Skip to content

Whistleblowers

An Unpardonable Process

March 3, 2025 John Kiriakou, Consortium News. , , , , ,
To the surprise of likely nobody who knows me, I asked former President Joe Biden for a presidential pardon before he left office. And to the surprise of likely nobody who knows Joe Biden, I was ignored. I always knew that my chances of a pardon were very poor. But I thought that I at least had a shot for a number of reasons. First, as background, I was convicted in 2012 of violating the obscure Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. I was only the second person ever charged with violating this law. The other person confessed to spying against the U.S. for Ghana.

Biden’s Legacy: Fundamentally Changing Nothing For Whistleblowers

January 15, 2025 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. , , , ,
When Joe Biden was vice president under President Barack Obama, he was part of an administration that waged an unprecedented war on leaks. President Biden may not have been as zealous as Obama, however, he periodically harnessed the very machinery that Obama and President Donald Trump wielded to enforce secrecy and silence whistleblowers. With the Espionage Act, the Obama Justice Department prosecuted more United States government employees and contractors who disclosed information to the press than all previous presidents combined.

Whistleblower Demands Governor Fix ‘Completely Unregulated’ Fracking Wastewater Network

December 23, 2024 Justin Nobel, DeSmog. , , , , , ,
A whistleblowing Pennsylvania oil and gas worker, together with the state’s former lead environmental regulator, are ringing the alarm bell on an unregulated and shadowy network of pipelines at least hundreds, and perhaps even thousands of miles long. The pipeline system was constructed over the past decade by oil and gas operators in Pennsylvania to transport toxic and radioactive fracking wastewater. “There is no oversight,” says Robert Green, who works in southwestern Pennsylvania as a hydrostatic tester, a niche job in the industry that involves assuring pipelines can appropriately handle the complex and often hazardous fuels and waste streams they contain.

Whistleblower Daniel Hale’s First Interview

December 11, 2024 Lee Camp, Popular Resistance. , , , ,
Welcome to Dangerous Ideas. Today, I'm excited to talk to whistleblower Daniel Hale. This is his first live interview since being released from prison and you may recall that he was the one who revealed the information that ultimately became the Drone Papers and gave so much information to the American people that we needed to know about our government and about the behavior of our government and our military. For that he received one of the harshest punishments that we've seen for a whistleblower in this country. The stat that sticks with me is that 90% of those killed by drone attacks are unintended targets, meaning innocent people.

Soldier Who Self-Immolated Wins Sam Adams Award

November 4, 2024 Consortium News. , , , , , ,
The Sam Adams Associates are pleased to announce United States Air Force Senior Airman Aaron Bushnell as the recipient of the 2024 Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence. Bushnell was a cyber defense operations specialist with the 531st Intelligence Squadron at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. He was assigned to the 70th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing at Fort Meade in Maryland. Senior Airman (SRA) Bushnell martyred himself when he walked up to the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 25, 2024, while streaming himself as he approached, and then self-immolated in protest of what Israel is doing to Palestinians, the most extreme form of protest.

FBI Sued For Withholding Files On Assange And WikiLeaks

September 13, 2024 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. , , ,
The civil liberties organization Defending Rights and Dissent sued the FBI and United States Justice Department for withholding records on WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. “For nearly a decade and a half, we’ve been trying to get at the truth about the U.S. government’s war on WikiLeaks,” declared Chip Gibbons, the policy director for Defending Rights and Dissent. Gibbons added, “With the legal persecution of Julian Assange finally over, the FBI must come clean to the American people.” On June 25, 2024, U.S. government attorneys submitted a plea agreement [PDF] in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands after Assange agreed to plead guilty to one conspiracy charge under the U.S. Espionage Act.

Perdue Seeks To Dismantle Tribunals For Whistleblower Complaints

September 2, 2024 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. , , ,
Poultry manufacturer Perdue Farms Inc. sued the United States Labor Department and whistleblower Craig Watts, who has pursued litigation through the department’s administrative process for nearly a decade. The corporation now maintains that this administrative process is unconstitutional. “Their suit could demolish whistleblower protections across issues [including] food safety, railroad and aviation safety, shareholder fraud, and environmental protection,” warned the Government Accountability Project (GAP), which represents Watts, a former Perdue chicken grower. Administrative proceedings in Watts’ case were previously scheduled to begin on April 14, 2025.

Experts Warn Julian Assange Plea Deal Could Set Dangerous Precedent

June 26, 2024 Alexandra Topping, The Guardian. , , ,
The next UK government must push the US for reassurance it will not pursue journalists for publishing classified information, human rights organisations and experts have argued after the release of Julian Assange. Experts have warned that the plea deal struck between the WikiLeaks founder and the US authorities – which will see him plead guilty to one charge under the Espionage Act, but avoid serving any additional time in custody – could set a dangerous precedent. Assange, who has battled his extradition to the US since WikiLeaks published more than 250,000 leaked classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010, was facing up to 175 years in prison on 18 counts.

Red Hill Whistleblower Details How Her Warnings Were Ignored

June 25, 2024 Christina Jedra, Honolulu Civil Beat. , , , , , ,
As the new director for the U.S. military’s largest fuel depot in May 2020, she realized almost immediately that something was wrong. The fire suppression system for the massive Honolulu storage system, which was holding 100 million gallons of fuel, was essentially turned off. Firefighting foam necessary to put out a potential fuel fire had been removed by officials who feared a leak could contaminate the drinking water aquifer below, she said. As a result, those working in the facility’s underground tunnels, and those residing in surrounding neighborhoods, were at risk of facing an out-of-control blaze, she said. So Bencs did what the Navy itself had trained her to do: She said something.

Whistleblower: EPA Didn’t Follow Normal Procedures In East Palestine

May 21, 2024 Rich McHugh, NBC4 WCMH-TV. , , , , , ,
An EPA whistleblower has stepped forward, saying the Environmental Protection Agency deviated from normal procedures when testing for chemical contamination after a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. On Feb. 6, 2023, officials in East Palestine, Ohio, vented and burned five tank cars full of vinyl chloride after a Norfolk Southern train derailed near the town. Three days later, the Environmental Protection Agency gave the all-clear for evacuated residents to return to the area. Immediately, people in the area began complaining of sickness and rashes. “I undressed to get into the shower, and I had a rash all over the side of my face on both sides and all over my chest,” said resident Katlyn Schwarzwaelder.

USAID Whistleblowers Accuse Biden Of ‘Direct Complicity’ In Gaza Famine

May 16, 2024 News Desk, The Cradle. , , , , , , , , ,
Current and former officials from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department say the White House has ignored months of internal warnings about the spread of famine in the besieged Gaza Strip, according to an in-depth investigation by the Independent. “I believe the US to be complicit in creating the conditions for famine. Not only has our response been woefully inadequate, but we’re actively responsible in large part for it,” a USAID employee told the British daily. Internal documents reviewed by the Independent show that staffers have repeatedly warned USAID administrator Samantha Power and other senior leaders about the intensifying crisis in Gaza “often to no avail.”

The Heroism Of David McBride

May 16, 2024 John Kiriakou, Consortium News. , , , , ,
Sometimes a whistleblower does everything right.  He or she makes a revelation that is clearly in the public interest.  The revelation is clearly a violation of the law.  And then he or she is even more clearly abused by the government. It would be great if these stories always had happy endings.  Unfortunately, they don’t. In this case, the whistleblower, the hero, Australian David McBride has been sentenced to five years and eight months in prison for telling the truth.  He will not be eligible for parole for 27 months. David McBride is former British Army officer and a lawyer with the Australian Special Forces who blew the whistle on war crimes committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, specifically the killing of 39 unarmed Afghan prisoners, farmers, and civilians in 2012.

Whistleblower McBride Sentenced To Five Years, Eight Months

May 15, 2024 Joe Lauria and Cathy Vogan, Consortium News. , , , ,
A federal judge in Canberra, the Australian capital, has sentenced military whistleblower David McBride to nearly six years in prison for leaking classified material to the media that revealed Australian war crimes in Afghanistan. Supreme Court Justice David Massop ruled on Tuesday morning local time that “only a prison sentence is appropriate,” and handed down 68 months —  5 years and 8 months. Consortium News‘ Cathy Vogan, who is inside the courtroom, reported that McBride “will go to jail until 2030. He is led out of the court by three policemen. A woman takes his dog.”

Whistleblower David McBride To Be Sentenced

May 8, 2024 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. , , , , ,
A sentencing hearing has concluded in the case of Australian whistleblower David McBride who was forced to plead guilty to leaking classified documents to the media after he was essentially denied a defense at his trial in November. The documents ultimately revealed evidence of war crimes committed by the Australian Defence Force. Justice David Mossop will pronounce the sentence next Tuesday. The government has demanded more than two years in prison, while the judge could impose as little as house arrest, monitoring , and counseling outside prison for up to four years. McBride, a former military lawyer, was charged with stealing government documents and giving them to journalists at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Whistleblower Says US Endangers Troops By Refusing To Leave Niger

April 19, 2024 Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com. , , , , ,
The Biden administration’s refusal to withdraw from Niger despite an order from the post-coup government to leave has put US troops in the country in danger, a senior Air Force leader said in a letter to Congress that was obtained by The Washington Post. The whistleblower said that senior officials at the US Embassy in Niger have “intentionally suppressed intelligence” to maintain the “facade of a great country-to-country relationship” as the US is trying to figure out a way to maintain its military presence. The Nigerien government, known as the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), said in March that it was severing military relations with the US and that the US presence was no longer legally justified.
«12345678910»