Whistleblowing

Future of national security whistleblowing at stake in US inquiry

...A powerful new insider account undermines the idea that the inspector general’s office offers whistleblowers a safe route. John Crane supervised the whistleblower-protection unit of the Pentagon inspector general, which has oversight responsibility for defense department components such as the National Security Agency. His story, told at length in Mark Hertsgaard’s powerful new book Bravehearts: Whistle-Blowing in the Age of Snowden, suggests that an office meant to aid whistleblowing can put whistleblowers in danger.

This is someone who was deep inside the system who says the system failed. Much of the book deals with the case of Thomas Drake, an NSA employee more senior than Snowden, who became concerned after 9/11 over warrantless surveillance and took his concerns to the inspector-general’s office. Crane’s suspicion is that instead of protecting Drake, as his office should have done, Drake’s identity was passed to the justice department.