Insider Threat Program

Here’s How the U.S. Government Treats Whistleblowers

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What is it about whistleblowers that the powers that be can’t stand?

When I blew the whistle on the CIA’s illegal torture program, I was derided in many quarters as a traitor. My detractors in the government attacked me for violating my secrecy agreement, even as they ignored the oath we’d all taken to protect and defend the Constitution.

All of this happened despite the fact that the torture I helped expose is illegal in the United States. Torture also violates a number of international laws and treaties to which our country is signatory — some of which the United States itself was the driving force in drafting.

I was charged with three counts of espionage, all of which were eventually dropped when I took a plea to a lesser count. I had to choose between spending up to 30 months in prison and rolling the dice to risk a 45-year sentence. With five kids, and three of them under the age of 10, I took the plea.

Tom Drake — the NSA whistleblower who went through the agency’s chain of command to report its illegal program to spy on American citizens — was thanked for his honesty and hard work by being charged with 10 felonies, including five counts of espionage. The government eventually dropped the charges, but not before Drake had suffered terrible financial, professional, and personal distress.

This is an ongoing theme, especially in government

– From the post: CIA Torture Program Whistleblower Speaks – “The Sad Fate of America’s Whistleblowers”

While we always knew the U.S. government’s line that Snowden had avenues for effective whistleblowing through official channels was a heaping pile of bullshit, it’s always good to prove the point.

The Guardian reports:

Edward Snowden has called for a complete overhaul of US whistleblower protections after a new source from deep inside the Pentagon came forward with a startling account of how the system became a “trap” for those seeking to expose wrongdoing.

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3 Ridiculous Things that Make You a “High Threat” According to the Pentagon

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You’ve gotta love the U.S. government. According to a training test developed by the Pentagon, there are three main things to be aware of when confronting a potential terrorist. 1) Overseas travel. 2) Financial difficulties. 3) Criticism of U.S. foreign policy.

I wish I was making this up. Specifically, this information comes from training slides created by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), and further demonstrates the complete panic and paranoia rampant at the highest levels of the hopelessly crony and corrupt U.S. government. Unfortunately for us all, several million federal employees have been already subject to this preposterous training in order to identify “insider threats.”

This is what one of the slides looks like.  What a bunch of idiots.

InsiderThreat

From the Huffington Post:

A security training test created by a Defense Department agency warns federal workers that they should consider the hypothetical Indian-American woman a “high threat” because she frequently visits family abroad, has money troubles and “speaks openly of unhappiness with U.S. foreign policy.”

That slide, from the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), is a startling demonstration of the Obama administration’s obsession with leakers and other “insider threats.”

Both Hema’s travel abroad and her political dissatisfaction are treated as threat “indicators.” Versions of the training for Defense Department and other federal employees are unclassified and available for anyone to play online.

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