The Fight for Whistleblower Protection

When Edward Snowden decided to leak information about NSA surveillance programs, the United States government turned on him. His passport was revoked, the U.S. Department of Justice pressed charges against him, and he was forced to flee to Moscow to seek asylum. The information that Snowden revealed was regarding a global surveillance program run by the NSA, which collected vast amounts of data from people around the world, in cooperation with some major technology companies. The revelation raised concerns about internet privacy and created a major uproar, as the information was gathered without the knowledge of the people. Some of the loudest voices decrying the program were Angela Merkel (the German Chancellor) and Dilma Rousseff (at the time, the Brazilian President), both of whom had phone calls monitored by the NSA.In modern times, government whistleblowers are more important than ever, as technology becomes increasingly intertwined with the government. The information released by Snowden prompted a much-needed debate about surveillance and even led to Barack Obama, the president at the time, working to reform the NSA. It made the public more aware of the possibility of their data being gathered and more eager for internet privacy laws. Exposing corrupt practices can help bring accountability to governments and large companies, and can create greater transparency in the future, however, the whistleblower can have a lot to lose. Often, as in the case of Chelsea Manning, incarceration can be the result of leaking information. Other whistleblowers have been labeled as traitors, lost their jobs, and in extreme cases, been forced to flee the country. The consequences can discourage people from coming forward with information. While some laws and organizations exist to protect them, coming forward is still far from safe. For instance, the Ukraine whistleblower, one of the latest to come forward with government information, has become the center of a media storm. President Trump himself has called for their identity to be exposed and called their claims “just another Democrat hoax.” While whistleblowers in the private sector are protected under the First Amendment from retaliation by their employer, government whistleblowers are not. In a 2006 Supreme Court case, it was ruled that when government officials act as whistleblowers, they are not able to be counted as citizens. Therefore, they may be subject to being fired or demoted. Organizations such as the National Whistleblower Center (NWC) advocate for whistleblowers in the private sector as well as in government jobs. They have worked with Congress to help draft legislation to protect them and have represented them in court. Despite the presence of groups like the NWC, whistleblower protection still has a long way to go before they are fully safe.