Since 9/11, a steady stream of national security whistleblowers have come to GAP with tales of wild and rampant wrongdoing on several levels of our government. Unfortunately, due to the nature of their work, these whistleblowers can often face a terrible agency culture and weak/nonexistent protections when they attempt to speak out about illegal activity, waste, fraud or abuse.
GAP’s National Security & Human Rights program acts as both legal counsel to these whistleblowers, and as an advocate for necessary changes to the system – both to better protect such innocent employees, and to speak out in favor of greater overall transparency and against wrongful government behavior. GAP’s advocacy stems from the principle that adherence to the rule of law, even in times of great crisis, is the best mechanism for securing our homeland.
GAP has honed our oversight of a broad range of National Security issues in several key areas:
- Disaster Accountability: Federal agencies in charge of disaster accountability must fall under continual scrutiny for their past and current actions.
- Politically-Motivated Discrimination: Analyzing the practices installed by the federal government to target certain ethnic subsets or activist members for heightened and invasive surveillance.
National Security Highlights
- Secrecy & Transparency: Monitoring how the federal government responds to outside groups urging transparency, with special regard to the “hybrid secrecy classifications” that the government has created in recent years.
- Surveillance: Curbing attempts by intelligence agencies to invade Americans’ privacy by constantly monitoring American activities and communications.
- Torture: Investigating the use and justifications of the federal government’s infliction of torture and cruel and inhumane treatment upon American citizens and detainees.
GAP’s National Security & Human Rights Director is Jesselyn Radack
GAP’s National Security & Human Rights Counsel is Kathleen McClellan
