Whistleblowers

Snowden Honors Chelsea Manning, Criticizes Increasing Secrets

February 20, 2014 Staff, www.rt.com Educate! Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, NSA, Overclassification, Whistleblowers

Imprisoned US army whistleblower Chelsea Manning - formerly known as Bradley - was on Wednesday honored in absentia for revelations of US war crimes. Manning was awarded the 2014 Sam Adams Prize for Integrity in Intelligence at a ceremony held by the Oxford University's prestigious Oxford Union Society. The event included a video address by Edward Snowden, last year’s Sam Adams Award winner, who praised Manning for bringing to spotlight a very important issue of “over-classification” – unjustified withholding from the public of information that’s not related to national security. “In the last year the White House told us that 95 million records have been created classified and withheld from the public in the year 2012. That’s more than any other year on record and shows a trend where the government is withholding more secrets than ever,” Snowden said.

John Kiriakou Needs You To Stand Up For His Rights

February 19, 2014 Kevin Gosztola, www.dissenter.firedoglake.com Resist! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Whistleblowers

The federal correctional institution of Loretto, Pennsylvania, where former CIA officer John Kiriakou is serving a thirty-month jail sentence, appears to be scrambling to find any way they can to stop him from sending letters from prison. He has written another letter that details what seem to be clear acts of retaliation. Since August of last year, Firedoglake has been publishing “Letters from Loretto,” by Kiriakou, an imprisoned whistleblower who was the first member of the CIA to publicly acknowledge that torture was official US policy under the George W. Bush administration. He was convicted in October 2012 after he pled guilty to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act (IIPA) when he provided the name of an officer involved in the CIA’s Rendition, Detention and Interrogation (RDI) program to a reporter. He was sentenced in January 2013, and reported to prison on February 28, 2013.

The Dynamics Of Moral Mondays: A Human Rights Movement

February 13, 2014 Strategize! Democracy, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Whistleblowers, Worker Rights and Jobs

One of the important lessons and strengths of the civil rights movement was that it did not allow the federal government to hide behind states rights as a way of refusing to deal with state laws throughout the South that collectively created Jim Crow, as racist system of national and colonial oppression. The civil rights movement challenged those considered by some as allies like President’s Kennedy and Johnson, even though they signed an Executive Order, Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. The spreading of Moral Mondays is a very important. However, they must be led by people’s movement coalitions, democratically involving the people’s organizations, and not by a single organization however sincere, dedicated and articulate the leader.

U.S. Plummets In Global Press Freedom Rankings

February 12, 2014 Josh Stearns, www.freepress.net Educate! Human Rights, Media, Surveillance, Whistleblowers

After a year of attacks on whistleblowers and digital journalists and revelations about mass surveillance, the United States plunged 13 spots in the group’s global press freedom rankings to number 46. Reporters Without Borders writes that the U.S. faced “one of the most significant declines” in the world last year. Even the United Kingdom, whose sustained campaign to criminalize the Guardian’s reporters and intimidate journalists has made headlines around the world, dropped only three spots, to number 33.* The U.S. fell as many spots as Paraguay, where “the pressure on journalists to censor themselves keeps on mounting.” Citing the Justice Department’s aggressive prosecution of whistleblowers, including its secret seizure of Associated Press phone records, the authors write that “freedom of information is too often sacrificed to an overly broad and abusive interpretation of national security needs, marking a disturbing retreat from democratic practices.

How A CIA Whistleblower Survives Behind Bars

February 11, 2014 Kelley B. Vlahos, www.antiwar.com Educate! Government, Torture, Whistleblowers

"It’s been one year since former CIA analyst and counterterrorism officer John Kiriakou was sentenced to prison for 30 months, the first American official to do time for the government’s torture policies during the Global War on Terror. This is what whistleblower advocates like to point out – and Kiriakou, 49, strongly believes himself – that he is not in jail for doing the torture or even promoting it, but being the first counterterrorism official to acknowledge the use of waterboarding, and then speak publicly against it."

Snowden Docs: Sex And Dirty Tricks Used By British Spies

February 10, 2014 Matthew Cole, Richard Esposito, and Glenn Greenwald www.nbcnews.com Educate! Edward Snowden, NSA, Surveillance, Whistleblowers

"British spies have developed “dirty tricks” for use against nations, hackers, terror groups, suspected criminals and arms dealers that include releasing computer viruses, spying on journalists and diplomats, jamming phones and computers, and using sex to lure targets into “honey traps.” Documents taken from the National Security Agency by Edward Snowden and exclusively obtained by NBC News describe techniques developed by a secret British spy unit called the Joint Threat Research and Intelligence Group (JTRIG) as part of a growing mission to go on offense and attack adversaries ranging from Iran to the hacktivists of Anonymous. According to the documents, which come from presentations prepped in 2010 and 2012 for NSA cyber spy conferences, the agency’s goal was to “destroy, deny, degrade [and] disrupt” enemies by “discrediting” them, planting misinformation and shutting down their communications."

The NSA’s Secret Role In The U.S. Assassination Program

February 10, 2014 Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald, www.firstlook.org Educate! Drones, Middle East, NSA, Wars and Militarism, Whistleblowers

"The National Security Agency is using complex analysis of electronic surveillance, rather than human intelligence, as the primary method to locate targets for lethal drone strikes – an unreliable tactic that results in the deaths of innocent or unidentified people[…]any strike is taken, there must be near-certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured – the highest standard we can set.” He added that, “by narrowly targeting our action against those who want to kill us and not the people they hide among, we are choosing the course of action least likely to result in the loss of innocent life.” But the increased reliance on phone tracking and other fallible surveillance tactics suggests that the opposite is true. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which uses a conservative methodology to track drone strikes, estimates that at least 273 civilians in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia have been killed by unmanned aerial assaults under the Obama administration."

Chelsea Manning Awarded Sam Adams Integrity Prize For 2014

January 16, 2014 David Swanson, www.warisacrime.org/ Create! Chelsea Manning, Human Rights, Whistleblowers

The Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (SAAII) have voted overwhelmingly to present the 2014 Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence to Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning. A Nobel Peace Prize nominee, U.S. Army Pvt. Manning is the 25 year-old intelligence analyst who in 2010 provided to WikiLeaks the "Collateral Murder" video – gun barrel footage from a U.S. Apache helicopter, exposing the reckless murder of 12 unarmed civilians, including two Reuters journalists, during the “surge” in Iraq. The Pentagon had repeatedly denied the existence of the "Collateral Murder" video and declined to release it despite a request under the Freedom of Information Act by Reuters, which had sought clarity on the circumstances of its journalists' deaths. Release of this video and other documents sparked a worldwide dialogue about the importance of government accountability for human rights abuses as well as the dangers of excessive secrecy and over-classification of documents. On February 19, 2014 Pvt. Manning - currently incarcerated at Leavenworth Prison - will be recognized at a ceremony in absentia at Oxford University's prestigious Oxford Union Society for casting much-needed daylight on the true toll and cause of civilian casualties in Iraq; human rights abuses by U.S. and “coalition” forces, mercenaries, and contractors; and the roles that spying and bribery play in international diplomacy.

Meet The Ordinary Americans Who Exposed FBI Spying

January 14, 2014 Bill Boyarsky, www.truthdig.com Educate! Police abuse, Surveillance, Wars and Militarism, Whistleblowers

"“A nightmare was unfolding,” said Bonnie Raines, 72, her hair—long in her youth—cut short, her face pretty, clear and determined. “I took what was outrage and horror about what was going on and I realized I had to take it somewhere.” John Raines, handsome at 80, looked at her with love and pride as she spoke. “At one rally, I had one of my children on my back and not only did they take my picture, they took her picture,” she said.John Raines said, “We knew they were systematically trying to squash dissent and dissent is the lifeblood of democracy.”

CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou: Resumes Letters From Prison

January 7, 2014 Kevin Gosztola, www.dissenter.firedoglake.com Resist! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Torture, Whistleblowers

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who is serving a thirty-month jail sentence in the federal correctional institution in Loretto, Pennsylvania, has resumed writing letters from prison after the Bureau of Prisons failed to give him nine months in a halfway house to finish out his sentence. Firedoglake had been publishing Kiriakou’s “Letters from Loretto.” The last letter published, however, was in August of last year. Now, in a new letter, thanking several groups and individuals who have supported him while serving his sentence in prison, he writes, “I’m sorry I’ve been out of touch so long. After my last letter, I thought I had come to an understanding with the prison administration: stop writing ‘Letters from Loretto’ and be put in for nine months of halfway house. Nine months would have seen me leave here on August 1, 2014. So I stopped writing.” “Rather than twiddle my thumbs and hope for the best, I decided to start writing again. God bless the Constitution and its First Amendment,” he adds. Kiriakou has maintained since going to prison that was to be sent to a camp with lower security. It was recommended by the judge and prosecutor in his case. But a “Bureau of Prisons bureaucrat deemed him a ‘threat to public safety,’” and he was sent to do his time in the medium security section of Loretto. Kiriakou asks for your help to resolve this.

Government Accountability Project On Edward Snowden

January 4, 2014 Staff, www.whistleblower.org Educate! Edward Snowden, NSA, Whistleblowers

GAP Statement on Edward Snowden and NSA Domestic Surveillance: In June 2013, the American public learned conclusively about the wholesale surveillance of virtually all Americans through secretive programs by the National Security Agency (NSA) that continue to be implemented today. These programs collect the phone records, email exchanges, and internet histories of people all over the world who would have no knowledge of this were it not for the disclosures of former federal contractor Edward Snowden. As legal counsel to Snowden as well as the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) would like to make its position clear on Edward Snowden, the criminalization of whistleblowers and the pattern of illegal activity by the NSA.

Torture Whisleblower John Kiriakou Needs Your Help

December 22, 2013 CODE PINK, www.codepink.org/ Petitions and Online Actions Torture, Whistleblowers

John Kiriakou remains the only person from the Bush Administration era to have been incarcerated, or even tried, over issues related to torture. His crime? Blowing the whistle on it. In 2012 the Obama Administration brought charges against John because of his conversations with journalists about US torture and his supposed disclosure of an undercover agent. Since entering prison, John has released a series of letters detailing his conditions and thoughts. Now he needs your help! Nine months into his 30-month sentence, John is seeking to be granted at least nine months in a halfway house so that he may "resume productive contributions to society." He has put a call out to all supporters to help him push for a halfway house transfer by writting letters to the Bureau of Prisons residential reentry director, Erlinda Hernandez, and Federal Bureau of Prisons director Charles Samuels. Let's make sure he knows that the peace community supports him.

False Division: Ellsberg A Hero But Today’s Whistleblowers Villians

December 18, 2013 Carey Shenkman, www.truth-out.org Educate! Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Ellsberg, Jeremy Hammond, Whistleblowers

There exists a puzzling yet repeating trend among commentators, politicians, and now federal judges. It is to distinguish Daniel Ellsberg, the whistleblower of the Pentagon Papers (and often-hailed hero), from actors like army whistleblower Chelsea Manning, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, and recently sentenced hacktivist Jeremy Hammond. This is notwithstanding the fact that Ellsberg vocally supports and identifies with all three. The differential treatment was first acknowledged two years ago by journalist Glenn Greenwald, responding to reports on how Manning was contrasted to Ellsberg. He called it “intellectual cowardice.” Today, the persistence of this argument highlights a continuing strategic challenge for opponents of whistleblowers of government misconduct. How can these opponents distinguish Ellsberg, a hero, from those they seek to vilify for engaging in the same character of activity?

Open Letter To Government Employees From Whistleblowers

December 12, 2013 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! NSA, TPP, Whistleblowers

Since the summer of 2013, the public has witnessed a shift in debate over these matters. The reason is that one courageous person: Edward Snowden. He not only blew the whistle on the litany of government abuses but made sure to supply an avalanche of supporting documents to a few trustworthy journalists. The echoes of his actions are still heard around the world – and there are still many revelations to come. For every Daniel Ellsberg, Drake, Binney, Katharine Gun, Manning or Snowden, there are thousands of civil servants who go by their daily job of spying on everybody and feeding cooked or even made-up information to the public and parliament, destroying everything we as a society pretend to care about. Some of them may feel favourable towards what they're doing, but many of them are able to hear their inner Jiminy Cricket over the voices of their leaders and crooked politicians – and of the people whose intimate communication they're tapping. Hidden away in offices of various government departments, intelligence agencies, police forces and armed forces are dozens and dozens of people who are very much upset by what our societies are turning into: at the very least, turnkey tyrannies.

Hedges: Shooting The Messenger

December 11, 2013 Chris Hedges, www.truthdig.com Educate! Edward Snowden, Surveillance, Wars and Militarism, Whistleblowers

There is a deeply misguided attempt to sacrifice Julian Assange, WikiLeaks, Chelsea Manning and Jeremy Hammond on the altar of the security and surveillance state to justify the leaks made by Edward Snowden. It is argued that Snowden, in exposing the National Security Agency’s global spying operation, judiciously and carefully leaked his information through the media, whereas WikiLeaks, Assange, Manning and Hammond provided troves of raw material to the public with no editing and little redaction and assessment. Thus, Snowden is somehow legitimate while WikiLeaks, Assange, Manning and Hammond are not. “I have never understood it,” said Michael Ratner, who is the U.S. lawyer for WikiLeaks and Assange and who I spoke with Saturday in New York City. “Why is Snowden looked at by some as the white hat while Manning, Hammond, WikiLeaks and Julian Assange as black hats? One explanation is that much of the mainstream media has tried to pin a dumping charge on the latter group, as if somehow giving the public and journalists open access to the raw documents is irresponsible and not journalism.

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