From Watergate to Monicagate, many of our nation’s biggest political scandals would never have come to light were it not for whistleblowers who chose to come forward with what they knew. The following five individuals are some of the most famous whistleblowers of our time.
Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Daniel Ellsberg was a U.S. military analyst employed by RAND Corporation and the Department of Defense in the 1960s and 1970s. While at RAND Corporation, Ellsberg worked on the top secret McNamara study of U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam, 1945-68, later known as the Pentagon Papers. Among other things, the 7,000-page document showed that the government knew the Vietnam War could not be won with current resources. In 1971, after failed attempts to persuade some Senators to release the papers to the Senate, Ellsberg released them to The New York Times and other news outlets. Ellsberg was charged with espionage, theft, and conspiracy and faced a sentence of 115 years in prison. Charges against him were ultimately dropped due to government misconduct and illegal evidence gathering.
Edward Snowden and NSA Spying
Former CIA employee and government contractor Edward Snowden rose to international prominence in 2013 when he fled to Hong Kong with thousands of classified documents showing that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) was conducting extensive surveillance and collecting the phone records of millions of American citizens. Snowden disclosed these documents to journalists, resulting in several prominent new outlets reporting on the NSA’s global surveillance programs. The leaked documents also implicated British and Australian intelligence agencies. The U.S. Department of Justice charged Snowden with espionage and theft of government property. Before he could be tried, Snowden fled to Moscow. Russia granted Snowden temporary asylum, and he is reportedly now living in an undisclosed location while seeking asylum in another country.
Deep Throat and Watergate
In 1972, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post ran a story alleging that Richard Nixon’s administration was involved in a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C. Information underlying the story came from a secret government employee identified only as Deep Throat. The break-in and the subsequent attempts to cover it up turned into a major political scandal that culminated in Nixon’s resignation from office. In 2005, after more than 30 years and much speculation, Mark Felt, a former FBI special agent, admitted to Vanity Fair that he was Deep Throat, the anonymous whistleblower behind the Watergate scandal. Felt died of heart failure in 2008.
Linda Tripp and the Lewinsky Scandal
In 1998, in perhaps the nation’s biggest political sex scandal, President Bill Clinton engaged in a sexual relationship with 22-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Linda Tripp, a coworker and confidant of Lewinsky’s, began secretly recording conversations with Lewinksy on the advice of a literary agent after learning of Lewinsky’s relationship with the President. After hearing that Lewinsky had denied having a relationship with Clinton in a sworn affidavit in the sexual harassment case of Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state employee under Clinton, Tripp turned the tapes over to Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr in exchange for immunity from prosecution. When Clinton later denied having a sexual relationship with Lewinsky on national television, Starr used the tapes to support charges of perjury against Clinton. The President was subsequently impeached but later acquitted.
Chelsea Manning and WikiLeaks
Born Bradley Manning, Chelsea Manning is a former U.S. Army soldier who was convicted of espionage and other offenses in 2013 for disclosing hundreds of thousands of classified and sensitive military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks, a disclosure portal designed to disseminate information obtained from whistleblowers. A former military intelligence analyst, Manning had access to classified databases containing sensitive information regarding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, including the leaked videos of airstrikes, diplomatic cables, Army reports, and information on Guantanamo detainees. Manning was dishonorably discharged from the Army and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
At Kreindler & Associates, we assist potential whistleblowers in coming forward with evidence of all kinds of fraud, from improper healthcare billing to tax improprieties. If you have suspicions of wrongdoing that you are contemplating disclosing, contact us today for a consultation on your rights and options as a whistleblower.
