National Security Whistleblowers Coalition
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE- July 31, 2006
Contact: Sibel Edmonds, National Security
Whistleblowers Coalition, sedmonds@nswbc.org
NSA WHISTLEBLOWER’S GRAND JURY APPEARANCE
POSTPONED
Justice Department Cancels
Scheduled Grand Jury Testimony
Based on information obtained
by National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, Mr. Russell Tice’s appearance
before the federal grand jury originally scheduled for Wednesday, August 2, has
been cancelled.
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 obtained a copy of the subpoena issued for Mr. Tice’s testimony
and released it to the public for the first time. The subpoena directed Mr.
Tice to appear before the jury on August 2, 2006 at 1:00 p.m. in the Eastern
District of Virginia. [To view the subpoena click
here].
Mr. Josh Dratel,
the New York criminal defense lawyer who represents Mr. Tice, sent a letter, which was received
by the Department of Justice on Friday, July 28, requesting additional
information and time to prepare. The Department of Justice granted the request
and postponed the scheduled appearance of Mr. Tice before the Federal Grand
Jury. No new date has been set.
Professor William Weaver, NSWBC Senior Advisor,
stated: "The subpoena for Mr. Tice did not indicate whether or not he was
the target of a criminal investigation or just a witness, and gave him only six
days to prepare for the original grand jury hearing date. The
intervention of first class legal counsel put the government off
track, for it appears that government attorneys wanted to get to Tice
before he had a chance to obtain legal advice."
National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, founded in August
2004, is an independent and nonpartisan alliance of whistleblowers who have
come forward to address our nation’s security weaknesses; to inform authorities
of security vulnerabilities in our intelligence agencies, at nuclear power
plants and weapon facilities, in airports, and at our nation’s borders and
ports; to uncover government waste, fraud, abuse, and in some cases criminal
conduct. The NSWBC is dedicated to aiding national security whistleblowers
through a variety of methods, including advocacy of governmental and legal
reform, educating the public concerning whistleblowing activity, provision of
comfort and fellowship to national security whistleblowers suffering
retaliation and other harms, and working with other public interest
organizations to affect goals defined in the NSWBC mission statement. For
more on NSWBC visit www.nswbc.org
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©
Copyright 2006, National Security Whistleblowers Coalition. Information in this release may be freely
distributed and published provided that all such distributions make appropriate
attribution to the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition.