- Whistleblowers are tremendously important to society
- Legal protections for federal and corporate whistleblowers are grossly inadequate, and must be strengthened
- The public can change this harsh reality by taking action
Anyone Can Whistle: The Essential Role of the Whistleblower in American Societyfeatured legendary whistleblowers and prominent newsmakers in an entertaining format. The event was a smashing success, attracting viewers from across the nation and world. The program was streamed live over the Internet, and broadcast to over 120 college campuses around the country via satellite. Response has been tremendous.
Noted guests for the event included:
- Daniel Ellsberg – The patriarch of modern whistleblowing, his disclosures (the Pentagon Papers) as a Rand Corporation/DoD analyst exposed deceit and concealment involving the government’s handling of the Vietnam War.
- Kit Foshee – A meat safety whistleblower who exposed serious problems with ammoniated beef product from a major supplier.
- Mike German – A former undercover FBI agent who infiltrated terrorist groups before blowing the whistle on his field office’s illegal wiretaps on suspects. Now with the ACLU, German discussed current legislative fixes for whistleblower protections.
- Cathy Harris – A U.S. Customs official who blew the whistle on African-Americans being unfairly targeted as potential drug smugglers.
- Dr. David Kessler – The former FDA Commissioner who worked with “The Insider” Dr. Jeff Wigand to challenge Big Tobacco.
- Babak Pasdar – A computer security expert who exposed that a major telecommunication company provided the federal government unfettered access to its customers’ private communications.
- Coleen Rowley – Noted FBI whistleblower who detailed intelligence breakdowns in relation to the 9/11 attacks, and Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” in 2002.
- Frank Serpico – NYPD whistleblower whose story is memorialized by the film that shares his name.
NPR and FOX News’ Juan Williams excelled in moderating this entertaining and enlightening evening.
The event also served as a kickoff for GAP's campaign to strengthen corporate whistleblower rights. You can help in this effort by clicking here to send a letter to your senators demanding that they act to protect whistleblowers!
GAP is eternally grateful to its co-producers of the program. Participant Media is the film production company behind such movies as An Inconvenient Truth, Syriana, Good Night & Good Luck, and Charlie Wilson's War. Participant Media reached out to GAP to raise public awareness of just how important whistleblowing is to the public, in conjunction with the promotion of its film, The Informant. The other co-producer of the evening, the magnificent Paley Center for Media, located in Manhattan, was the site of this extraordinary event.
