O’Reilly on CIA Leaks: ‘Treason in the Air’

Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” host Bill O’Reilly reacted to the WikiLeaks dump earlier this week revealing many CIA tactics by calling the leaks a “treasonous act.”

Transcript as follows (courtesy of BillOReilly.com):

Treason in the air.

We now know that somebody either leaked or hacked into CIA files that explained how U.S. intelligence is tracking enemies of the nation. WikiLeaks says it has released almost 9,000 documents from the CIA Center for Cyber Intelligence.

A Wall Street Journal editorial put it this way:

“The losses from this exposure are incalculable. These tools represent millions of dollars investment and man-hours. Many will now be rendered moot as terrorists or foreign agents abandon traceable habits.”

So again, ISIS, al Qaeda, other killers now know how the USA is tracking them. Therefore the leaks are a treasonous act.

According to the Reuters news agency, the CIA breach happened during the Obama administration. The Factor has learned that some of the computer systems used by the agency are more than 40 years old, easily hacked into, easy targets of theft. We have also been told that bids are out to high-tech companies to upgrade the computer facilities of our intelligence agencies.

That will cost tens of billions but is absolutely necessary in this dangerous world. But no matter how sophisticated the hardware gets, we still have people committing treason inside the government. We reported on that last night. Since taking office, President Trump has been bedeviled by leaks, classified information being fed to the anti-Trump press among them. So now we have a growing catastrophe. Obviously the CIA and other intelligence agencies cannot protect their secrets.

And so far only a few individuals have been charged with violating national security. In 2013, then-Private Bradley Manning was convicted of six Espionage Act violations plus theft and computer fraud for giving stuff to WikiLeaks. Just before he left office, President Obama commuted Manning’s 35-year sentence, allowing him to leave prison on May 17 after seven years.

Many objected to the leniency shown Manning.

Talking Points believes that leakers of classified documents are actively committing treason. And it is apparent that the federal government does not have a handle on how to apprehend these traitors, much less stop the espionage. America is the most sophisticated country in the world, but we cannot protect the private conversations of our leader, our intel secrets, and our counter-terrorism measures.

Obviously, a dangerous situation.

President Trump should order the FBI to aggressively investigate all leaks and hacks, assigning that a top priority. Today Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee requested a meeting with FBI Director Comey on the hacking and leaks. Mr. Comey should do that as quickly as possible and it should be televised. Americans need to know if this situation is completely out of control or what.

And that’s the memo.

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