Whistleblowers who work with classified information have a few options. All of them are bad.
Become a Video Lab member!
“Whistleblowing” is when someone exposes a secret in their organization. And in the US, it’s often hailed as a heroic act. But within the government, whistleblowing is often perilous—especially when it involves classified information.
If a whistleblower goes to the media with classified information, that’s illegal. And since the Obama administration, it’s become common for the government to prosecute people who do it by charging them under a law from 1917 that was originally intended to prosecute spies for helping foreign governments. If a whistleblower files a complaint through internal channels instead, the complaint has to go through the head of the intelligence community before it can see the light of day—and after that, there are few protections against disclosing the whistleblower’s identity, and only weak recourses against retaliation.
In August 2019, a CIA officer filed a complaint about an alleged quid pro quo between President Trump and the President of Ukraine. The complaint made it to Congress, and kicked off impeachment proceedings. But the existing laws don’t guarantee that this whistleblower will be protected, either.
Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out .
Watch our full video catalog:
Follow Vox on Facebook:
Or Twitter:
Snowden is a hero
@Brian Fox you sound like you stay in home too much
@Jonathan Bester Have you heard of the country of Spain?
Not even close
@G.D. Graham how, you bootlick the government?
@Tyler Shain becuz of ur corrupted government
reminder that Chelsea Manning is still in prison getting fined $1000 a day and needs to be released
@Thunderwalker87 Manning’s story would have been so different if she had leaked to some random American newspaper rather than the Kremlin backed Wikileaks. It’s unfortunate for her she chose to deal with Assange.
@Robert McCauley. sure. American national security involves covering up warcrimes. The safety of an invading and occupying force absolutely trumps the rights of the indigenous people.
Only American cutiZen can help him
“Why is Baseball Bits taking so long?”
BASEBALL BITS:
Trump is to blame for this one. Obama pardoned her.
Land of the free…as long as you bow down to the government
But why is the US being shamed here? In most other countries, whistleblowing could lead to a defamation suit, if not worse. We should be thankful we live in a country that even permits this sort of thing to exist, no matter what the constraints may be.
@aycc-nbh72 title of the videos: about America.
You: why is it about America
On a more serious note, we live in the US. Comparing ourselves to third world countries to satisfy our superiority complex doesn’t help anyone. Constant improvement and self-criticism does.
Butterworth Filter But even First World countries such as South Korea and much of Europe offer little protection to whistleblowers. The question becomes, in this case, to what point the bar should be raised.
@aycc-nbh72 to the point where no whistleblower’s lawful rights shall be infringed by the government.
To the system *
Who goes to jail when you break the law? You do.
Who goes to jail when you catch the government breaking the law? Still you
Founding fathers said it will never be a full democracy
The government creates the law so technically they can’t break it
@TheFourthWinchester Canada, Norway, Sweden and Japan are just a few countries that are happier, Finland is more free, Russia is bigger. Hm.
U got two top comments
@Just10tv. inc Oh no, a trump supporter, thank god they lost the PRESIDENCY
Snowden always reminds me of the quote
“When exposing a crime is treated as committing a crime, you’re being ruled by criminals.”
Beautiful. Edward Snowden is a true patriot.
@Levin Soh lol
@Unironic username, Non cynical sarcasm they’re not disguised
Leaking classified information is a crime.
Didnt he commit an actual crime?
So if government breaks the law still we go to jail Huh
Jyothsna Addanki home of the brave and land of the free!
The government never snitches on themselves, but they want you to snitch on yourself
Elites can be very tight that way.
You guys have been spelling it wrong the whole time, it’s not the “United States”, it’s “New China”.
@pringers it sure is brave to bomb iraw civilians
5:57 Vox: Today he works at an Apple store.
Guy: The price is enormous.
@Omni nulla Thanks! Were I’m from we don’t really have Apple Stores. I think I only saw it twice in a big city.
🤣🤣🤣
I believe its intentional lol
@Choi Btc r/woooosh
@Omni nulla The joke is that “The price is enormous.” can also be applied to Apple, literally. Because their products cost so much.
The way she revealed door 3 hit me hard.
Same 🙁
Yeah same
I thought it was gonna be actually working with a foreign government lol
@Natalia Rodriguez Accuse me of colluding with a foreign government? I JUST MIGHT
@Natalia Rodriguez if that would have been the case then it would be the worst
Suppose I decide to work with french government and the French government tells about me to US then I would have been killed in France and nobody would have known about it and I also would have died
The whistleblowers are a true heroes in our modern societies.
Brandon Burns false
Croz Raven when they are telling complete truths
Unless if you are one of the people who lied about trump colliding with russia during the elections and the FBI proved its wrong
@Sebiga What about trump colliding with russia? The CIA and FBI have proved him innocent with FACTS and PROOF unlike the “Witnesses”
we all know the best whistleblower is Miles Upshur
(only outlast players will understand)
The man destroyed his future and carried just to tell us the truth.
….and then gets treated like a criminal.
Drake didn’t do anything wrong; the documents were unclassified so he should’ve been able to share them with the press without facing retaliation.
Correctio: The government destroyed this man’s future and career just because he told the truth.
@Arie Fraiser Correction: The government destroyed his career , *and also anyone even associated with him* ….
Because he told the truth.
6:08
@TheAdamGore Correction: The government destroyed his career in the government, and ruined his future and anybody associated with him because he told the truth legally.
Its called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it
@I like Mathematics Sure, but do realize that things can get worse both down south in the US and in China.
Hmm a dream for a reason
🤣
you literally just summed up the great gatsby
@Night Raven wow,you sure must be short sighted
Salute to all the whistleblowers. You keep our democracy alive.
Eric Jing & the government officials trying to prosecute them are killing it 🙁
It’s been dead a long time already
You keep our SPIRIT alive is more like it.
America is and was never a democracy
@BoboThePuppy like the country showing the example of democracy is the biggest autocracy
A CITIZEN’S LOYALTY IS TOWARDS THE NATION. NOT GOVERNMENT.
@Jaz Kat It’s loyalty or a strong sense of morals. Though I believe loyalty to the people should be earned by the people, however loose that definition of “earn” is.
@Netherin5 anyway all in all, if the government is committing crime against the people have the right to know by any means necessary and people who come forward with this information should not be punished when the system fails them.
Crew TheAftermath solid argument has a little something for everyone. 7.5/10
but why, what else is a nation than a few imaginary lines on a map
A citizens loyalty should be towards the people of the country not towards the nation not towards the government but towards the people and the people are the most important part of the country the well-being and the health of the people because without the people a country cannot be a country
The legal way of being whistleblower is pretty much….
Reporting a crime to the person doing the crime
When exposing a crime is treated as a crime, you are ruled by criminals.
Every country is ruled by criminals
U just copied that I saw the first comment
@Sonic Phil yeah and the first comment was the exact same quote.
“Today [Thomas Drake] works at an Apple store” (5:57). This is how the nation treats honesty, integrity, defending the Constitution.
The Guy: “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”
Government “wait thats illegal”
@Robby Dey Stop spamming comments, you’ve done this in a comment above this one.
It’s absurd that Snowden has to stay in Russia to be safe. Counting down the days until he gets into a “car accident”
5:57
He works at an apple store.
“The price is enormous”
I cant agree more.
“What is right is different from what is legal.”–Snowden
The government: “Stop breaking the law.”
Whistleblowers: “Stop breaking the-“
The government: “GO TO JAIL.”
obvious censorship :/