The Whistleblower Who Takes On Espionage Act Prosecutions feat. Jesselyn Radack

07/28/21 • 53 min

Attorney Jesselyn Radack has been at the forefront of opposing the government's War on Whistleblowers. She has represented numerous clients indicted under the Espionage Act, including Edward Snowden, Daniel Hale, Thomas Drake, and John Kiriakou. Jesselyn knows first hand the perils of being a whistleblower.
Before becoming one of the leading attorneys defending the rights of national security whistleblowers, she was a Department of Justice employee who blew the whistle on FBI ethics violations during the interrogation of so-called American Taliban John Walker Lindh. Jesselyn joins host Chip Gibbons to discuss her journey and what it's like being on the front lines of the War on Whistleblowers

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Secrecy, Repression, and The Espionage Act Century feat. Carey Shenkman

Passed during World War I, the Espionage Act was President Woodrow Wilson's "firm hand of repression" that he used to silence antiwar voices.

Touted as a law against spies and saboteurs, the Espionage Act has in fact been a tool to control the flow of information and suppress dissent. Over the interceding years, the Espionage Act became a way to retaliate against those who publish "official secrets." Today it is the government's go to weapon against national security whistleblowers and even journalists who uncover abuses of power.

Host Chip Gibbons is joined by human rights attorney Carey Shenkman to learn more about the ignoble history of the Espionage Act and its century of silencing those who dissent on US national security policy.

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The CIA v. The Unwanted Spy feat. Jeffrey Sterling

Jeffrey Sterling has described himself as an unwanted spy.
In the early 2000s, he attempted to take the CIA on over its racial discrimination against him. Citing the state secrets doctrine, his case was never considered on its merits. Later, he would go to the Senate Intelligence Committee to alert them about Operation Merlin, a plan to give Iran faulty nuclear plans. After being fired from the CIA, Sterling thought his ordeal was over. Then in 2006, the FBI raided his home and in 2011 brought an indictment against him under the Espionage Act.
Sterling joins host Chip Gibbons to talk about life inside the CIA, his controversial trial, and his path to becoming a whistleblower.

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