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paulftw | 6 years ago

What if China says “we’re sending you a plane with the four individuals you are after. We insist on their innocence and want to see a fair and public trial”

Then DOJ would have to reveal their sources, wouldn’t they?

discuss

order

99052882514569|6 years ago

Or drop charges. This is clearly a what-if that's been taken into account, the implication being that these people either are in fact military intelligence or otherwise very valuable, or don't exist at all.

vkou|6 years ago

If Iran made such an accusation against 4 NSA employees, that were actually innocent, do you think that those 4 people would ever be handcuffed, and put on a flight to Iran?

Of course not, that would be idiotic, and horrible for morale. You don't give your own people up, regardless of whether or not they are innocent or guilty.

As such, this is a spherical cow thought experiment. To address it - it's quite likely that the sources would not be revealed in an open trial, due to the catch-all of national security. For a helping of double irony, the sources are likely the product of... Espionage (Digital or otherwise).

microdrum|6 years ago

Sure, but the US can actually try foreign military officers somewhat fairly. Almost no country in the world can accomplish that, other than perhaps the UK and Canada.