On June 26th, National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Reality Winner pleaded guilty in federal court, agreeing to 63 months in prison in plea agreement for a single charge of espionage. Winner’s case has made national headlines throughout the past year after she was arrested in June 2017 for leaking NSA documents regarding a Russian hack in the 2016 election to a news outlet. Ms. Winner was arrested under the Espionage Act, a federal law that was created for spies, not whistleblowers.
Continue Reading Is the Proposed Sentence for NSA Whistleblower Reality Winner Too Harsh?
Intelligence Community Whistleblower Ombudsman Fired
Intelligence community whistleblower ombudsman Dan Meyer has been fired. This is a disturbing and problematic move. It is particularly surprising, or perhaps cynically appropriate, that this occurred shortly after members of the intelligence community (IC) met with whistleblower rights organizations earlier this month.Continue Reading Intelligence Community Whistleblower Ombudsman Fired
National Security Whistleblowers: Systemic Failures and Broken Promises Exposed in Leaked Report
Over the weekend the Daily Beast reported on a leaked draft investigative report that exposed the systemic failures in the flawed intelligence community whistleblower program. According to this report, late last year the Trump Administration put a lid on the finalization of an investigation of the whistleblower program failures by the Inspector General for all intelligence agencies.
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NWC Condemns Removal of Intelligence Community Whistleblower Advocate
Washington, D.C. December 14, 2017. According to a report today by Foreignpolicy.com, the Executive Director of Intelligence Community Whistleblowing and Source Protection, Dan Meyer, has been removed from his position and faces an internal “tribunal” that will determine his final employment status. Meyer was placed on administrative leave and escorted from the Intelligence Agency Building in late November.
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House Intel Claim that Snowden Had Whistleblower Protection Is False and Misleading
In a brief 3-page report dated September 15, 2016, the House Intelligence Committee concluded that Edward Snowden “was not a whistleblower” because there were “laws and regulations in effect at the time” that “afforded him protection” and he failed to exercise those whistleblower rights. The Committee report specifically cited the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act of 1998 (IC WPA) that does permit employees, like Snowden, to make disclosures of wrongdoing to Congress if certain other conditions are met.
Continue Reading House Intel Claim that Snowden Had Whistleblower Protection Is False and Misleading