Edward Snowden: The Whistleblower Behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations
There were no whistleblower protections that would've protected me - and that's known to everybody in the intelligence community. There are no proper channels for making this information available when the system fails comprehensively.
In order to expose a system though, you need whistleblowers.
It's not everyday that a whistleblower is actually willing to be identified.
The sad truth is that societies that demand whistleblowers be martyrs often find themselves without either, and always when it matters the most.
As for labeling someone a whistleblower, I think it does them - it does all of us - a disservice, because it "otherizes" us.
The Barack Obama Administration has prosecuted more whistleblowers than all previous administrations combined. That's a staggering record. And it comes from a president who said that he's going to have one of the most transparent administrations ever.
Specific protection must be granted to human rights defenders and whistleblowers who have in some contexts been accused of being unpatriotic, whereas they perform, in reality, a democratic service to their countries and to the enjoyment of human rights of their compatriots.
The question of whether I as a whistleblower should be pardoned is not for me to answer.
Chelsea Manning, who's now set to be free May 17th [2017], after Obama shortened her sentence from 35 years to seven. According to her attorneys, she is already the longest-held whistleblower in U. S. history.
Most Swiss banks do have a whistleblower program, but they use it to punish those who avail themselves of it.
In the end the Obama administration is not afraid of whistleblowers like me, Bradley Manning or Thomas Drake. We are stateless, imprisoned, or powerless. No, the Obama administration is afraid of you. It is afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised - and it should be.
In the Enron scandal, whistleblower Sherron Watkins is now calling herself Enron Brokovitch. She testified Ken Lay was duped by the other executives. Oh, yeah. When is the last time you got duped and made $100 million?
It is afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised - and it should be.
