A look at the vital role of whistleblowers (2)

The leaks by investigative journalists and the busting of the top secret plots of the U.S. and other western regimes against their own people as well as against other world countries, have been of immense service to world peace and security in averting many catastrophes against humanity, even though the whistleblowers have paid sacrifices with their freedom and at times with their lives, at the hands of Washington in particular.

The following is the second and last part of an article by Jimmysllama, an independent American researcher and writer who provides balanced, critical analysis for MintPress, titled: “A look at the vital role of whistleblowers”.

By protecting whistleblowers, sources, and online activists, we facilitate robust investigative journalism, hold government to account, protect the freedoms of speech, privacy and the press, and foster the most critical component of democratic society: an informed citizenry.”

Radack was inspired to start a nonprofit with fellow attorney Kathleen McClellen that focused on national-security and intelligence whistleblowers who are subject to secrecy agreements and a government with no accountability going after them. She believes that source protection and whistleblower protections are two sides of the same coin and they try to blend a “combination of the legal system, investigative journalism, and technology” to get the best results for their clients: “We are trying to create a safe place and help journalists do their job more safely, help the whistleblowers blow the whistle more safely.”

According to Radack, Julian Assange is in for the long haul and “the fight for his freedom is a marathon, not a sprint.” Over the course of almost a decade, Assange has been arbitrarily detained, including in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for seven years, and is now being held at Belmarsh prison while fighting extradition to the United States. He has been charged with 18 counts under the U.S. Espionage Act for doing exactly what it is that the New York Times and the Washington Post do.

Years of harassment, court cases, and the utter travesty of justice that Assange has faced have had a tremendously negative impact on his health and — according to a report by UN Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer — he’s been subjected to torture for years. Radack says it is “abhorrent that Assange or anyone is being tortured. It flies in the face of justice and undermines any criminal case they have against him.”

But Assange has become such a “polarizing figure” right now that he “low-hanging fruit” not only for the government, but for the corporate media as well, which has made no real concerted effort to push back against the government’s attempts to prosecute a journalist for journalistic practices. That’s deeply disconcerting.

Extraditing and prosecuting Julian Assange is not only a despicable attack on an individual who has brilliantly changed the course of journalism forever (from which corporate media profited), it further puts every single journalist and news outlet in the crosshairs of both the U.S. and foreign governments. If Saudi Arabia feels that a U.S. journalist has violated its state-secret laws, who’s to say that Riyadh can’t request their extradition, which at this point might very well be granted by the Trump administration?

Although it will be a protracted fight, Radack feels that the best outcome for Assange would be for the extradition proceedings to ultimately fail, he’s kept out of U.S. claws and released with the possibility of going home to Australia

As for alleged WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning, who has been imprisoned for over 190 days for refusing to testify in front of a WikiLeaks grand jury, Radack questioned why the government is still holding her since they now have Julian Assange in prison:

The fact that they have Jeremy Hammond in jail and have Chelsea Manning in jail, it makes me suspect or wonder behind the scenes if they’re trying to build an even bigger case against WikiLeaks or against other people who have been WikiLeaks insiders.”

It should be noted that since early 2018 the U.S. government has sought out at least three former WikiLeaks volunteers for questioning, including FBI informant Sigurdur Thordarson, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, and David House. And earlier this month it was reported that the Justice Department was trying to force imprisoned hacktivist Jeremy Hammond to testify.

Needless to say, no other media outlet that has published and profited from WikiLeaks documents, or journalists who have reported on them, have been caught in the government’s crosshairs, which screams that this entire case against Assange is politically motivated. Regardless, any chilling precedent set by prosecuting him can and will likely be used against other journalists in the future who dare to engage in watchdog journalism.

As for Snowden, Radack does see some light at the end of the tunnel and believes that sometime in our lifetime, he will be able to come home. Despite a delayed return, she’s pleased with the fact that he’s been able to participate in “our democratic society” by being able to work, write a book, and head up a press freedom organization. She described him as a bit of “an indoor house cat.”

Generally speaking, whistleblowers do not leak as a career move, as the only personal benefit is their conscience; they usually lose their jobs, relationships, and are put under administrative or criminal investigation and on watch lists. But despite the hurdles that whistleblowers face, Snowden has been able to live a very functional and productive life. Like Thomas Drake and John Kiriakou, “he’s a really good survival story — even if the U.S. throws everything at you, you can still come out on top.”

The biggest challenge that Radack feels she faces today is no longer apathy but rather secrecy, despite the fact that today the internet allows us to have more transparency and access than ever before. But apathy can be driven by secrecy and one of the most important ways to circumvent that is with whistleblowers and journalists willing to publish. She believes that whistleblowing begets more whistleblowers and that courage is indeed contagious. Snowden watched what Thomas Drake did and now Radack is representing a client who saw what Snowden and Manning did.

Overall, there are about twenty national security and intelligence whistleblowers in the United States but that small group of extraordinary individuals has made the greatest impact on what we know today about what the government is actually doing. Not to mention journalists and publishers, like Julian Assange, who have the courage to publish those secrets. These men and women are vital to the democratic process in any country and it’s crucial that we protect rather than persecute them.

Just last night, journalist and Acting Chair of Pirate Parties International (PPI) Bailey Lamon, along with Pirate Parties International Board Member and activist Ray Johansen and Rico Brouwer, announced that they are writing a book with and about whistleblowers aptly titled The Whistleblowers Book of Courage. According to Johansen:

“With this book we want to tell the whole story of what the whistleblower goes through and highlight the courage they have shown through their unselfish acts. The goal is of course to make it even clearer why transparency is important and why whistleblowers must be protected.”

The foreword will be written by Radack and her interview with Brouwer will be used as source material for one of the chapters in the book. Their project is the first of its kind and will undoubtedly become an important asset in the court of public opinion.

AS/ME