The hate for whistleblowers so prevalent in Democratic circles is disturbing. [View all]

[cali]

Put aside Julian Assange if you can, and focus on the bigger picture.

The federal government is at war with whistleblowers. Trying to hold government accountable for malfeasances is nigh on impossible under the law.

Consider the case of Jeffrey Sterling, for example.

Locked away in federal prison, Jeffrey Sterling is struggling to keep his demons at bay. The former CIA officer whose case came to signify the Obama administration’s crackdown on leakers spends his days reading, tutoring fellow inmates and finishing a memoir, which he says he has to write by hand and mail home so his wife can type it.

“There is no sugarcoating it for me,” Sterling said. “I’m in prison.”

Sterling said he wants the public to know that he has “survived with my head held high.” But he concedes that he feels low on some days. He was a CIA officer, helping run an operation to sabotage Iranian plans to design a nuclear weapon. Now he’s Inmate No. 38338-044 in Englewood, Colo., taking classes on checking and saving accounts to help increase his chances of eventually being released to a halfway house.

“I am doing my best,” he wrote in a recent message, “to hang on.”

Much more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/02/21/he-was-fired-from-the-cia-and-jailed-for-a-leak-now-hes-trying-to-hang-on/?utm_term=.6d2aa527370a

Whistleblowing protections in the U.S. are weak. Whistleblowing within a department of government is often akin to the police policing itself: there's motive to protect the agency in question.

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The US Supreme Court has stripped whistleblower protections for most government workers. Garcetti v. Ceballos is a decision that indicates that first amendment protection for free speech does not apply to situations that fall within the scope of the job description associated with the employment of each individual government worker. The Supreme Court decision means that government management may discipline government employees that disclose crime and incompetence under certain circumstances.

Job related functions are supposed to be disclosed to management by grievance (usually through the union), to the Inspector General, to the [Office of Special Council], to appointed officials, or to elected officials. This is counterproductive when the employer has violated the law, and agencies responsible for enforcement actions are often not funded.

<snip>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower_protection_in_the_United_States

On Leak Prosecutions, Obama Takes it to 11. (Or Should We Say 526?)

https://www.aclu.org/blog/leak-prosecutions-obama-takes-it-11-or-should-we-say-526

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/16/whistleblowers-double-standard-obama-david-petraeus-chelsea-manning


http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-money/2016/08/blowback-for-sec-from-whistleblower-215963

http://www.cjr.org/opinion/donald_trump_hacking_nsa_russia_snowden.php

The hypocrisy of applauding whistleblowers in Republican administrations and demonizing them under Democratic ones, leads us in a dangerous direction.