How the Pentagon punished NSA whistleblowers

May 22, 2016 10:08 AM

Long before Edward Snowden went public, John Crane was a top Pentagon official fighting to protect NSA whistleblowers. Instead their lives were ruined – and so was his.

• Snowden calls for whistleblower shield after claims by new Pentagon source
  • Accusations that Pentagon retaliated against a whistleblower undermine argument that there were options for Snowden other than leaking to the media
• Pentagon source goes on record against whistleblower program

posted by cosmic.osmo (15 comments total)

If there isn't oversight over the intelligence agencies, they'll end up running the country. An if we don't know what they're doing, there can't ever be oversight.
posted by Mitrovarr at 10:24 AM on May 22, 2016 [11 favorites]

Interesting comment by Carne Ross on the SIDtoday release
posted by jeffburdges at 11:44 AM on May 22, 2016

Whenever I see these stories, my first thought is, "Why the FUCK do I have to read about this in a British newspaper?"
posted by atchafalaya at 12:09 PM on May 22, 2016 [12 favorites]

This shit is, in some ways, far scarier than the Trump sideshow, and there doesn't seem to be anyone in the political mainstream who is on the right side of this issue. In my darkest moments I wonder if there's a very compelling reason for this.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
posted by leotrotsky at 12:11 PM on May 22, 2016 [6 favorites]

I've said it before, hoarding all of this power in the executive branch is going to give us all a very bad time when a less-benevolent despot enters office (Trump is a prime example). It's time to start devolving a lot of this power to preclude the quadrennial collective pants-shitting that occurs every time the Republican party digs up a scarier, angrier guy to run as their candidate.
posted by indubitable at 1:52 PM on May 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

Mod note: NOT AN ELECTION THREAD
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 2:28 PM on May 22, 2016 [4 favorites]

We've a gradual shift towards organizational despotism so that the shift continues no matter who wins the elections. As an example, it'll become common practice for intelligence agencies to spy on and blackmail politicians in the not too distant future, if it hasn't become so already.

We need many more Snowdens who get away with mass whistleblowing by fleeing the country. All these whistleblowers won't fix anything directly because the mass media will continue ignoring the stories as best the can. Yet, there is hope that enough leaks means government organizations cannot trust anyone, or even make particularly informed decisions, exactly as Assange proposed in Conspiracy as Governance.
posted by jeffburdges at 3:17 PM on May 22, 2016 [2 favorites]

We need more FPPs on Americans who've fled the country :
- I won a big FOIA victory, and all I got was this stupid police state by Vera Wilde
- FBI harassment by Tor developer @IsisLovecruft (CNN, boingboing, techdirt)

If anyone wants to make that post on these, one possible lead would be around "others are now preemptively publishing about being threatened with subpoena" as that's one relatively straight forward thing people can do.
posted by jeffburdges at 3:45 PM on May 22, 2016 [4 favorites]

The Definitive Guide To Decoding Washington’s Anonymous Sources
posted by jeffburdges at 4:27 AM on May 23, 2016

It's so weird how any thread about Snowden sees a song-that-never-ends about how Snowden should've gone through appropriate channels. I wonder if we'll hear that refrain again?

I've been saying it for a couple years, but it turns out "flee to Russia" was the proper channel.
posted by turntraitor at 9:18 AM on May 23, 2016

"Well, of course you'd say that, turntraitor," I say as I prepare to gargle a bowl of liquefied pork fat.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 10:59 AM on May 23, 2016

I think fleeing the country has always been the proper channels. It's true modern asylum treaties worry about ordinary people fleeing war, and persecuted minorities, but historically asylum laws were to protect notable people fleeing their own countries due to their past speech, acts, etc.
posted by jeffburdges at 1:25 PM on May 23, 2016

Vindication for Edward Snowden From a New Player in NSA Whistleblowing Saga
posted by homunculus at 12:02 PM on May 26, 2016

Whistle-Blower, Beware by Mark Hertsgaardmay

Also What I Have Learned Being in Prison These Last Six Years by Chelsea Manning
posted by jeffburdges at 9:48 AM on May 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Pentagon Whistleblower John Crane: "I Was Inspired by My Grandfather's Stand Against Hitler"
posted by homunculus at 5:32 PM on May 29, 2016 [1 favorite]