National security

Canada slow to protect whistleblowing spies, soldiers

Topics: 
National security, CSIS & CSE, Whistleblowers
Rating: 
0

Amber Hildebrandt – June 17, 2013

Six years after Canada's three most secretive agencies were supposed to set up a way to protect whistleblowers reporting wrongdoing within their ranks, they have finally all complied.

The national security and intelligence departments — the Canadian Forces, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) — were exempted from a whistleblower protection law that came into force for federal government employees in early 2007.

Snitch or hero: Modern whistleblowers still aren’t getting much respect

Topics: 
USA, National security, Whistleblowers
Rating: 
0

Randy Boswell – June 14, 2013

As the world wrestles with the hero-or-traitor conundrum posed by ex-CIA technician Edward Snowden and his bombshell revelations about U.S. government surveillance of citizens’ email and phone traffic, longtime promoters of the whistle-blowing movement — a now-global phenomenon launched by American political activist Ralph Nader in 1971 — are defending the informant ethic as a noble instinct and a crucial check on corruption, corporate malfeasance, excessive secrecy and other abuses of power in modern democracies.

But where some see personal courage and a sterling sense of civic duty on display in the secrecy breach at the U.S. National Security Agency, critics of whistleblowers such as Snowden, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier now on trial for his massive leak of classified American diplomatic dispatches, instead see a betrayal of trust, reckless glory-seeking and even the aiding of terrorists and other “enemies of the state.”

USA NGO statement: Edward Snowden is a whistleblower

Topics: 
USA, National security, Whistleblowers
Rating: 
0
Edward Snowden

Government Accountability Project – June 14, 2013

Recently, the American public learned that the National Security Agency (NSA) has conducted, and continues to conduct, wholesale surveillance of U.S. citizens through a secretive data-mining program.

The program collects the phone records, email exchanges, and internet histories of tens of millions of Americans who would otherwise have no knowledge of the secret program were it not for the disclosures of recent whistleblowers. The latest of these whistleblowers to come forward is former Booz Allen Hamilton federal contractor employee, Edward Snowden.

Manning's US court martial a ruthless gambit to put an end to whistleblowing

Topics: 
USA, National security, Reprisals, Freedom of the press
Rating: 
0

Paul McGeough – June 8, 2013

The Obama administration is going for broke in the case of Bradley Manning, the perpetrator of the biggest leaking of classified documents in US history - but at the end of the first week of the trial, it seems that Washington is flogging a dead horse.

The pint-sized Manning arrives at court some mornings, sandwiched between two seemingly enormous military guards and looking more like a schoolboy being hauled before the headmaster. And arguably he has given the headmaster what he wants - in admitting that he leaked the 700,000-plus diplomatic and military papers, he has pleaded guilty to about half of the charges against him and says he will do 20 years in jail.

'A 007 licence to kill': whistleblowing exemptions dangerous

Topics: 
Australia, Legislation, National security
Rating: 
2

Noel Towell – May 27, 2013

Exemptions from new whistleblowing laws could give Australia's intelligence agencies “a 007 licence to kill” approach, according to one of the nation's leading public sector corruption experts.

And excluding the federal politicians from the legislation is “unjustifiable,” claims the University of Canberra's Howard Whitton. Mr Whitton believes the laws, which are being considered by a parliamentary committee, are too focused on secrecy and not concerned enough with the potential for wrongdoing among secret agents.

Former CSIS watchdog boss arrested in Panama

Topics: 
National security, CSIS & CSE, Corruption
Rating: 
3

May 27, 2013

Police have begun extradition proceedings for the former head of the McGill University Health Centre. Arthur Porter and his wife Pamela were arrested Monday while in Panama, then briefly released before being re-arrested on fraud charges.

The two are currently being detained in a Panama City jailhouse, according to Anne-Frederick Laurence, spokesperson for the Quebec anti-corruption squad known as UPAC. Porter has 15 days to fight his extradition to Canada.

Whistleblower Sentenced to Prison While Torturers He Exposed Walk Free

Topics: 
USA, National security, Whistleblowers, Videos
Rating: 
4
The following are selected extracts

Democracy Now – January 30, 2013

Former CIA agent John Kiriakou speaks out just days after he was sentenced to 30 months in prison, becoming the first CIA official to face jail time for any reason relating to the U.S. torture program.

Under a plea deal, Kiriakou admitted to a single count of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by revealing the identity of a covert officer to a freelance reporter, who did not publish it. Supporters say Kiriakou is being unfairly targeted for having been the first CIA official to publicly confirm and detail the Bush administration’s use of waterboarding.

Ex-Officer Is First From C.I.A. to Face Prison for a Leak

Topics: 
USA, National security, Whistleblowers
Rating: 
4
The following are selected extracts

Scott Shane – January 5, 2013

Looking back, John C. Kiriakou admits he should have known better. But when the F.B.I. called him a year ago and invited him to stop by and “help us with a case,” he did not hesitate.

In his years as a C.I.A. operative, after all, Mr. Kiriakou had worked closely with F.B.I. agents overseas. Just months earlier, he had reported to the bureau a recruiting attempt by someone he believed to be an Asian spy. “Anything for the F.B.I.,” Mr. Kiriakou replied.

A Salute to Bradley Manning, Whistleblower

Topics: 
USA, Whistleblowers, National security
Rating: 
4

Today, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, an organization that I co-founded and of which I'm on the board, has published an audio recording of Bradley Manning's speech to a military court from two weeks ago, in which he gives his reasons and motivations behind leaking over 700,000 government documents to WikiLeaks.

Whoever made this recording, and I don't know who the person is, has done the American public a great service. This marks the first time the American public can hear Bradley Manning, in his own voice explain what he did and how he did it.

US Activists Laud Special Counsel’s Entry into Whistleblower Case

Topics: 
USA, Office of Special Counsel, Watchdogs, National security
Rating: 
4
Carolyn Lerner

Charles S. Clark – March 15, 2013

In a first since passage last November of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, the Office of Special Counsel on Thursday filed an amicus brief challenging a ruling it says would deny federal employees who feel they are unfairly removed from so-called “sensitive” national security positions appropriate recourse. The move was applauded by nonprofit whistleblower advocates’ groups.

Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner, siding with the Merit Systems Protection Board, filed a brief in the U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit, arguing that a Defense Department decision to declare two civilian employees ineligible for positions deemed sensitive, if upheld in court, “would undermine Congress’ repeated efforts to strengthen whistleblower and other good government protections for federal workers.”

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