Discouraging acts of patriotism

When Mr. Obama was first running for the presidency, he said "acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled."  Yet, as we know, he has prosecuted more 'leakers' under the 1917 Espionage Act than all previous presidents combined.

Three of these cases are particularly egregious:

• Thomas Drake had analyzed the specifications of a data-mining program being proposed by outside contractors and found it wanting as well as a waste of money when compared to a program that had already been developed by NSA.
• John Kiriakou revealed the CIA's use of waterboarding.
• And now Edward Snowden who showed us just how much privacy has been compromised by the NSA.