When whistleblowers have been tried under the Espionage Act, the US government has successfully barred them telling the jury about what it is they are on trial for exposing. It’s clear the US government is afraid of juries hearing about the...
“A prosecution is when you use court proceedings to prosecute a crime. When you misuse judicial institutions to persecute, to silence a dissident who has committed no crime and you’re using the judicial machinery to silence him and to...
This is the story of one of the largest leaks of classified information in US history, leaks which exposed US war crimes and other abuses of power. From 2010 to 2011, WikiLeaks worked with media the world over, to publish the Collateral Murder...
The prosecution of Julian Assange marks the first time a publisher of truthful information has been indicted under the Espionage Act. In the first of a series of episodes exploring what WikiLeaks exposed and the lengths the US government went to...
Those in the drone program have witnessed first hand the serious human costs of the US’s global assassinations program. For years, veterans of the drone program have worked to alert the public to the realities of the drone warfare. The...
“There’s been one systemic process of lying throughout the Afghan War. From the Bush Administration to the Obama Administration to the Trump Administration it has just been systemic lying from the American government about the war...
After September 11, 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency, with the approval of President George W. Bush, began a highly classified program of renditions and torture. While torture violates both US and international law, President Obama declined to...
Thomas Drake swore an oath to defend the US Constitution on multiple occasions. His fidelity to that oath put him on a collision course with his employer, the National Security Agency. Drake assisted in an inspector general complaint concerning a...
Jeffrey Sterling has described himself as an unwanted spy. In the early 2000s, he attempted to take the CIA on over its racial discrimination against him. Citing the state secrets doctrine, his case was never considered on its merits. Later, he...
Attorney Jesselyn Radack has been at the forefront of opposing the government’s War on Whistleblowers. She has represented numerous clients indicted under the Espionage Act, including Edward Snowden, Daniel Hale, Thomas Drake, and John...
Passed during World War I, the Espionage Act was President Woodrow Wilson’s “firm hand of repression” that he used to silence antiwar voices. Touted as a law against spies and saboteurs, the Espionage Act has in fact been a tool to...
When The New York Times published the Pentagon Papers it sparked one of the greatest battles for press freedom in US history. In an unprecedented move, the Nixon administration sought to bar The New York Times from publishing further. The...
Daniel Ellsberg is the most iconic whistleblower in US history. On our inaugural episode, he joins host Chip Gibbons for an in-depth conversation. On the 50th anniversary of the Pentagon Papers release, Ellsberg explains how the top secret history...
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