OMNI
NATIONAL WHISTLEBLOWER’S DAY
NEWSLETTER #11, JULY 30, 2021.
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace and Justice
(#1 Oct. 21, 2011; #2 Dec. 12, 2011; #3 January 31, 2012; #4 Sept. 12, 2012; $5, March 29, 2013; #6, May 22, 2013; #7 June 24, 2013; #8 July 30, 2013; #9 July 30, 2014; #10, July 30, 2019).
NOTE: FOR EIGHT NUMBERS THIS NEWSLETTER ON WHISTLEBLOWERS WAS PUBLISHED PERIODICALLY. Beginning with #8 IT WAS STILL PUBLISHED OCCASIONALLY BUT ON (AT PRESENT the PROPOSED) NATIONAL WHISTLEBLOWER’S DAY, JULY 30. SEE EXPLANATION in #9).
OMNI’s endowed fund at UA’s Mullins Library for the purchase of books and films on Victims includes whistleblowers and leakers-- true heroes, real valor.
CONTENTS
Chris Hedges, Essays on Daniel Hale, “The Price of conscience” and “Bless the Traitors”
Radio Panel, Julian Assange
Mark Hertsgaard, Bravehearts: Whistle-Blowers in the Age of Snowden
Arkansas Whistle-Blower Law
TEXTS
DANIEL HALE
[VFP-all] Hedges: “The Price of Conscience “- scheerpost.com
to vfpall, vfpaction | Jul 27, 2021, 8:28 PM (12 hours ago) |
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https://scheerpost.com/2021/07/27/hedges-the-price-of-conscience/
Hedges: The Price of Conscience
By Chris Hedges / Original to ScheerPost
Daniel Hale, a former intelligence analyst in the drone program for the Air Force who as a private contractor in 2013 leaked some 17 classified documents about drone strikes to the press, was sentenced today to 45 months in prison.
The documents, published by The Intercept on October 15, 2015, exposed that between January 2012 and February 2013, US special operations airstrikes killed more than 200 people. Of those, only 35 were the intended targets. For one five-month period of the operation, according to the documents, nearly 90 percent of the people killed in airstrikes were not the intended targets. The civilian dead, usually innocent bystanders, were routinely classified as “enemies killed in action.”
The Justice Department coerced Hale, who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012, on March 31 to plead guilty to one count of violating the Espionage Act, a law passed in 1917 designed to prosecute those who passed on state secrets to a hostile power, not those who expose to the public government lies and crimes. Hale admitted as part of the plea deal to “retention and transmission of national security information” and leaking 11 classified documents to a journalist. If he had refused the plea deal, he could have spent 50 years in prison.
The sentencing of Hale is one more potentially mortal blow to the freedom of the press. It follows in the wake of the prosecutions and imprisonment of other whistleblowers under the Espionage Actincluding Chelsea Manning, Jeffrey Sterling, Thomas Drake and John Kiriakou, who spent two-and-a-half years in prison for exposing the routine torture of suspects held in black sites. Those charged under the act are treated as if they were spies. They are barred from explaining motivations and intent to the court. They cannot provide evidence to the court of the government lawlessness and war crimes they exposed. Prominent human rights organizations, such as the ACLU and PEN, along with mainstream publications, such as The New York Times and CNN, have largely remained silent about the prosecution of Hale. The group Stand with Daniel Hale has called on President Biden to pardon Hale and end the use of the Espionage Act to punish whistleblowers. It is also collecting donations for Hale’s legal fund. The bipartisan onslaught against the press — Barack Obama used the Espionage Act eight times against whistleblowers, more than all other previous administrations combined — by criminalizing those within the system who seek to inform the public is ominous for our democracy. It is effectively extinguishing all investigations into the inner workings of power.
Daniel Hale. Screenshot from “National Bird” documentary film.
MORE https://scheerpost.com/2021/07/27/hedges-the-price-of-conscience/
To read more about Daniel Hale and his crucial role as a whistleblower, see Chris Hedges’ July 12 article, “Bless the Traitors.”
[Chris Hedges writes a regular original column for ScheerPost. Click here to sign up for email alerts.]
Copyright 2021 Chris Hedges
Nate Goldshlag nateg@pobox.com
Arlington, MA https://www.veteransforpeace.org
For several years I subscribed to COVERTACTION MAGAZINE, and then somehow lost the connection, so am pleased to have stumbled upon it today. Dick
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Bravehearts: Whistle-Blowing in the Age of Snowden by Mark Hertsgaard.
· Details
Whistleblowers pay with their lives to save ours. When insiders like former NSA analyst Edward Snowden or ex-FBI agent Coleen Rowley or Big Tobacco truth-teller Jeffrey Wigand blow the whistle on high-level lying, lawbreaking or other wrongdoing—whether it's government spying, corporate murder or scientific scandal—the public benefits enormously. Wars are ended, deadly products are taken off the market, white-collar criminals are sent to jail. The whistleblowers themselves, however, generally end up ruined. Nearly all of them lose their jobs—and in many cases their marriages and their health—as they refuse to back down in the face of increasingly ferocious official retaliation. That moral stubbornness despite terrible personal cost is the defining DNA of whistleblowers. The public owes them more than we know.
In Bravehearts, Hertsgaard tells the gripping, sometimes darkly comic and ultimately inspiring stories of the unsung heroes of our time. A deeply reported, impassioned polemic, Bravehearts is a book for citizens everywhere—especially students, teachers, activists and anyone who wants to make a difference in the world around them.
Below is a sample of some of the coverage the book has already received:
* BBC World Service, Newshour, (43 million listeners), May 26, 2016 (story runs from 26 minutes, 15 seconds to 34:55).
* New York Times, “Op-Ed Page,” May 26, 2016.
* KQED (Bay Area NPR affiliate), Forum, May 25, 2016.
* Democracy Now!, national radio and TV program, May 23, 2016.
* And the scoop that started it all: The Guardian, May 22, 2016.
* And the accompanying Guardian news story reporting Snowden’s reaction to the scoop:
The Guardian, May 22, 2016.
* And a video interview with John Crane, GAP client and Pentagon whistleblower who comes forward for the first time in Bravehearts.
* Finally, The Nation will very soon publish an excerpt from Bravehearts, which will be posted to Mr. Hertsgaard's website.
You can buy the book, preferrably at your local independent book shop, or via the HotBooks/Skyhorse website,here!
HOLD THIS ON ARKANSAS FOR A LATER NEWSLETTER
Today’s AD-G has a report, “Sheriff’s Office Employee Resigns,” in which the subject, Lt. Holt, claims to be supported by “the states whistleblower law.” D
Arkansas Whistleblower Law Google Search 10-5-19
The Basics of Arkansas Whistleblower Protections
State law protects public-sector whistleblowers who report waste or violation of law to the proper authorities, and also protects private-sector whistleblowers who participate in investigations or testify against their employer.
The Basics of Arkansas Whistleblower Protections State law protects public-sector whistleblowers who report waste or violation of law to the proper authorities, and also protects private-sector whistleblowers who participate in investigations or testify against their employer.
Subchapter 6 - Arkansas Whistle-Blower Act ... - Justia Law
https://law.justia.com › codes › arkansas › title-21 › chapter-1 › subchapter...
2014 Arkansas Code Title 21 - Public Officers and Employees Chapter 1 - General Provisions Subchapter 6 - Arkansas Whistle-Blower Act. § 21-1-601 - Title.
Questions about filing a whistleblower or retaliation claim in Arkansas? ... Common law protections, on the other hand, tend to "fill the gaps" where no statute ...
Supreme Court deals another blow to whistleblower act ...
https://arktimes.com › Arkansas Blog
May 30, 2019 - The Arkansas Supreme Court today dismissed a complaint by a former ... of that protection in the whistleblower law was unconstitutional.
State Supreme Court does away with state Whistle-Blower Act ...
https://arktimes.com › Arkansas Blog
Apr 12, 2018 - In a 5-2 decision today, the Arkansas Supreme Court neutered the ... In January, the Supreme Court ruled that the legislature could not pass laws waiving .... try to amend the Constitution to add the WhistleBlowers protections.
Arkansas Law Targets Workplace Whistleblowers
https://www.courthousenews.com › arkansas-law-targets-workplace-whistle...
Mar 24, 2017 - LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (CN) – The governor of Arkansas signed a law Thursday that gives employers the authority to sue whistleblowers who ...
Act. For more ... manpower or a violation of law; participates, or gives information, in an.
355.1 Whistleblower Policy - University of Arkansas System
https://www.uasys.edu › board-policy
Oct 13, 2017 - The University is committed to compliance with the laws and ... are in violation of law as defined in Arkansas and federal whistleblower laws. III.
Series 2
#1 May 18, 2015 http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2015/05/whistleblowers-and-leakers-newsletter.html
#2 Aug. 6, 2016 http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2016/08/whistleblowers-and-leakers-newsletter.html
#3 Dec. 13, 2018 https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2018/12/whistleblower-newsletter-series-2-3.html
#4 Oct. 3, 2019 https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2019/10/whistleblowers-and-leakers-newsletter-4.html
#5 May 9, 2021 https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2021/05/whistleblowers-and-leakers-newsletter.html
CONTENTS OF #10, July 30, 2019
https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2019/08/whistleblowerleakers-day-newsletter-10.html
HELP WHISTLEBLOWERS
Thomas Drake and John Kiriakou—Roots Action
Jeffrey Sterling—Roots Action
Daniel Hale—The Intercept, Truthout
GOOGLE SEARCH
NEWSLETTER #9 http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2014/07/whistleblower-newsletter-9.html
END NATIONAL WHISTLEBLOWER’S DAY #11, JULY 30, 2021