Is Snowden Inspiring A New Wave Of Whistleblowers?
from the courage-is-contagious dept
We noted last week that Japan was bringing in severe new punishments designed to discourage whistleblowing. That might suggest that following Snowden's leaks, there will now be a period of repression where potential whistleblowers lie low to avoid bringing down the wrath of governments on their heads. One person with a better idea than most about what is really going on here is Jesselyn Radack. She's employed by the General Accountability Project (GAP), a leading US whistleblower protection and advocacy organization. Here's part of her biography on the GAP site:
she works primarily with national security and intelligence community whistleblowers, including those from the Defense Department, Department of Homeland Security, NSA and CIA -- with a special focus on torture, secret surveillance, secrecy, and political discrimination.
That clearly puts her in an excellent position to judge to what extent whistleblowers within the intelligence community are intimidated by the actions being taken by the US government against leaks and the people who make them. This is what she says is happening, as told to ABC News:
"I think the government hopes to chill speech by employees in the national security and intelligence fields, especially those at the NSA and CIA, but the unintended consequence is [that] more and more whistleblowers are coming through the doors of the Government Accountability Project (GAP)," said Jesselyn Radack, referring to the organization where she works as the National Security and Human Rights Director. "I think courage is contagious, and we see more and more people from the NSA coming through our door after Snowden made these revelations."
It would be a truly extraordinary development if a new wave of whistleblowers started to come forward now -- not least because they might inspire yet more people to do the same, leading to a cascade of revelations, and bringing an unstoppable momentum to moves to reform the NSA.
Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and +glynmoody on Google+
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: ed snowden, jesselyn radack, nsa, nsa surveillance, whistleblowers
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
In a completely unrelated and delusional note she should expect Assange suing her on trademark (or copyright) grounds for using his slongan "Courage is contagious".
Now on the serious field, sometimes people need a small push in the form of an example to put them in motion. S trigger if you will. Hopefully Snowden is the small rock that sets off the avalanche.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Paint a target on her
Imagine the level of surveillance on THAT e-mail account...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I hope so.
If you want to get your body in shape and be healthy, it requires a good diet and exercise. If you want to get your country in shape, it pretty much works the same way: feed your mind with the truth and exercise your rights.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
One can only hope
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
G is for Government
Once again TD has excelled itself with accuracy !!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]