Suppose you found some documents.

[messiah2012]

Let's say you were at a Starbucks across the street from the Whitehouse and you sat down to a table. Underneath your chair you notice a leather case, there is nobody around to ask if they left it so you open it up to see if there is ID in the case, instead you find that they are some sort of Whitehouse documents that are marked TOP SECRET concerning the Iraq Occupation. My question is: 1.) What would you do with them? 2.) If you were to turn them over to somebody to make the documents public(blow the whistle), who would you give them to?

[whistle]

1. I'd give them to Larry Flynt

[fightthegoodfightnow]

2. Too Funny !!

He is the only honest journalist out there.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. That probably is the wisest choice.

He's a guy who definitely wouldn't be bullied into giving them back.

[whistle]

14. On second thought, just how "radio active" would such documents be?

...Geezus, I'm not sure even Larry Flynt would want to touch them. Those things would be the kiss of death. There would be swat teams and FBI and CIA operatives all over the holder of that file.....Yep...Larry Flynt would take them!!!!

[jgraz]

4. I hear they have these things called "The Internets"

They'd go right in the ol' tubes.

[messiah2012]

Yeah but what would the credibility factor be in that scenario?

If you just scanned them and posted them. There is a lot of crap on the interwebs. people may not believe it or simply just not care.

[sellitman]

5. I'd send them to Mike Malloy for safe keeping.

:evilgrin:

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Funny

since I did not sign any secrecy papers, I'd first make copies, put the originals in a vault and turn them over to all... mainstream media, not mainstream, larry flint, foreign media, Greg Palast and our fearless reps in Congress....

In my dream a confession of the lies to war signed by the Pressnit...

Oh and I would give the keys to people I know, and if I died in a plane crash, they'll know what to do

Oh and this is a hell of an idea for a sci fi or mystery novel

[femmocrat]

7. I would email Greg Palast pronto!!!

Are you saying this really happened to "someone"?

[messiah2012]

10. hypothetical

but it does happen from time to time.

http://www.wusa9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=49159

[femmocrat]

17. Given the WH's track record on investigating itself, I doubt if the careless person will be found.

Or he/she will be given a promotion... or a medal of freedom.

[stillcool]

8. wow...what a good question....

I'd make copies..lots of copies..and then? Seymour Hersch or William Blum or Michael Parenti and Henry Waxman.

[Kool Kitty]

44. I'd make LOTS of copies.

Send some to the media (and hope they wouldn't just use them for toilet paper), then I'd find some willing friends and stand on street corners and hand them out to every passerby.

[bleever]

9. I'd deliver them to Conyers or Waxman.

That way, you're not breaking the law, by surrendering them to federal officials. ;)

[Richard Steele]

21. I concur. That's the approach I'd take. nm

[DianaForRussFeingold]

24. Good advice !

:patriot: I don't think it would be a very pleasant experience for someone who would want to remain anonymous! :patriot:

[lonestarnot]

32. Calling John, paging John Conyers.

Excellent advise.

[bluethruandthru]

11. Depends on what they say.

:evilgrin:

[Shakespeare]

12. Contact Sy Hersh of the New Yorker. Not only does he have the ability to get the info out, but...

...he's the only reporter I can think of who has the contacts to authenticate the documents.

[whistle]

23. Seriously, I think he would do what he could, but he would never

...put his life or his career on the line like that. This scenerio was very much like the Pentagon Papers back during the Vietnam War and look what happened to Daniel Ellsberg and Tony Russo

<snip>

Pentagon Papers: Case Dismissed
Monday, May. 21, 1973 Article

I HAVE decided to declare a mistrial and grant the motion to dismiss." With these 13 terse words, Judge William Matthew Byrne Jr. ended one of the most extraordinary legal—and in many ways, illegal—proceedings in the history of American justice.

By his ruling, the judge cleared Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony J. Russo Jr., both of whom freely admitted that they had secretly copied and leaked the Pentagon papers, of eight charges of espionage, six of theft and one of conspiracy. But since the case had never reached the jury, the two were not declared innocent by acquittal, nor had they been vindicated by their defense based on the assertion of the people's right to know. Even so, the victory was so signal that as Byrne rose to leave the bench in U.S. district court in Los Angeles, the assemblage in the crowded courtroom rose, applauded and cheered him.

Patricia Ellsberg rushed over to her stunned husband and asked plaintively: "Haven't you got a kiss for your girl?" (He had.) Defense Counsel Charles Nessen ostentatiously broke out a big cigar and lit it. The prosecution team filed out in tight-lipped silence. Later, a majority of the jurors said that they would have voted for acquittal if they had been given the chance.
<MORE>

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,907273,00.html?iid=chix-sphere

[DianaForRussFeingold]

42. Wow! Would make a great movie! I just watched this video -Dem.Mike Gravel

Mike Gravel tells the story of how he released the secret Pentagon Papers into the public record -Amy Goodman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5ks8hz5Ulg

[Shakespeare]

43. I'm VERY familiar with the details on the Pentagon Papers.

I used to work for one of the attorneys who defended the NYT in the Papers case, and prior to that studied the case in journalism school. I'm also familiar with how Hersh has conducted his career--his contacts are such that he's almost untouchable. There would have to be something unspeakably dangerous in those documents for Hersh to be frightened away, and even then I'm not sure he'd back away.

[razors edge]

13. A hundred thousand photo copies

dropped by ultralights across one of the countries major population centers residential districts at the same time Fed Ex delivered certified copies to the press, then sit back and watch.

And place it on the internets too I guess.

[otherlander]

15. I guess I'd take pictures

of the place where I found them, the case, everything, scan coppies onto my computer and publish them to the internet, but I'd need something to prove they were real... couldn't I have easilly typed such documents up on my own computer?

That's assuming that they were the kind of thing that should be revealed, like the secret prisons, not something like Plame being a CIA agent.

[Pavulon]

16. Call the FBI

because I don't want to go to jail for posessing classified information. Also the person who left their docs should (would) be sanctioned.

You can not "blow the wistle" as an individual legally. Any person in the chain who compromises a real national secret is going to federal prison.

I can see some type of information being worth trading my freedom, but it would need to be pretty serious.

[messiah2012]

22. I think you are wrong.

As a person who should never be in possession of such items I don't think you have any obligations to do anything.

[Doremus]

18. Read them. Then decide what to do based on their content.

The choices would be anything from 1) putting them back where I found them and forgetting I ever saw them to 2) sending them to a journalist or two or three (KO, Sy Hersh and/or Bill Moyer come to mind) to 3) grabbing the family and heading for the hills, or innumerable other courses of action that would depend entirely on the revelations contained therein.


But I would start with reading them. That probably makes me Gitmo fodder right there. So be it.

[messiah2012]

26. Suppose said hypothetical documents were in Arabic.

With the occasional Anglo words being the names of policy makers in parenthesis.

[Doremus]

47. Unfortunately I don't know the language.

So I would likely give the briefcase to the manager of the establishment and let him/her track down the owner, same as I would do if I found a lost purse or wallet.

I really think leaving the establishment with someone else's property is unethical. Performing an act of civil disobedience would override other ethical issues, but then I'd need to know that the matter was something requiring my intervention to ameliorate/stop/prevent, etc.

Taking them on the off-chance doesn't sit well for some reason.

[BlackVelvet04]

19. I'd put them up for sale on ebay. n/t

[dweller]

20. how was your coffee?

personally, i'd hide and watch for a bit.

1) yeh, i'd probably read them.
2) who do you trust implicitly?
dp

[Mz Pip]

25. I'd put the originals

in a safety deposit box. Copies would be sent to the authorities, after consulting with my attorney son.

If I disappearred or something weird happened to me the originals would be sent to the NY Times.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[slowry]

27. Here's exactly what I would do.

I'd go home and call my best friend, telling them all about my find. Then I would digitize the information and begin the unusually slow process of copying it to a PCMCIA card. Within a short time, there would be a knock at the door -- it's the building manager; peering out, through a secondary entrance to my condo, I would spy what looked like federal agents, waiting silently behind him, with guns drawn.

I slam the card into a gameboy, and escape out the window. A chase would ensue, which would end with me stealing someone's bike, and getting killed by a collision with a truck. But not before I'd passed the information onto an old college friend I happened across!

Damn, that'd make a kickass movie.

[Javaman]

28. I would make a thousand copies and drop them over NYC from a plane. nt

[CK_John]

29. I know this a what if situation, but I think the info given in jest could

put someone in jail for 20 to life. Possible death sentence if you are considered part of a spy ring. If this were real and happened in DC call the FBI and tell them the situation or call 911 and tell them the situation, also I hope that you have been living a legal lifestyle. If you leave with them or leave them behind without calling, you will most likely end up in some fed facility for days, months or years. Something like this could be the worst day you could ever image.

[messiah2012]

33. OK suppose the docs belonged to a foreign embassy.

I don't know, let's say... Qatar. But the information in the docs involved US relations with Qatar.

[CK_John]

35. Same advice. Reality seems to a problem for you. n/t

[messiah2012]

36. And the law seems to be a problem for you.

American citizens would have zero obligation to a foreign government.

[DianaForRussFeingold]

39. Are you saying they are classified by a foreign government but not ours?

Either way I'd be very afraid. There probably would be a GPS device in the briefcase. Wasn't this a movie with Julia Roberts? Conspiracy Theory http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1800290380/details

[OnyxCollie]

40. Do the hypothetical top-secret documents

belonging to a foreign embassy pertaining to US relations with Qatar that were in a leather briefcase left underneath a table in a Starbucks across the street from the White House have anything to do with bush and blair discussing the bombing of Al Jazeera? 'Cause Britain invoked the Official Secrets Act against the Daily Mirror to prevent them from publishing the leaked memo. There's a high probability bushco would ruin your day if you went public with the documents. Granted, they would have to find you, and that would depend on what level of anonymity you previously had and what level you could maintain. (You punched a hole in that by posting here.) If they did find out about you, they could break into your house to find the documents, question everyone who knows you and gag them from warning you, label you an associate of Al Qaeda, kidnap you and send you off to Ethiopa to be tortured and held indefinitely without charge or tried in a military tribunal without being present or seeing any evidence (although this helps) with the possibility you may receive a death sentence based on hearsay. Or, they could shoot you dead on the spot. Worst case scenarios, sure, but not out of the realm of possibility.

Attorney Thomas H. Nelson, representing an Islamic charity accused of ties to Al Qaeda, was mistakenly sent top-secret classified documents exposing warrantless surveillance. He thought his office was the subject of an unwarranted search to regain the documents.

Lawyers Say They Have Evidence of Warrantless Surveillance
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3386890&page=1

Judge refuses to give FBI custody of classified document
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060324/24oregon.htm

Mystery Document In Wiretap Suit Sent To Seattle For Safekeeping
http://www.komotv.com/news/archive/4180731.html

Newspaper sues for documents in NSA wiretap case
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060321/21oregon.htm

The Letter of the Law
The White House says spying on terror suspects without court approval is ok. What about physical searches?
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060327/27fbi_2.htm

Paper Said to Show NSA Spying Given to Post Reporter in 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030201852.html

'Specific' info on NSA eavesdropping?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0306/p03s03-uspo.html

Charges tossed against Oregon Islamic Charity
http://www.archives2005.ghazali.net/html/charges_tossed.html

[brettdale]

30. I would

put them on the internet and send them to Keith Olbermann and michael moore. I would make copies after copies.

[cutlassmama]

31. I'd scan them and post them here n/t

[bluerum]

34. scan, convert to pdf, scan, covert to pdf, scan, convert to pdf. Oh. No

one told me revealing secrets is against the law. I mean , revealing the identity of CIA agents is ok as long as I am doing it for journalistic purposes.

After reflection, I would suspect some kind of mis-information campaign.

[zonmoy]

37. contact every conspiracy theorist blog and website on the web and give each of them a copy.

[blogslut]

38. I would turn them into the proper authorites

But then, my momma raised me to respect other people's property.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

45. Delete... wrong spot

[Warren DeMontague]

41. Were they written in crayon?

In that case, get 'em back to the Preznit.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

46. Contact "Land Shark". That is all.

[Vinca]

48. Good question. It hinges on how badly I'd like a Gitmo vacation.

Gitmo does, after all, have some bennies. First and foremost, health care . . . and it's paid for. If I found the top secret documents I'd have to read them to know who to return them to . . . right?

[drm604]

49. Remember Dan Rather.

I'd have my suspicions that it was some sort of Rovian double cross.

[Toucano]

50. Give a copy to Amy Goodman and upload a copy to a website. n/t

edit typo