Edward Snowden joined Twitter on September 29 and already has 1.37 million followers and counting. Just seven tweets by the famed NSA whistleblower almost immediately prompted George Pataki to call for Twitter to ban the account, though Twitter does not appear to be taking the bait. It’s worth noting, however, that Snowden isn’t the only whistleblower on Twitter. Here’s a rundown of 36 others.
Daniel Ellsberg: @DanielEllsberg
A former military analyst for RAND Corporation, Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, a secret 7000-page account of the Vietnam War, to the New York Times, the Washington Post, and 17 other newspapers in 1971. The Pentagon Papers showed that the Johnson Administration "systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress,”the New York Times reported. Although Ellsberg faced multiple felony charges, his case was dismissed in 1973 due to what the judge called "improper government conduct shielded so long from public view.” Ellsberg is the author of several books, including Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers.
Frank Snepp: @franksnepp1
Frank Snepp was a CIA analyst at the US Embassy in Saigon. In 1980, he published a book called Decent Interval about the failures of national security services to prepare for the fall of Saigon. Although Snepp redacted names, methods and sources, he was still prosecuted for violating his non-disclosure agreement, and lost income and royalties from the book. He is now an award-winning investigative reporter.
Mordechai Vanunu: @VanunuMordechai
In 1986, Mordechai Vanunu leaked information about Israel’s nuclear program to British media, and spent 18 years in prison, 11 of which were spent in solitary confinement. He is not allowed to own a cell phone, enter internet chat rooms, have contact with foreigners or leave Israel. He is currently under six months of house arrest for supposedly breaking the terms of his probation.
Rolan Gibeault: @RolandGibeault
A former technician at Genisco Technology, Roland Gibeault met with the FBI and Defense Criminal Investigative Service while still working at the company. He then filed a qui tam lawsuit against Genisco for falsifying test data on key military components in 1988. Three executives ultimately went to prison. Although Gibeault was fired from his job, he did receive $131,250 from the $725,000 fine the company paid.
Jeffrey Wigand: @Jeffrey_Wigand
In 1996, while Vice President of Research and Development at Brown and Williamson, Jeffrey Wigand admitted that the company purposely manipulated nicotine levels in cigarette smoke to increase addiction. He was fired from his job. Wigand is the subject of the 1999 film The Insider, portrayed by Russell Crowe.
David Shayler and Annie Machon: @Gods_Spy and @AnnieMachon
In 1997, David Shayler and Annie Machon resigned from MI5 to blow the whistle on the UK Secret Service for various criminal acts, such as attempting to assassinate Muammar Gaddafi without the permission of the foreign secretary, illegally tapping phones, and not preventing the Israeli embassy bombing in London despite being aware that it was going to happen in advance. After revealing information to the Mail on Sunday, Shayler and Machon went on the run to Utrecht, the Netherlands and France. The British government’s extradition request was not granted, but Shayler eventually returned to the UK to face trial. He was sentenced to six months in prison. Machon published the book Spies, Lies and Whistleblowers: MI5, MI6 and the Shayler Affair. She is now the co-director of Code Red and European Director of LEAP.
Harry Markopolos: @HarryMarkopolos
A former security industry executive and independent financial fraud investigator, Harry Markopolos identified Bernie Madoff as a fraud in 1999 and repeatedly tipped off the Security and Exchanges Commission in 2000, 2001, and 2005. He is the author of No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller.
Marsha Coleman-Adebayo: @nofearcoalition
A former senior policy analyst at the Environmental Protection Agency, Marsha Coleman-Adebayo brought attention to the environmental damage and dangerous conditions faced by African workers in South Africa due to a U.S. company mining vanadium. The EPA did not respond, so she told other organizations. She also filed a lawsuit against the agency, and a federal jury found the EPA guilty of violating her civil rights on the basis of race, gender, and a hostile work environment. She worked from home when diagnosed with hypertension during the legal proceedings, but was eventually placed on unpaid leave when she did not comply with orders to return to the office after five years of telecommuting. Coleman-Adebayo is the founder of the No FEAR Coalition. Her work has led to the passage of the “Notification of Federal Employees Anti-discrimination and Retaliation Act,” or No FEAR Act, the first whistleblowing legislation of the 21st century. She is the author of No Fear: A Whistleblower's Triumph Over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA.
Pascal Diethelm: @pdiethelm
Along with Jean-Charles Rielle, Pascal Diethelm revealed the ties between environmental health professor Ragnar Rylandar and the tobacco industry back in 2001. Apparently Rylandar received payment from the tobacco industry for 30 years, and pretended he was an independent scientist, fraudulently publishing articles that minimized the effects of secondhand smoke. All accusations were proved true in court.
Jesselyn Radack: @JesselynRadack
A former ethics adviser to the United States Department of Justice, Jesselyn Radack blew the whistle on the FBI when it interviewed John Walker Lindh without an attorney and again when it tried to suppress the information. In retaliation, Radack received a poor performance review despite a merit raise the year prior, and was advised to find another job or else the review would be placed in her file. Her emails about Lindh were initially suppressed after a court order for all of the Justice Department's internal correspondence about his interrogation. She went to great lengths to assure that they would be included, even releasing to Newsweek emails she believed were purged. This led to a criminal investigation and the government sending letters to bar associations in jurisdictions where she was licensed to practice law, referring her for a possible ethics violation, which kept her from finding work for years. Radack now represents whistleblowers and journalists as a national security and human rights attorney. She is the author of TRAITOR: The Whistleblower and the “American Taliban.” Until recently, she served as the director of National Security and Human Rights at the Government Accountability Project. She is now heading up a new Whistleblower and Source Protection Program (WHISPeR) at ExposeFacts.org.
Sherron Watkins: @SherronWatkins
A former VP of Corporate Development at Enron, Watkins testified her role in the Enron Fraud before the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate in 2002. She alerted the CEO at the time of accounting regularities back in 2001, but did not report it to the government. Watkins is the author of Power Failure: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron.
Coleen Rowley: @ColeenRowley
Coleen Rowley is a retired FBI agent who wrote a memo about the FBI’s slow action before the 9/11 attacks, and how it failed to take action on information provided by the Minneapolis field office regarding its investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui. In 2002, she testified to the Senate and the 9/11 Commission about these lapses. Rowley retired from the FBI in 2004, after 24 years of service. She has written for Huffington Post and the Guardian, and authored a chapter in Patriotism, Democracy, and Common Sense: Restoring America's Promise at Home and Abroad.
J. Kirk Wiebe: @KirkWiebe
Kirk Wiebe,was one of three NSA officials who joined House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence staffer Diane Roark to call for the Department of Defense Inspector General to investigate the Trailblazer Project, and the waste, fraud, and abuse in the program. Wiebe was subjected to a day-long armed raid by federal authorities
Glenn A. Walp: @implosionatlosa
Along with Steven Doran, Glenn Walp was hired to investigate fraud allegations at the Los Alamos National Lab. The two exposed security breaches, fraud, and mismanagement to the Department of Energy, and were subsequently fired. Walp received a $930,000 wrongful termination settlement. He is the author of Implosion at Los Alamos: How Crime, Corruption, and Cover-ups Jeopardize America’s Nuclear Weapons Secrets. He works part-time as an adjunct professor and consultant for Penn State’s Justice and Safety Institute.
Sibel Edmonds: @sibeledmonds
A former FBI translator, Edmonds was fired in 2002 when she reported security breaches and cover-ups. Her court proceedings were ultimately blocked under the State Secrets Privilege, and the U.S. Congress has been gagged and prevented from so much as discussing her case. However, an internal investigation in 2005 by the FBI Office of the Inspector General found that many of her allegations of misconduct were factually based, and that her obligations did, at the very least, contribute to her termination. Edmonds is now an editor, publisher, and founder of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition. She is the author of Classified Woman: The Sibel Edmonds Story.
Robert MacLean: @rjmaclean
Robert MacLean is a U.S. Federal Air Marshal who blew the whistle on TSA’s plan to remove air marshals from nonstop long-distance flights for two months to save money on overnight hotel stays. Although the TSA rescinded this plan before it went through, MacLean was fired from DHS. He was reinstated just a few months ago after a Supreme Court victory, but his case is still being litigated.
Craig Murray: @CraigMurrayOrg
A former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray stated the Karimov administration was guilty of human rights abuses, and further blew the whistle on the British government’s support for the Karimov regime’s use of torture. He also told the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that intelligence which linked the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan to al-Qaeda was not only immoral and illegal, but also unreliable. He stated publicly that MI6 used intelligence provided by Uzbek authorities through torture. He was removed from his ambassadorial post in October 2004. Murray is the author of Murder in Samarkand - A British Ambassador's Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror (titled Dirty Diplomacy in the U.S.).
Thomas Drake: @Thomas_Drake1
Thomas Drake, who worked at NSA in analyst and management positions, blew the whistle on an expensive NSA project called Trailblazer due to its violation of the 4th Amendment. (The program has since been halted.) After following internal whistleblower procedures to no avail, Drake contacted the Baltimore Sun about Trailblazer and other issues within NSA. His home was later raided by federal agents, who confiscated his computers, books, and documents. Drake was indicted by a grand jury for multiple charges, and ultimately pled guilty to misusing the NSA’s computer system after the government dropped all other charges at the last minute after an episode on Drake appeared on 60 minutes. The judge at his sentencing was critical of the Department of Justice’s handling of the case. Drake ultimately received community service and a year of probation.
Paul Moore: @Paul_R_Moore
A former senior manager at the bank HBOS, Moore lost his job in 2004 after he says he warned senior colleagues about unnecessary risks being taken as part of the company’s sales strategy. He testified to the UK parliament’s Treasury Select Committee in 2008 when it investigated the UK banking system. Now Moore runs a risk consultancy and is working on a book which will be titled Crash, Bank, Wallop.
Michael DeKort: @imispgh
A former systems engineer and project manager at Lockheed Martin, DeKort posted a video on YouTube showing that equipment installed in Coast Guard vessels as part of Lockheed’s Integrated Deepwater System Program was faulty. This was after alerting the CEO and Board of Directors, which led to his removal from his position as project manager. He also reported the problems to the Department of Homeland Security, and unsuccessfully attempted to alert the Washington Post and Associated Press. DeKort was laid off the same year that he posted the video. He pressed charges against Lockheed Martin and Northup Grumman, and the lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount. Dekort was featured in the documentary War on Whistleblowers.
Mark Klein: @ATTwhistleblowr
A retired communications technician for AT&T, Mark Klein exposed the phone company’s participation in the NSA’s warrantless mass surveillance of millions of Americans by revealing details of the secret construction of a monitoring facility in San Francisco. Klein, who worked as an AT&T technician for more than 22 years, was a witness in a lawsuit brought against the company by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, although the case was ultimately dismissed. Klein is the author of Wiring Up The Big Brother Machine...And Fighting It.
Richard Bowen: @RichardMBowen
As a senior VP at Citigroup and the chief underwriter of its consumer lending group, Richard Bowen blew the whistle on mortgage fraud that helped trigger the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Bowen first warned the board of directors, then the Citigroup chairman and bank’s CFO, chief auditor, and chief risk management officer. The outside investigation he requested confirmed his charges, but did not lead to change. Bowen suffered repercussions at work, and was ultimately fired in 2009. He was able to testify before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, but even his testimony may have been muzzled, according to the New York Times. Bowen, who now speaks on ethical leadership, was featured on CBS News’ Prosecuting Wall Street.
Justin Hopson: @Break_Blue_Wall
A former New Jersey State Trooper, Justin Hopson refused to testify in support of an illegal arrest and false report he witnessed, which was made by his training officer. This led to harassment and hazing by his coworkers, including threatening notes, vandalism of his car, and even physical assault. Hopson ultimately uncovered and blew the whistle on a secret society within the state police force known as “Lords of Discipline,” whose mission was to keep other troopers in line. He filed a federal lawsuit and received $400,000 from the State of New Jersey in a settlement. Hopson is the author of Breaking the Blue Wall: One Man's War Against Police Corruption, and has been featured on 20/20 and Crossing the Line.
John Kiriakou: @JohnKiriakou
A former CIA analyst and counterterrorism operations officer, John Kiriakou blew the whistle on torture by revealing in an ABC News interview that the agency waterboarded detainees. He also gave a journalist the identity of a covert CIA operative. Kiriakou was convicted of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act and served 30 months in prison. He has always said that his case was about exposing torture, not about leaking information, and stands behind his decisions. Kiriakou is a co-author of The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA’s War on Terror, and is an associate fellow with the Institute for Policy Studies, and blogger for Huffington Post. He received a First Amendment Award from PEN Center USA.
Rudolf Elmer: @SwissWB
Six years after he was terminated from his job as a Swiss bank employee, Rudolf Elmer turned over documents to WikiLeaks which detailed activities and alleged tax evasion of Julius Bär. Elmer was arrested multiple times for distributing illegally obtained data and violating Swiss banking secrecy laws. He is the author of Tax Heavens. The Demonization of a Swiss Whistleblower.
Herve Falciani: @HerveFalciani
Herve Falciani has provided information about tax evaders with Swiss bank accounts, and was indicted for violating bank secrecy laws and for industrial espionage.
Wendell Potter: @wendellpotter
A former senior executive at CIGNA, Wendell Potter testified against the HMO industry in the U.S. Senate in 2009, a year after resigning as vice president of corporate communications at the health insurance company. He said he saw how health insurance companies “confuse their customers and dump the sick: all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors.” Potter has also testified before House committees, briefed members of Congress, and spoken extensively to the media. He now works as a journalist for the Center for Public Integrity and the Huffington Post, and is the author of Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans.
Jim Wetta: @jimwetta
Jim Wetta was one of nine Eli Lilly sales representatives who filed a qui tam lawsuit against the company for illegally marketing the drug Zyprexa for off-label treatment that were not approved by the FDA, such as elderly dementia. Eli Lilly pled guilty and paid $1.415 billion, which included fined a $515 million criminal fine, and paid an additional $800 million in a civil settlement.
Chelsea Manning: @xychelsea
Former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning released a large set of classified documents to WikiLeaks. The leaked documents exposed the unjust detention of innocents at Guantanamo Bay, the killing of unarmed civilians, uninvestigated reports of torture, and much more. She was convicted of 20 offenses, including six violations of the Espionage Act. Manning is currently serving 35 years in prison, where she is using a voice phone to dictate her tweets. The Freedom of the Press Foundation is raising money for her appeal.
Blake Percival: @percigator
Blake Percival is a former Director of Fieldwork Services, WPA for USIS. He filed a qui tam whistleblower suit in 2010, and stated that he was terminated from USIS because he refused to order his subordinates to continue a dumping scheme. The case is ongoing.
Silver Meikar: @meikar
Estonian journalist and activist Silver Meikar published an article in 2012 in which he stated that politician Kalev Lillo gave him cash (from unknown sources) to donate to the Estonian Reform Party in 2009 and 2010. Meikwar was expelled from the party.
Carmen M. Segarra: @carmenmsegarra
Carmen Segarra was a bank examiner for the Federal Reserve in New York. She discovered that Goldman Sachs had no conflict of interest policy. She was forced to falsify her report, and was fired. Her story was covered in NPR’s This American Life.
Vijay Pandhare: @pandhare_vijay
Pandhare was the Chief Engineer of the Water Resources Department in Maharashtra, India. He blew the whistle on irregularities and cost inflation in irrigation projects in the state of Maharashtra, stating that the government was “...playing with people’s lives.” An overwhelming majority of irrigation projects in the state never began functioning.
Everett Stern: @SternEverett
Everett Stern blew the whistle on HSBC, where he served as an AML compliance officer, for illegal money laundering. He reported the crime to the CIA and FBI in 2011. The SEC investigated and fined HSBC $1.92 billion for money laundering to drug traffickers, people who financed terrorists, and countries under sanctions.
Linda Almonte: @LindaAlmonte
Linda Almonte was fired from her job at J.P. Morgan Chase after bringing up concerns about the bank’s credit card records and their accuracy. In 2009, she filed a lawsuit about corrupt practices, including pressure to collect delinquent debts, the robosigning of affidavits, and inconsistent past-due balances on the bank’s computer systems.
Follow the entire list on Twitter: https://twitter.com/yaelwrites/lists/whistleblowers.
This post was updated on October 8 to reflect Jesselyn Radack's new position at ExposeFacts.org, as of 10/1/15.
