Stratfor Email: Brennan Behind 'Witch Hunt' of Journalists Reporting Leaks

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by Kerry Picket 22 May 2013 331 post a comment

An obscure November 2012 Wikileaks email dump points to former White House counterterrorism adviser and now-CIA chief John Brennan as the person behind the “witch hunt” of journalists who reported unflattering Obama administration leaks.

A little over a week after President Barack Obama’s reelection, Wikileaks released an email dump of global intelligence files from the private intelligence company Stratfor. One particular email, dated September 21, 2010 discussed President Obama’s “Leak Investigations.”

The Massachusetts ACLU tweeted out a link that referenced the email and the president’s “war on whistleblowers” on November 15, 2012. The tweet only received two re-tweets after sitting online for seven months. Stratfor's VP for Intelligence, Fred Burton, declined to comment for this story.
The Obama administration has faced criticism not only for seizing phone records of 20 Associated Press reporters but also monitoring private emails and phone calls of Fox News Reporter James Rosen.
The story began to unfold when documents related to an investigation of former State Department contractor Stephen Jin-Woo Kim were recently released. Kim was accused of violating the Espionage Act for allegedly leaking classified information to Rosen.
According to a legal filing, the Washington Post reported the Obama Justice Department described the Fox News reporter as a an “aider, and abettor, and/or co-conspirator” in the case.
The public filing shows the first defense letter was filed in the case seven days before the September 21 Stratfor email regarding Brennan's "witch hunt" on investigative journalists was sent.