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Whistleblowers

Thirteen Ellsberg Billboards In DC Urge People “Blow The Whistle”

July 10, 2014 Sam Husseini, www.accuracy.org
In an unprecedented push for whistleblowing in the nation’s capital, the new organization ExposeFacts announced today that 13 billboards have gone up near Capitol Hill, the Justice Department, the White House, the Government Accountability Office, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the State Department, a popular bookstore at Dupont Circle and other prominent locations. The six-foot billboards display a message from Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg: “Don’t do what I did. Don’t wait until a new war has started, don’t wait until thousands more have died, before you tell the truth with documents that reveal lies or crimes or internal projections of costs and dangers. You might save a war’s worth of lives.”

Corporations Gag Whistleblowers To Hide Wrongdoing

July 1, 2014 Scott Higham and Kaley Belval, www.washingtonpost.com , , ,
In November 2012, the U.S. Department of Energy asked contract employees at the Hanford plutonium processing plant in Washington state to take an unusual oath. The DOE wanted them to sign nondisclosure agreements that prevented them from reporting wrongdoing at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear facility without getting approval from an agency supervisor. The agreements also barred them from using any information for financial gain, a possible violation of federal whistleblower laws, which allow employees to collect reward money for reporting wrongdoing. Donna Busche reluctantly signed the agreement. “It was a gag order,” said Busche, 51, who served as the manager of environmental and nuclear safety at the Hanford waste treatment facility for a federal contractor until she was fired in February after raising safety concerns. “The message was pretty clear: ‘Don’t say anything to anyone, or else.’ ”

A New Play About Edward Snowden Opens In London

June 27, 2014 Richard Roques, www.waterlooeast.co.uk , , , ,
Edward Snowden is holed up in a hotel in Hong Kong. He has left his life in Hawaii, abandoned paradise for a life on the run. Tortured by thoughts of his girlfriend, his mother and father and the ghosts of other whistleblowers from Chelsea Manning in solitary confinement to Thomas Drake, charged with 35 years imprisonment, he waits. But will the CIA and the National Security Agency find him first? This story has not yet finished. The revelations of mass surveillance by the U.S. and British security services keep coming out. Never mind about Angela Merkel, are they listening to your conversations, reading your messages, checking your emails?

Showing Solidarity With Whistleblowers, Defending Our Right To Know

June 27, 2014 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.truth-out.org , , ,
Sarah Harrison is a British journalist, legal researcher and WikiLeaks investigation editor. She works with WikiLeaks and is a close adviser to Julian Assange. Harrison accompanied National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden on a high-profile flight from Hong Kong to Moscow while he was sought by the United States government. She is director of the new Courage Foundation, which seeks to defend whistleblowers as well as our right to know. Kevin Zeese: Sarah, tell us what the Courage Foundation is and what the goals of the organization are. Sarah Harrison: The Courage Foundation was born from the idea that whistleblowers need protection from prosecution. When we first started to help Edward Snowden, there were many other NGOs and organizations around the world that should have been able to help him; but, when it comes to high risk people with huge persecution from places like the United States, the reality is that to move quickly and robustly to provide the support they need is actually very difficult. So after we helped Snowden, we realized that there was a need for an organization that was able to do this for future Snowdens as well. So we set up Courage on that basis. In addition, Courage will be fighting for policy and legal changes to give whistleblowers the protections they deserve. I'm very pleased that you accepted to be on our advisory board Kevin.

Julian Assange Marks 2nd Year In Embassy

June 19, 2014 Raphael Satter, www.AP.org , ,
For the second time in as many years, journalists were invited Thursday to the embassy to mark the anniversary of WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange's stay there — a bid to escape extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted over allegations of sexual misconduct, and to the United States, where an investigation into WikiLeaks' dissemination of hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. documents remains live. Supporters — including one with a figure of Assange on a crucifix — chanted slogans outside the embassy. Inside, Assange said he has no intention of going to Sweden because he has no guarantee he wouldn't subsequently be sent to the U.S. Dressed in a suit and sneakers and appearing relaxed, he traded pleasantries with Ecuadorean Foreign Ministe Ricardo Patino as reporters crowded around to listen in on the banter.

Lift Assange Out Of Legal Limbo

June 19, 2014 Michael Ratner, www.usatoday.com , , ,
A whistle-blower living in exile in Russia. A publisher seeking the asylum he has already been granted while his sources are imprisoned. This isn't the cast of a summer blockbuster. It's a perfect storm of real-life cases that make it clear that constitutional guarantees of a free press and government accountability are rhetorical devices, not political realities. The whistle-blower is Edward Snowden. This month marks the first anniversary of his disclosures of massive National Security Agency surveillance. The publisher is Julian Assange. Thursday marks two years since he sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Meanwhile, two of Assange's sources, Chelsea Manning (formerly known as Bradley Manning) and Jeremy Hammond, remain in prison for providing WikiLeaks with confidential documents. Manning, who exposed atrocities from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including evidence of U.S. war crimes, was sentenced to 35 years. Hammond is serving a 10-year sentence for hacking into the e-mails of a private intelligence company.

Peter Van Buren, RIP, The Bill of Rights

June 18, 2014 Peter Van Buren, www.tomdispatch.com , , ,
Here’s what passes for good news when it comes to a free press these days: two weeks ago, the Supreme Court refused without comment to hear a case involving New York Times reporter James Risen. It concerned his unwillingness to testify before a grand jury under subpoena and reveal a confidential source of information in his book State of War on the secret U.S. campaign against the Iranian nuclear program. The case will now go back to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which has already ordered him to testify. He says he will instead go to jail, if necessary. That’s the bad news, right? Really bad news! The Supremes, the highest court in the land, refused to protect a reporter protecting a source at a moment when the Obama administration is in the midst of a wide-ranging crackdown on leakers and whistleblowers of all sorts (and those in the media considered to be aiding and abetting them). Actually, in a world in which Congress has not yet managed to pass a federal shield law that would protect reporters, it turns out that that’s actually the good news -- or so at least various media commentators say. Follow the logic here (and it is logic of a sort). Right now the Richmond, Virginia-based Appeals court decision applies only to courts in states under its jurisdiction. Had the Supremes agreed to take on the case, given their conservative and generally government-friendly bent on matters of executive power and what passes for national security, they would likely have ruled against Risen and that ruling would have applied nationally.

Open Letter To FCC Employees On Real Net Neutrality

June 16, 2014 Staff, www.popularresistance.org , , ,
Dear FCC Employees, We have spent a good deal of time at the FCC camping in front of the Maine Ave. entrance, leafleting and rallying to reclassify the Internet as a common carrier. First, we want to thank you for your support. Overwhelmingly employees at the FCC have supported an Internet free of discrimination. Many of you want what is best for the country – that the greatest communication tool ever invented continue to be a source for democratization of mass communication, creative entrepreneurship and a platform for growth and creativity. Second, we want you to know you are not alone. You are not alone inside the FCC nor are you alone among the American people. After our encampment and hundreds of thousands of emails and phone calls, the FCC Commissioners voted to allow reclassifying the Internet as a common carrier to be included in the rulemaking process.

US Would Prefer To Pay $1 Billion In Settlements

June 13, 2014 Marsha Coleman, www.blackagendareport.com , ,
Last Wednesday the No FEAR Coalition announced its finding that approximately $1 billion has been spent in the decade since the enactment of the No FEAR Act to settle cases of abuse or to pay court judgments. This revelation came at an Institute for Public Accuracy press conference to announce the launch of its new whistleblower- friendly website ExposeFacts.org. I sit on the ExposeFacts advisory board and was a featured speaker. My message was simple: Instead of firing abusive and discriminatory managers, the government has preferred to settle discrimination cases—to protect the status quo.In retrospect I am honored to think that I was the first ever whistleblower to engage ExposeFacts with a new public revelation. The ExposeFacts.org site will feature the “SecureDrop” whistleblower submission system, that will provide an electronic alternative for whistleblowers to disclose information important for public safety without exposing themselves to government reprisals as so often happens to whistleblowers working within the status quo. $1 Billion protecting the status quo is an unconscionable example of governmental fraud, waste and abuse given the range of domestic problems beset by budgetary pressures including run-down schools, veterans denied medical care, dilapidated urban infrastructure and city dwellers suffocating under the burden of cancer causing pollutants.

Defending Our ‘Right To Know’ With Courage

June 12, 2014 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org , , , , , , ,
Yesterday in Berlin, a new international organization was announced whose purpose is to (1) defend whistleblowers when they are facing prosecution; and (2) defend the public’s right to know. In a video to the Courage Foundation opening announcement Edward Snowden described how we need to confront surveillance because in order to participate in a democratic government we need to know “what the government is doing to us and what they are doing in our name.” It the people are not informed about what the government is doing “the government becomes a force unto itself not a public servant but a public master.” Snowden believes that public officials who take illegal or unethical action must be held accountable. Snowden goes on to say that since government is not protecting whistleblower we must say “we will protect them as a global society.” For him the Courage Foundation is “a new rapid response team for global democracy” saying now, when “we see someone facing unjustified retaliation for performing a public service we can rally to their defense.”

Al Gore: NSA Dragnet Surveillance Killing Democracy

June 11, 2014 Ewen MacAskill, www.theguardian.com , , ,
Edward Snowden has secured his highest endorsement yet in the US when former vice-president Al Gore described the leaking of top secret intelligence documents as "an important service". Asked if he regarded Snowden as a traitor or whistleblower, Gore veered away from the "traitor" label. He refused to go as far as labelling him a whistleblower but signalled he viewed him as being closer to that category than a traitor, saying: "What he revealed in the course of violating important laws included violations of the US constitution that were way more serious than the crimes he committed." Snowden, the former CIA and National Security Agency computer specialist, leaked US and British documents to the Guardian and Washington Post in June last year, starting a worldwide debate on the balance between surveillance and privacy. His revelations have led to proposed changes in legislation in the US and a backlash against government surveillance by major telecoms and internet companies. But he remains a polarising figure in the US. An NBC poll a fortnight ago showed 24% backing him and 34% disagreeing with his actions, with 40% having no opinion.

Guardian Launches SecureDrop System For Whistleblowers

June 10, 2014 James Ball, www.theguardian.com
The Guardian has launched a secure platform for whistleblowers to securely submit confidential documents to the newspaper’s reporters. The launch comes a year to the day since the Guardian posted the first of a series of NSA documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, sparking a worldwide debate on surveillance, privacy, and civil liberties. The SecureDrop open-source whistleblowing platform provides a way for sources, who can choose to remain anonymous, to submit documents and data while avoiding virtually all of the most common forms of online tracking. It makes use of well-known anonymising technology such as the Tor network and the Tails operating system, which was used by journalists working on the Snowden files. The New Yorker, the US not-for-profit investigative newsroom ProPublica, and the Pierre Omidyar-backed startup The Intercept are among the newsrooms already making use of the SecureDrop system.

ExposeFacts.org: New Group To Aid More Whistleblowers

June 3, 2014 ExposeTheFacts.org, www.PopularResistance.org , ,
ExposeFacts “aims to shed light on concealed activities that are relevant to human rights, corporate malfeasance, the environment, civil liberties and war,” the group says -- and its website will feature a whistleblower submission system known as “SecureDrop.” The new organization, ExposeFacts.org, “aims to shed light on concealed activities that are relevant to human rights, corporate malfeasance, the environment, civil liberties and war. At a time when key provisions of the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments are under assault, we are standing up for a free press, privacy, transparency and due process as we seek to reveal official information -- whether governmental or corporate -- that the public has a right to know.” The ExposeFacts.org website goes live on Wednesday.

Edward Snowden Accepts Ridenhour Prize, Defends Whistle-Blowers

May 5, 2014 Alexander Reed Kelly, www.truthdig.com ,
The NSA whistle-blower accepted the prize for “truth-telling” Wednesday afternoon and spoke via a Web stream. “A year ago there was no way I could have imagined being here, being honored in this room,” Snowden said in his opening remarks. “When I began this, I never expected to receive the level of support that I did from the public. Having seen what happened to the people that came before, specifically Thomas Drake, it was an intimidating thing. I’d realized that the highest likelihood, the most likely outcome of returning this information to public hands would be that I would spend the rest of my life in prison. I did it because I thought it was the right thing to do.” “Now, what’s important about this is I’m not the only one who felt this way,” Snowden continued. He went on to talk about former colleagues at the NSA and its contractors who had doubts about what they were doing but who refused to do anything about it because they feared their lives would be destroyed by the people they worked for. Snowden closed his remarks by saying that “cooperation and working together” is “the way forward.”

Obama’s “No Tolerance” for Freedom of Speech Policy

May 5, 2014 Marsha Coleman, www.blackagendareport.com , ,
“Fear remains the favored tactic used by the government against its own employees.” The Obama Administration has once again earned the shameful reputation for being the most secretive and punitive administration against whistleblowers in the history of the republic. Last week, another case of the Obama Administration's insatiable appetite for secrecy was revealed via a April 21st memo from the Director of National Intelligence. This memo threatens members of the intelligence community with retaliation for any contact with reporters without the permission of their supervisor, even if the information is not classified. The memo stated: “IC (intelligence community) employees… must obtain authorization for contacts with the media” on intelligence-related matters, and “must also report… unplanned or unintentional contact with the media on covered matters,” the Directive stated. This escalating repression comes on top of its harsh sentencing of whistleblowers: Chelsea (Bradley) Manning—35 years for leaking the video Wikileaks dubbed 'Collateral Murder' of a deadly helicopter attack on a defenseless civilian population; 30 month imprisonment of former CIA agent John Kiriakou for exposing the US use of torture and waterboarding—while none of those responsible for the administration of torture have been tried; and forcing Edward Snowden to seek political asylum outside the US for exposing National Security Agency (NSA) excesses that include the unauthorized, universal invasion of planetary privacy.
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