2013, Manning was sentenced to 35 years
in prison, and will only be eligible for possible parole
from August 2020.
Pierce said the proposed changes in the UCMJ
would make it easier for the US military to prosecute and convict
future whistleblowers like Manning, who felt compelled to leak
classified or sensitive material for the public good.
"I presume the offenses and the elements which
will need to be shown for conviction will be made easier
to prove than relying on General Articles and the incorporation
of federal statutes," Pierce stated.
Independent Institute Director of the Center
on Peace and Liberty Ivan Eland agreed that the Defense Department was
belatedly reacting to the embarrassments it suffered from the
successful data leaks and exposures by Snowden and Manning.
"The [proposed] Code revisions seem to be a
reaction to the Snowden leaks. However, Snowden was a civilian and they
are likely plugging leaks in the Code to deal with similar
actions by military personnel," Eland noted.
Edward Snowden is a former CIA employee and former
contractor for the US government who leaked classified information
from the National Security Agency (NSA) and the British Government
Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) for public disclosure.
The information revealed many global surveillance
programs run by the NSA and by the "Five Eyes" alliance
of US, British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand electronic
intelligence and surveillance agencies.
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