You might not know James Risen's name, but you probably know about the thing he's most famous for: publicly disclosing the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program. Risen is no stranger to pissing off people in power. He now faces prison time for refusing to disclose the name of a source to the federal government.
Instead of cower in fear, or give the government what it wants and betray the confidence of his source, Risen is holding firm, despite the very real threat to his personal freedom. He's not silently waiting for the tension to ease up, either. Instead he just published a scathing new book about journalism and the war on terror. "Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War" is an indictment not only of a bipartisan-backed National Security State, but also much of the Washington press that's supposed to hold it in check.
Risen spoke with DemocracyNow's Amy Goodman this morning about his new book, the deep state's war on journalism, and the threat endless war poses to democracy. Yesterday Risen gave his Twitter followers some sneak peeks into the book's contents, copied below.
I hope you like my new book, Pay Any Price: Greed, Power and Endless War. Its basic theme — Crazy is the new normal in the war on terror.
— James Risen (@JamesRisen) October 13, 2014
Pay Any Price is about how we deregulated national security after 9/11, while pouring hundreds of billions in counter-terrorism.
— James Risen (@JamesRisen) October 13, 2014
The US "took off the gloves" after 9/11, which really meant getting rid of the rules and laws that regulated national security.
— James Risen (@JamesRisen) October 13, 2014
At the same time the U.S. took off the gloves, the U.S. poured massive amounts of money into new counter-terrorism programs.
— James Risen (@JamesRisen) October 13, 2014
The combination of the deregulation of national security and massive new spending meant lots of unintended consequences. Bizarre operations.
— James Risen (@JamesRisen) October 13, 2014
As a result, we had a national security crisis, much like the banking crisis that we suffered during the Great Recession.
— James Risen (@JamesRisen) October 13, 2014
The banking crisis came because we deregulated at the same time we poured hundreds of billions into new lending. Leading to crazy stuff.
— James Risen (@JamesRisen) October 13, 2014
In my new book, Pay Any Price, read about how an American interrogator has suffered PTSD from conducting harsh interrogations.
— James Risen (@JamesRisen) October 13, 2014
Read about how a House staffer tried to work through the system to stop the NSA program, and was persecuted as a result.
— James Risen (@JamesRisen) October 13, 2014
Read about a secret FBI investigation into a covert Pentagon operation.
— James Risen (@JamesRisen) October 13, 2014