A Whistleblower’s Story

Guest blogger Michael Winston details the numerous violations he witnessed at Countrywide Financial Corporation, and the retaliation he has faced by the company and its successor Bank of America for the last eight years. Today’s account is the first in a three-part series detailing his whistleblower saga.

Key Quote: I was “fired, demoted, threatened, and harassed” by Countrywide, which broke the law in doing so. I was retaliated against immediately and relentlessly in every way imaginable, and simply didn’t understand why. Why did Countrywide feel this was such a threat? I wondered. Perhaps calling attention to the company would lead to investigations of widespread fraud. Perhaps worse. But the immediacy and ferocity of their retaliation was a clear indication to me that something larger than loan structure and toxins was hidden.

The Atlantic: Want to Reform the NSA? Give Edward Snowden Immunity

This piece explores the important role whistleblowers have played in the last 12 years to help expose NSA’s wrongful practices. It also explains the infrastructure weaknesses and limited protections for national security whistleblowers that prevent adequate oversight. The author calls for immunity for GAP client and NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden that he says “would build constitutional culture rather than a permanent legal solution” and show insiders that “a conscientious individual can do the right thing.” The article mentions GAP National Security & Human Rights Director Jesselyn Radack, as well as GAP clients Thomas Drake and William Binney.

Key Quote: It was only in 2002, when Jesselyn Radack disclosed that the prosecution of “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh had involved several violations of Lindh’s constitutional rights, that the new wave of whistleblowing and public-accountability leaks reemerged. Thomas Tamm and Russ Tice each disclosed the Bush administration’s warrantless-wiretap program to The New York Times; AT&T employee Mark Klein disclosed the company’s complicity in illegal wiretapping; and William Binney, Thomas Drake, and others challenged internally—and in Drake’s case disclosed publicly—early aspects of NSA dragnet surveillance.

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Most critically, Edward Snowden’s disclosures led to the introduction of dozens of bills in Congress, a judicial opinion, and two executive-branch independent reviews that demanded extensive reforms to surveillance programs.