Whistleblower subpoenaed ahead of his testimony before Congress

Alberto Gonzales and President Bush are using NSA whistleblower Russel Tice as an example to all those who might want to leak anything to the press in the future.  Tice says that nothing he leaked was classified.  Still, the FBI showed up at his door:

NSA whistleblower Russell Tice says he was visited on Wednesday by twoFBI agents who handed him a federal subpoena instructing him to appearbefore a grand jury next week in Virginia.

Tice is being charged with violating Title 18, United States Code, Section 793.  This comes right before he is set to testify in front of Congress about the unconstitutional use of power by the Executive Branch:

Tice says he considers the subpoena a form of intimidation by thegovernment to keep him from testifying before Congressionalinvestigators about what he knows about the surveillance systems.

According to the conservative National Review, it may have been Tice who tipped off Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R) about NSA procedures that President Bush failed in his constitutional obligation to brief the Congress on.  But until that is proven, the whole Hoekstra-Tice connection is nothing more than a conspiracy theory.

Russell Tice is scheduled to appear before a 23-member grand jury in Virginia this week.

It should also be said that a few months ago the Supreme Court ruled that government whistleblowers are no longer protected from retaliation from their employers.