Shamai Kedem Leibowitz, also known as Samuel Shamai Leibowitz, is an American lawyer and blogger who was convicted of leaking classified

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

information to another blogger.Former FBI Contract Linguist Pleads Guilty to Leaking Classified Information to Blogger
"

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equi ...

. Thursday, December 17, 2009. Retrieved on June 5, 2013. Leibowitz pleaded guilty on December 17, 2009, to knowingly and willfully disclosing five Secret level FBI documents in April 2009, to a blogger, who then published information derived from those documents on the blog. He was sentenced under the

Espionage Act The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code ( ...

on May 24, 2010, to 20 months in prison. According to Leibowitz:

During the course of my work, I came across wrongdoings that led me to conclude this is an abuse of power and a violation of the law. I reported these violations to my superiors at the FBI who did nothing about them. Thereafter, to my great regret, I disclosed the violations to a member of the media.

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reported that Leibowitz leaked the documents to blogger Richard Silverstein, who writes a blog called Tikun Olam, which gives a left-wing perspective on

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and Israeli-American relations. Silverstein told the ''New York Times'' that the documents were transcripts of F.B.I.

wiretaps Wiretapping, also known as wire tapping or telephone tapping, is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connecti ...

of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, and that Leibowitz leaked them because of concerns about Israel's aggressive efforts to influence Congress and public opinion, and fears that Israel might strike

nuclear facilities in Iran Iran's nuclear program is made up of a number of nuclear facilities, including nuclear reactors and various nuclear fuel cycle facilities. Anarak Anarak, near Yazd, has a nuclear waste storage site. Arak The Arak area in northwestern Iran h ...

. Leibowitz denied the ''New York Times'' report and wrote that Silverstein "made up a story". On his blog, he wrote:

Contrary to what blogger Richard Silverstein told the NYT, my job never entailed listening to wiretaps of embassies, and that whole story was manufactured by Silverstein to promote his blog and his anti-Israel agenda... Naturally, I cannot talk about my work at the FBI, but I can say that what really troubled me was the FBI's illegal practices, very similar to what
Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is a former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence contractor and whistleblower who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs. Born in 1983 in Elizabeth ...
has reported about the
NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...
.

Leibowitz's grandfather was Israeli intellectual

Yeshayahu Leibowitz Yeshayahu Leibowitz (; 29 January 1903 – 18 August 1994) was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish public intellectual and polymath. He was a professor of biochemistry, organic chemistry, and neurophysiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a ...

Publications

* Leibowitz, Shamai.
Blowback from the White House's vindictive war on whistleblowers
" ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. July 5, 2013.

References

External links

Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leibowitz, Shamai Kedem American bloggers American lawyers Linguists from the United States American whistleblowers Living people People convicted under the Espionage Act of 1917 Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American Jews American people of Israeli descent Yeshivat Har Etzion alumni