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Stephen Lendman
It’s long past time to stop Obama’s war on whistle-blowers. It’s time to hold him accountable for waging it. Whistle-blowing is a national imperative. Exposing government wrongdoing is essential. Responsible parties must be punished. Whistle-blowers deserve praise, not prosecution. Snowden is a world hero. He connected important dots for millions.

Lots more vital information awaits revealing. Everyone needs to know. The NSA operates lawlessly. It’s a power unto itself. It’s an out-of-control agency.

Global spying is espionage. It’s stealing other countries’ secrets. It’s doing so for political and economic advantage. It’s not about keeping us safe.

Domestic spying has nothing to do with national security. It’s for control. It’s transformed America more than ever into a police state.
NSA works jointly with CIA, FBI and other rogue US spy agencies. They’re waging war on freedom. They want it entirely eliminated.
They’re complicit with corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and corporate bosses. They want what no one should tolerate.

They want America more dystopian than ever. It’s already unfit to live in. They want worse conditions for millions.
Hundreds of Snowdens are needed. Sunshine is the best disinfectant. Whistle-blowers need to be heard, not silenced.

The Government Accountability Project (GAP) calls them anyone “who discloses information that (he or she) reasonably believes is evidence of illegality, gross waste or fraud, mismanagement, abuse of power, general wrongdoing, or a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety.”

“Typically, whistle-blowers speak out to parties that can influence and rectify the situation.”
“These parties include the media, organizational managers, hotlines, or Congressional members/staff, to name a few.”
Sibel Edmonds founded the National Security Whistle-blowers Coalition (NSWBC).

She did so to aid “national security whistle-blowers through a variety of methods.”
Today is the most perilous time in world history. America is waging war on humanity. Bipartisan complicity created a homeland police state apparatus. Obama heads it.

Fundamental freedoms are targeted for elimination. Government wrongdoing is worse than ever. Exposing it is essential. It’s a national imperative.

Whistle-blowers with vital information need to reveal it.
The 1989 Whistle-blower Protection Act protects federal employees who report misconduct. Federal agencies are prohibited from retaliating against those who do so.

Whistle-blowers are obligated to report law or regulatory violations, gross mismanagement, waste, fraud and/or abuse, or acts endangering public health or safety.

The Office of Special Council is empowered to investigate whistle-blower complaints. The Merit Systems Protection Board adjudicates them.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is the only judicial body authorized to hear whistle-blower case appeals. Since the Whistle-blower Protection Act’s 1994 revision, it ruled on over 200 cases. Only three times did whistleblowers prevail. It’s high time they got full legal protection.

At least 18 federal statutes protect private sector whistle-blowers. They fall woefully short. Whatever corporations want they get.
On November 27, 2012, the Whistle-blower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) was enacted. It protects government employees from reprisal for:

disclosing misconduct;
revealing it to co-workers or supervisors;
disclosing policy decision consequences; or
doing any or all of the above in relation to their position or duties.
It doesn’t matter. Obama targeted more whistle-blowers than all his predecessors combined. He does so on fake national security grounds.
He does it to harden police state ruthlessness. It’s long past time to challenge him. It’s vital to hold him accountable. It’s essential to stop what can’t be tolerated. Snowden committed no crimes. He acted responsibly. He’s wrongfully charged with espionage. He’s accused of violating 1917 Espionage Act provisions.

It’s a long ago outdated WW I relic. It has no relevancy today. It belongs in history’s dustbin. It belonged there decades ago. It should be declared null and void.

Snowden is wrongfully charged with:
“Theft of Government Property
Unauthorized Communication of National Defense Information (and)
Wilful Communication of Classified Intelligence Information to an Unauthorised Person.”
These and similar charges reflect police state injustice. Challenging it is vital. Exonerating Snowden is a good beginning.
London Guardian editors agree. On January 1, they headlined “Showden affair: the case for a pardon,” saying:
“(T)hrough journalists, in the absence of meaningful, reliable democratic oversight, (he gave) people enough knowledge about the nature of modern intelligence-gathering to allow an informed debate.”

It’s “actively happening.” Federal District Court of the District of Columbia Judge Richard Leon called NSA spying unconstitutional. It’s “almost Orwellian”, he said.

“I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary’ invasion than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analysing it without prior judicial approval,” he explained
“Surely, such a programme infringes on ‘that degree of privacy’ that the founders enshrined in the Fourth Amendment.” It prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. Mass NSA surveillance does it writ large.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) defends vital digital rights. It called 2013 “a principled fight against global mass surveillance.”
Spying on ordinary people is lawless, it said. “Secret laws are wrong.” Digital and telecommunication spying are “as much ‘surveillance’ as a person peeping through a window.”

No one’s privacy should be compromised. On December 18, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the first resolution on the privacy rights.

It’s called “The right to privacy in the digital age.” It’s a step in the right direction. It ordered a human rights analysis of digital surveillance law.

In 2014, EFF promised to keep working “for a new era of private and secure digital communications.”

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected].