Photos by Stephanie Mason.
Jessica Meszaros/Staff Writer
National Security Agency whistleblowers spoke at the University Oct. 24 about their lives after exposing government wrongdoings.
This was the third time the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit organization that protects whistleblowers, came to the University for the American Whistleblower Tour.
“We’ve come here three times. There’s no other university that we’ve been to three times,” said Louis Clark, GAP president and director of its corporate accountability program.
Clark moderated the panel discussion between the whistleblowers- Thomas Drake and Jesselyn Radack.
They were two of four whistleblowers to present the Sam Adams award to whistleblower Edward Snowden who currently has asylum in Russia. Radack is the GAP’s National Security and Human Rights director. She used to work for the Department of Justice as an ethics advisor until she blew the whistle on FBI agents who unlawfully interrogated “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh.
Thomas Drake, the second panelist, was legally represented by Radack after he disclosed documents of a government data collection program that threatened privacy rights of Americans. He was an NSA senior official at the time.
Rochelle Guzman, junior in broadcast media, left with “a lot of respect” for the whistleblowers.
“They do go through a lot and they’re actually trying to help us. They’re trying to help the citizens,” she said.
Clark’s format for moderating the discussion was “to listen and not be scripted.”
“I know the stories very well,” said Clark. “There’s always something more that I know that would be, in some cases, dramatic for people to hear. And so, if I haven’t heard that yet, I’ll follow up with a question until they say it.”
Radack’s answer to one of Clark’s follow-up questions prompted gasps from the audience.
“Now what happened? You said you were investigated on criminal charges and then also the bar charges. What’s the status of that now?” asked Clark.
According to Radack, the criminal investigation closed with no charges brought and she spent more than $100,000 in attorney’s fees.
“I was eventually taken off the ‘no fly’ list around 2009 and the bar case against me closed this summer- 10 years later,” said Radack.
Clark then shifted the conversation over to Thomas Drake. Drake faced 35 years in prison for obstruction of justice.
“Obstruction of justice?” asked Drake. “I cooperated sensibly with the government investigators, including cooperating with the FBI for five months after they raided me on November 28 of 2007.”
All charges were dropped after he agreed to a plea bargain arrangement in June of 2011.
Drake said he took the oath four times to support and defend the Constitution. “It wasn’t about me. It was about the future of our country,” he said.[pullquote] “That’s the reason I blew the whistle.”[/pullquote]
Moses Shumow, professor of journalism and mass communication, has attended all three of the University’s Whistleblower tours.
“It’s a really timely topic for my intro to digital media class,” said Shumow. “Just this week we’ve been talking about privacy, and data sharing and government surveillance, so I can make very easy connections to my own class.”
Journalism senior Virginia Torres reflected on what she learned from the panel discussion.
[pullquote]”Just because it’s the government doesn’t mean it’s the truth,” said Torres. “So you should still try to investigate and get your own truth.”[/pullquote]
Frederick Blevens, professor of journalism and mass communications and coordinator of the Whistleblower Tours, said he is already working with the GAP on next year’s tour.
After the panel discussion, Drake said he was pleased with the audience’s feedback.
“They do care about their future. They do care about what’s happening in this country. And to have that kind of engagement- the very informed questions, as well as the listening. It’s very encouraging. It does give me hope for the future,” Drake said.
– news@fiusm.com
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