NEW YORK -- In more than four years of office, President
Barack Obama has frequently praised the idea of whistleblowing. He even
signed the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act into law in 2012.
But has he actually praised any whistleblowers by name?
That's a question The Huffington Post posed to several non-profits
representing whistleblowers, and to the White House, in light of the
news about the subpoenas the Justice Department used to obtain the phone
records of journalists at the Associated Press. The revelation has
renewed focus on the administration's treatment of the press,
along with its attitude toward whistleblowers.
"Sad to say, we can't think of a single one," Joe Newman, director of
communications for the Project on Government Oversight, said when asked
if Obama had ever praised a whistleblower.
"I'm not aware of him ever praising a whistleblower, or apologizing
to a whistleblower who was wrongfully prosecuted," said Jesselyn Radack,
national security and human rights director for the Government
Accountability Project. The closest Radack could think of was Lily
Ledbetter, who spoke out against unequal pay for women in the workplace
but did not work for the federal government.
The White House did not respond to a request for background on whistleblowers praised by Obama.
As a candidate in 2008,
Obama praised instances of whistleblowing
as "acts of courage and patriotism" that "should be encouraged rather
than stifled as they have been during the Bush administration." But
since his election critics have repeatedly called into question his
record on supporting whistleblowers, pointing to several individuals who
have not only not been praised, but were prosecuted.
Obama's Justice Department continued the Bush-era prosecution of
Thomas Drake, a former NSA official who went to a reporter with news
about massive overspending in an intelligence program. He
took a plea deal
for a minor misdemeanor. Thomas Tamm, a Justice employee who told The
New York Times about the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping
program, was
investigated until 2011. John Kiriakou, a former CIA analyst who spoke out against the use of torture against suspected terrorists, was likewise
prosecuted and given a 30-month sentence.
Although he took a plea for a lesser charge, Kirakou was initially
charged under the Espionage Act, a World War I-era law that critics have
claimed the Obama administration is using as a cudgel against the press.
"What would really encourage whistleblowers is not threatening them
with the Espionage Act when they step forward with information about
corruption, waste or abuses of power," said Newman. "But sure, if Obama
praised whistleblowers, it would signal a significant paradigm shift."
