Where Whistleblowers End Up Working

HughPickens.com writes Jana Kasperkevic writes at The Guardian that it's not every day that you get to buy an iPhone from an ex-NSA officer. Yet Thomas Drake, former senior executive at National Security Agency, is well known in the national security circles for leaking information about the NSA's Trailblazer project to Baltimore Sun. In 2010, the government dropped all 10 felony charges against him and he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for unauthorized use of a computer and lost his livelihood. "You have to mortgage your house, you have to empty your bank account. I went from making well over $150,000 a year to a quarter of that," says Drake. "The cost alone, financially — never mind the personal cost — is approaching million dollars in terms of lost income, expenses and other costs I incurred."

John Kiriakou became the first former government official to confirm the use of waterboarding against al-Qaida suspects in 2009. "I have applied for every job I can think of – everything from grocery stores to Toys R Us to Starbucks. You name it, I've applied there. Haven't gotten even an email or a call back," says Kiriakou. According to Kasperkevic, this is what most whistleblowers can expect. The potential threat of prosecution, the mounting legal bills and the lack of future job opportunities all contribute to a hesitation among many to rock the boat. "Obama and his attorney general, Eric Holder, declared a war on whistleblowers virtually as soon as they assumed office," says Kiriakou. "Washington has always needed an "ism" to fight against, an idea against which it could rally its citizens like lemmings. First, it was anarchism, then socialism, then communism. Now, it's terrorism. Any whistleblower who goes public in the name of protecting human rights or civil liberties is accused of helping the terrorists."

Comments

Re:Exact Opposite of the Obama Campaign Message

[Anonymous Coward]

And whistleblowers were persecuted more harshly than ever:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-van-buren/silencing-whistleblowers_b_4895847.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/26/obama-whistleblower-website_n_3658815.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-ditz/obama-insider-threat_b_3588818.html

And this is a joke:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/07/obama-whistleblowers_n_5564965.html

It encourages whistleblowers to voice their concerns through channels instead of leaks.
Well duh! Of course these people tried that, the whole thing is that channels only want to keep the reality of how shitty things are hidden.
That's why they are force to leak information..
This is why we need something like WikiLeaks, so information can be leaked anonymously. That will make it much harder for 'channels' to keep things hidden.

Re:Obama declared a war on whistleblowers?

[hsmith]

The Obama Admin has prosecuted more whistleblowers than all former administrations combined AFAIK. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/obama-whistleblower-prosecutions-press_n_3091137.html

Re:Exact Opposite of the Obama Campaign Message

[CrimsonAvenger]

Obama vowed to improve government transparency and protecting whistle blowers.

Obama has also prosecuted more whistleblowers than all other Administrations combined. Last count I saw was seven by Obama, three by all previous Presidents.

Yes, I know that Obama isn't the one issuing the orders to prosecute. But he IS the one who can issue the order to stop prosecuting them....

more info on Kiriakou

[nimbius]

Kiriakou was sentenced to 30 months in prison after he pled guilty to a felony. in america its important to distinguish misdemeanors and felonies as most employers dont care about the former. Misdemeanors are traffic citations or DUI first offense and many are willing to overlook them in white-collar professions. a felony however is a different matter. Felonies in the US ban you in many states from public assistance like food stamps or government housing assistance. a felony can get you apartment application rejected, you car insurance increased, your credit rating destroyed, and will (despite what you were convicted of) destroy your life forever. If you want to buy a home, most homeowners associations will categorically deny the sale if you have a prior felony conviction. Felons cant hold politcal office, and are often subject to very strict mandatory parole terms imposed after their sentence for up to a year or more. Whats worse is most prisons also require you to pay restitution for their "services" and while a misdemeanor is often expungeable from your criminal record, a felony is not. Prior felony convictions in many states cannot be served at bars, and may be forbidden from owning a firearm. Kiriakou isnt being punished for "helping the terrorists." Hes just learning what its like to live in americas untouchable caste, a scarlet letter that affects more than 5 million americans currently.

Nor was she prosecuted

[glennrrr]

Or for that matter inconvenienced in any particular way. And Richard Armitage, the person who outed her as a former field operative wasn't punished that I'm aware.

Re:Obligatory quote/s

[Rei]

As it happens, Russia is crafting whistleblower protections right now:

Hahahaha!
Stop it, you're killing me!
All too funny.

Russia hardly even tries any more to pretend that their media isn't a bunch of scripted reports with paid actors or that they're remotely a free, fair democracy. Heck, in the last election, Chechnya had 99.59% turnout with 99.82% voting for the "Butcher of Grozny". Some precincts were apparently so eager to vote for him that they had 107% turnout. Really impressive on Putin's part! ;) It's amazing that they can still find useful idiots like you to defend them.