The Whistleblowers

Apr 5, 2023 06:02 Illegal firearm sales in South Africa Patricia Marshale received the 2022 Special Recognition Award from the whistleblower organization Blueprint for Free Speech for disclosing to her commanding officer illegal firearms destined for destruction which were being sold by police officials to criminal syndicates. John Kiriakou speaks to her about the constant threats against her life...

Apr 1, 2023 06:35 Using tragedy as an excuse to spy on Americans After the September 11 attacks on America, security agencies were scrambling to make the US a safer place. On this episode of the Whistleblowers, John Kiriakou speaks to William Binney, who blew the whistle on a program allowing the NSA to spy on literally every American. It was a game-changing decision, patently illegal, and extraor...

Mar 27, 2023 06:10 Guantanamo Bay murders The US military base at Guantanamo has been described by former detainees there as hell on earth. On this episode of the Whistleblowers, John Kiriakou speaks with former Marine Joseph Hickman about blowing the whistle on inmate murders while he was stationed at Guantanamo Bay.

Mar 25, 2023 06:16 Undercover DEA: challenging drug lords & the CIA What is it like to be an undercover agent busting some of the most infamous global drug dealers? And do undercover agents for the DEA ever run up against opposition from other US agencies like the CIA? It turns out they do! A career veteran of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, Mark Levine, joins John Kiriakou...

Mar 22, 2023 06:34 Documenting the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay How many men have gone through the torturous hell of sitting in the US Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp with no hope of justice? Our guest on this episode of The Whistleblowers answers that question and many more. Andy Worthington – British historian, author, and investigative journalist – joins John Kiriakou to bring to light the atrocio...

Mar 18, 2023 06:55 Blowing the whistle in Congo Blowing the whistle on illegality, waste, or fraud is hard enough in the Western, developed world. But how does it work in nations with much less legal infrastructure and protections? In this episode of the Whistleblowers, John Kiriakou talks to Kudra Maliro, a Congo-based freelance journalist, to discuss what it’s like blowing the whistle in Africa...

Mar 15, 2023 06:58 Death by fire: The burn pits For years, American military forces burned the by-products of their activities at sites called burn pits. Medical waste, discarded shells and bullets, rubber, plastic, and all sorts of other toxic materials were burned next to overseas military bases. The fumes were known to cause extremely virulent forms of cancer; something the US military establis...

Mar 11, 2023 06:04 The whistleblower who tried to stop a war It’s no secret the American government during the George W. Bush Administration made up its mind to go to war with Iraq on false pretenses. They didn’t care what the truth was. We’re going to talk about how that cynical decision led to war with a whistleblower who tried to stop it. John Kiriakou speaks with Air Force Lt. Colonel Karen Kw...

Mar 1, 2023 06:09 Havana syndrome In 2016, American diplomats began complaining of a variety of medical symptoms that included things from physical pain to ringing in the ears to cognitive difficulties. These symptoms were largely ignored at first. And then the term Havana Syndrome was coined. Dr. Leonid ‘Len’ Ber joins John Kiriakou to discuss his own case of Havana Syndrome and why the FBI is bl...

Mar 4, 2023 05: Hale blows the whistle on the US drone wars Daniel Hale released documents that came to be known as The Drone Papers once published in The Intercept. These showed during one five-month period in 2012 that nearly 90% of those killed in drone strikes were not the intended targets. Rather, they were civilian bystanders, innocent people killed and classified as “enemies killed in actio...

Mar 8, 2023 06:25TS A Whistleblower invents secure pilot doors An air marshal was fired by the TSA when the agency was caught trying to cut federal air marshal flights after 9/11. The TSA was forced to take him back but chose to put him in dead-end jobs, prompting him to sue the agency once again. When they failed to offer a plan to secure pilot doors on American aircraft to prevent another hijack...

Feb 25, 2023 07:00 UK espionage laws Most people convicted of espionage receive 10 to 20 years. In extreme cases, the Espionage Act carries the death penalty. But what does it look like when a country – in this case, the UK – tries to pass a law that’s even tougher than the Espionage Act? In this episode of The Whistleblowers, John Kiriakou speaks with journalist Mohamed Elmaazi about the UK’s Off...

Feb 11, 2023 06:45 Organization creating laws to protect whistleblowers Blueprint for Free Speech was founded in 2014 and it almost immediately became one of the most important repositories in the world for research, draft legislation, and international activism on behalf of whistleblowers. In this episode of The Whistleblowers, John Kiriakou speaks with the Blueprint for Free Speech founder, Dr....

Feb 15, 2023 06:10 Australian war crimes in Afghanistan revealed Countries around the world treat their national security whistleblowers harshly, especially when those whistleblowers reveal evidence of war crimes. One of the best—and most recent—examples is from Australia. David McBride, a former Australian army attorney, is facing criminal charges for revealing Australian soldiers committed war c...

Feb 18, 2023 06:37 The crimes of MI5 Annie Machon quit working for MI5 and fled the country when her fellow coworker and lover went to the media about the crimes they had seen inside the organization. These crimes included maintaining secret files on the government ministers responsible for overseeing intelligence services, illegal phone taps, making false statements to government overseers, faili...

Feb 22, 2023 05:56 Racism in the CIA In this episode of The Whistleblowers, we speak with an accomplished CIA operations officer and expert on Iranian affairs. He also happens to be African-American. After going through all of his training, he was told the promotion he wanted wasn’t going to him – simply for the color of his skin. So, he complained. But instead of giving him his original assignmen...

Feb 1, 2023 07:05 Anonymous whistleblowers: Trying to stay out of prison What do you do if you want to blow the whistle on waste, fraud, abuse, or illegality, but you know if you do, your life will be changed forever? You try to do it anonymously. Sometimes that works. Sometimes you end up in prison. In this episode of The Whistleblowers, John Kiriakou speaks to Jesselyn Radack, an attorney and wh...

Feb 4, 2023 06:44 NSA surveillance of American citizens after 9/11 In many whistleblowing cases, the highest stakes are for national security whistleblowing. It takes a great deal of fortitude to take on the power and authority of the FBI, CIA, NSA, and in some cases, the White House itself. Oftentimes, whistleblowers pay with their career, and in some cases, their freedom. In this episode of The...

Feb 8, 2023 07:02 The murder of whistleblower Babita Deokaran Babita Deokaran was the acting chief financial officer at the Gauteng Provincial Government Department of Health and blew the whistle on corruption and lack of protection afforded to her by the state. She was then murdered outside her home. John is joined by renowned Greek-South African whistleblower Ari Danikas to talk about the story.

Jan 28, 2023 06:18 Fake whistleblowers and the praises they don't deserve How do we tell a real whistleblower from a fake one? How do we tell the difference between somebody who is jeopardizing everything from one who is trying to cash in? On this episode of the ‘Whistleblowers’ we speak to Louis Clark, President of the Government Accountability Project, about fake whistleblowers.

Jan 21, 2023 06:15 The Twitter Files with Matt Taibbi Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter sent shockwaves throughout the world of social media and has had serious political implications. Can free speech be protected on Twitter now that it has been conclusively shown that the company colluded with US politicians and alphabet agencies to censor people based on their political opinions? On this episode o...

Dec 31, 2022 06:38 Uber Whistelblower Whistleblower Mark MacGann disclosed more than 124,000 documents detailing how Uber flouted laws, duped police, exploited violence against drivers and secretly lobbied governments in order to aggressively build its global empire. Mark MacGann, a 52-year-old Irishman, served as Uber’s chief lobbyist for Europe, the Middle East and Africa from 2014 to 2016 and o...

Jan 7, 2023 06:21 Tiktok whistleblower TikTok has become one of the most popular apps in the world — especially among young people. But critics warn it poses unique security and mental health risks, so much so that a number of nations have even banned the Chinese app, describing it as a 'weapon' by software experts. In this episode of the Whistleblowers, John Kiriakou speaks to Dr. Darren Hayes, a...

Jan 15, 2023 17:41 FBI whistleblowers with Colleen Rowley The Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI, has certainly had its share of whistleblowers over the years. On this episode of the Whistleblowers we speak to FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley about what lead her to blow the whistle on the FBI and how it has impacted her life.

Dec 10, 2022 13:52 FBI agent blows whistle on politicized investigators The highest stakes in whistleblowing are often for those in the national security realm. It takes a great deal of fortitude to take on the power and authority of the FBI, CIA, NSA, and in some cases, the White House itself. Oftentimes, the whistleblower pays with his or her career, and in some cases, with their freedom. In thi...