Top 10 Whistleblowers of History -
Whistleblower is a person who informs a person or organization engaged in illegal activity. This means that someone who will inform the public about the illegal activities carried out by organizations or well-known personality. According to some analysts, the Panama papers is the largest leak in all whistleblower history that was passed in early April 2016 news broke and became the most talked about issue of journalists and other media organization. Unlike in the past, there were whistleblowers who had names appeared on the same issue, there is no one to ask about Panama documents because the person who did not yield information has no name and will show publicly. Maybe because he thinks that there is no such thing as Whistleblower . As we speak whistleblowers and leaks, let us go back and recall some of the biggest whistleblowers in 'history.
John Paul Vann, United States Army in 1963
John Paul Vann is an American colonel during Vietnam war who reported to his superiors that the policy and the US tactics had serious shortcomings, and later went to the press with her concerns. He was asked to resign, and he did, but later he returned to Vietnam.
Ernest Fitzgerald, United States Department of Defense in 1973
There is an auditor of the US Department of Defense who was fired in 1973 by President Richard M. Nixon to explain to Congress the tidal wave of cost overruns associated with the C-5A cargo plane Lockheed. After long trial, he was reinstated in the public service and continued to report cost overruns and fraud military contractor, including the discovery in the 1980s that the Air Force was being charged $ 400 for hammers and $ 0 toilet seat. He retired from the Department of Defense in 2016.
Mordechai Vanunu, Israel's nuclear weapons program in 1986
He revealed the program clandestine nuclear Israel to the British press. He spent seventeen years and a half in prison as a result, the first eleven of these in isolation. After his release, the sanctions were placed on him, among others, he was not allowed to leave Israel or speak to foreigners. The sanctions were renewed every twelve months. Currently, he uses a new six-month prison sentence imposed by an Israeli court for talking to foreigners and the foreign press.
Jeffrey Wigand, Brown and Williamson 1996
he was the vice president of research and development at Brown tobacco company & Williamson and recently was fired when he said on the CBS news program 60 minutes that the company intentionally manipulated the level of nicotine in addicted smokers to cigarette smoke. He also says he was harassed and received anonymous death threats. The film about him called The Insider was portrayed by Russell Crowe in 1999.
Karen Kwiatkowski , United States Air Force 00
She was a lieutenant colonel retired from the US Air Force who worked as a desk officer in the Pentagon and in a number of roles in the National Security Agency. She has written a number of essays on corrupting political influences of military intelligence leading to Invasio n of Iraq in 03, and said she was the source anonymous for Seymour Hersh and Warren Strobel on their exhibits intelligence before the war.
Robert MacLean, United States Transportation Security Administration in 03
is Federal Air Marshal US that exposed the agency plan wide TSA Federal marshals to remove air direct, long-distance flights for two months to avoid spending on air marshals hotel accommodation overnight. The plan was developed in response to a budget deficit because of overspending. The plan was made three days after the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a notice which warned the airline industry and the enforcement of a suicide hijacking plot in which terrorists immigration could exploit the US and the airport security breaches. After the outrage of US Senators Hillary Clinton, Charles Schumer, Barbara Boxer, and Carolyn Maloney MP, the TSA plan was canceled before becoming operational. He was fired after DHS found that he revealed the plan.
Justin Hopson, New Jersey State Police, 07
He witnessed arrest and illegal false report of his training officer during his first days as a rookie New Jersey State Trooper. He was subjected to hazing and harassment by hi other soldiers when he refused to testify in support of the illegal arrest. He discovered evidence of a secret society within the State Police known as the Lords of Discipline, whose mission was to keep other soldiers in the line. Trooper Hopson denounced on the Lords of Discipline, which triggered the largest internal investigation in the history of the State Police. Hopson has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that after refusing to support the arrest, Hopson was physically assaulted, received threatening notes, and her car was vandalized during the service. In 07, the State of New Jersey agreed to a settlement of $ 400,000 with Hopson. Justin Hopson and his book have been featured on ABC News 20/20 "Confessions of a Cop" in 2012 and "Crossing the Line" in 2014.
Chelsea Manning, United States Army in 2010
Chelsea Manning was an analyst at the US Army Intelligence who released the largest set of classified documents published by WikiLeaks and mainly media partners. These materials included video of the July 12, 07 air raid in Baghdad and air strikes in Granai in 09. There were 250,000 US diplomatic cables and 500,000 reports of the army who came to be known as war journals Iraq and Afghan war logs. He was convicted of violating the Espionage Act and other offenses and sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Silver Meikar, Estonian Reform Party 2012
May 2012 Silver Meikar published an article, admitting that he had donated money to the Estonian Reform Party in 09 and 2010, which was came from unknown sources and given him by co-politician Kalev Lillo. According to a proposal made by Kristen Michal, Secretary General of the Reform Party. The scandal became known as Silvergate. Lillo and Michal were presented with criminal charges. After a long and heated debate in the media, the charges were dropped because it was not possible to gather sufficient evidence. October 24, 2012, Meikar was expelled from the party. Therefore, Kristen Michal resigned as minister of justice.
Edward Snowden , National Security Agency in 2013
is a professional American computer who copied disclosed classified information of the national security Agency in 2013 without prior authorization. He was hired by Booz Allen Hamilton, an NSA contractor. On 20 May 2013, Edward Snowden flew to Hong Kong after leaving his job in an NSA facility in Hawaii and in early June 2013, he revealed thousands of classified documents from the NSA journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Ewen MacAskill. He came to international attention after stories based on material published in The Guardian and The Washington Post. Other information has been made by other newspapers, including Der Spiegel and The New York Times
These are our top ten list whistleblowers in history.
Source: wikipedia.org