April, 01 2014, 12:21pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Dylan Blaylock, GAP Communications Director
Phone: 202.457.0034, ext. 137
Email: dylanb@whistleblower.org
Snowden Attorney Radack, Daniel Ellsberg, NSA Whistleblower Drake to Speak at USC Annenberg
April 8-9 Events to Cover Whistleblowing in the Age of Government Surveillance
LOS ANGELES
On Tuesday, April 8, three prominent figures in the ongoing debate over constitutional privacy rights in the face of growing government surveillance will speak at the University of Southern California (USC) Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. The event is co-sponsored by the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a nonprofit, nonpartisan whistleblower advocacy organization, as part of its American Whistleblower Tour, a series of events that brings whistleblowers to universities nationwide. The USC program, Patriot or Traitor? Whistleblowing and Journalism in the Age of Government Surveillance, will explore the critical balance between civil liberties and national security.
After journalists began publishing articles based on the disclosures of National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden last June, an intense debate over the balance between civil liberties and national security has enveloped governments and civil society around the world. This Tour stop will feature a moderated panel of three whistleblowers, which will explore the challenges facing national security workers when they seek to expose wrongdoing and violations of law. The details of the panel are:
Moderated by Annenberg Clinical Professor Robert Scheer
Tuesday, April 8
6:30 p.m. - 8:15 p.m.
USC Annenberg Auditorium
Other events complementing the main Tour stop include:
- Government Surveillance and the Press: A moderated panel featuring Radack, Drake and veteran journalist, author and Annenberg professor Richard Reeves. Author and Annenberg journalism associate professor Sandy Tolan will moderate. Tuesday, April 8, 12:00 p.m. - 1 p.m., Annenberg School, Room 207.
- Students Talk Back: A lunchtime discussion series co-moderated by Institute of Politics Director Kerstyn Olson and a student journalist. Panelists will include: two USC student leaders, Ellsberg, and one additional professional panelist. The panel discussion will feature an analysis of whistleblowing - both from a historical and modern day political perspective. Wednesday, April 9, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m., USC Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics Luncheon Institute of Politics, Ronald Tutor Campus Center Forum. Please RSVP to: unruhins@usc.edu. For more information: please call 213.740.8964.
"Since Edward Snowden began disclosing the extent of the NSA's secret surveillance practices, discussions about whistleblowing and privacy rights have been more important than ever before," said GAP Senior Fellow and American Whistleblower Tour Director Dana Gold. "This Tour stop provides an opportunity for the public to hear firsthand from employees who disclosed abuses of government power - first through internal channels and then, when those channels failed to correct the wrongdoing, through the media. History shows that whistleblowers and their allies in investigative journalism are the best defense against corruption, illegality and abuses of power."
Speakers
- Jesselyn Radack serves as counsel for three of the seven whistleblowers that the Obama administration has charged with violating the Espionage Act, including NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. A whistleblower herself, Radack worked as an Ethics Advisor in the Department of Justice. In 2001, she learned that FBI agents sought to interrogate "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh. Because Lindh was represented by counsel, she advised the agents they could not conduct the interrogation without Lindh's attorney. They did so anyway. As a result, she correctly advised them that Lindh's testimony was inadmissible in a legal proceeding. When Attorney General John Ashcroft falsely stated in public that the seriously injured Lindh had waived his right to legal counsel before speaking with the FBI, Radack's advice was reported in the news media. Recognized as one of the top 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2013 in Foreign Policy Magazine, Radack is GAP's National Security & Human Rights Director and a recipient of the 2012 Hugh Hefner First Amendment Award.
- Daniel Ellsberg is a former United States military analyst and government contractor who provided a voluminous classified government study about the Vietnam War (the Pentagon Papers) to the media. Ellsberg's whistleblowing led to protests, contributed to forcing the resignation of President Richard Nixon, and emboldened the news media when the Supreme Court decided against prior restraint in the case of New York Times Co. v. United States. The Pentagon Papers demonstrated, among other things, that several presidential administrations had lied to Congress and the public about their intentions and actions in the Vietnam War. Ellsberg is the subject of the widely acclaimed documentary, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers.
- Thomas Drake is a former senior executive with the NSA, an armed forces veteran, and served as a CIA analyst. While at the NSA, he blew the whistle on multi-billion dollar programmatic fraud, waste and abuse; the critical loss and cover-up of 9/11 intelligence; and a dragnet electronic mass surveillance and data-mining program conducted on a vast scale by the NSA (with the approval of the White House) after 9/11. Drake argued that this program violated the Constitution and eroded our civil liberties while weakening national security. In April 2010 he was charged by the Department of Justice with 10 felonies under the Espionage Act and faced 35 years in prison. All 10 original charges were dropped in July 2011 and Drake pled to a misdemeanor count of exceeding the authorized use of a government computer with no fine or prison time. He is the 2011 recipient of the Ridenhour Truth-Telling Prize, and with Jesselyn Radack the co-recipient of the 2011 Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence Award and the 2012 Hugh M. Hefner 1st Amendment Award.
- Robert Scheer (moderator of Whistleblowing and Journalism) is a journalist, author, and frequent commentator on national security issues. A clinical professor of communications at USC Annenberg who co-hosts the weekly political radio program Left, Right & Center, Scheer is currently at work on a book about the international and civil liberties implications of the NSA revelations. Scheer is editor-in-chief for the Webby Award-winning online magazine Truthdig.
For more event details and to RSVP, contact USC Annenberg Media Representative Anne Bergman at 818.378.5417 or anne.bergman@usc.edu. For more information about GAP's American Whistleblower Tour, or to arrange an interview with a panelist, contact GAP Communications Director Dylan Blaylock at 202.457.0034, ext. 137 or dylanb@whistleblower.org.
About the Tour
GAP's American Whistleblower Tour aims to educate the public - particularly university students - about the phenomenon and practice of whistleblowing. The events are free to all, though RSVPs are required. A full description of the Tour can be found at www.WhistleblowerTour.org.
This Tour stop at USC is the eighth of several to be held this academic year. Previous 2013-14 stops have included Florida International University, American University, West Virginia, Auburn, Princeton, Syracuse and Temple. Future slated stops include Stanford and West Chester. GAP secures some of the most prominent whistleblowers in American history for its Tour. Previous whistleblower presenters have included Frank Serpico (NYPD) and Sherron Watkins (Enron).
The Government Accountability Project (GAP) is a 30-year-old nonprofit public interest group that promotes government and corporate accountability by advancing occupational free speech, defending whistleblowers, and empowering citizen activists. We pursue this mission through our Nuclear Safety, International Reform, Corporate Accountability, Food & Drug Safety, and Federal Employee/National Security programs. GAP is the nation's leading whistleblower protection organization.
LATEST NEWS
UN Chief Says Rich Countries 'Signing Away Our Future' With Fossil Fuel Development
"I must call out the flood of fossil fuel expansion we are seeing in some of the world's wealthiest countries," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said. "Countries must phaseout fossil fuels—fast and fairly."
Jul 26, 2024
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday criticized the world's wealthiest countries for expanding fossil fuel production, one day after an analysis in The Guardian showed that five Western countries are leading a global surge in oil and gas development.
Guterres' remarks came as part of a "call to action" on extreme heat at a press conference in New York, after record-setting world temperatures earlier in the week and a series of deadly heatwaves across the world this year.
Guterres, who has long been outspoken on the need for climate action, called extreme heat one of the "symptoms" of a "disease" that is the "addiction" to fossil fuels.
"I must call out the flood of fossil fuel expansion we are seeing in some of the world's wealthiest countries," he said nine minutes and 53 seconds into his remarks. "In signing such a surge of new oil and gas licenses, they are signing away our future. The leadership of those with the greatest capabilities and capacities is essential. Countries must phaseout fossil fuels—fast and fairly."
The U.N. chief's comments may have been based on Wednesday's findings that five Western countries—the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Norway—have significantly scaled up oil and gas licensing this year, despite their international climate commitments. The findings came from an analysis of industry data conducted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development and published in The Guardian.
The analysis found that the five countries together have licensed or plan to license projects in 2024 that will emit 11.9 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over their lifetimes. The news renewed discussions about whether countries such as the U.S., though they claim to be climate leaders, should be considered "petrostates"—a contemptuous term formerly reserved for countries such as Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Guterres has long been outspoken on the issue of fossil fuels. At the COP28 U.N. climate change summit in Dubai last year, he spoke forcefully about the need for phasing them out and meeting the 1.5°C target set in the Paris agreement.
"The 1.5°C limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels," he said. "Not reduce. Not abate. Phase out—with a clear timeframe aligned with 1.5°C."
The loophole-ridden deal that emerged from Dubai didn't match Guterres' ambitions, but did call for "transitioning away from fossil fuels."
His call to action on Thursday included a four-part plan for dealing with extreme heat: caring for the most vulnerable, protecting workers, boosting resilience, and limiting further temperature rise by phasing out fossil fuels and scaling up renewables.
Leaders across the board must wake up and step up their #ClimateAction.
That means governments – especially #G20 countries – as well as the private sector, cities and regions.
They must #ActNow as though our future depends on it – because it does.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) July 26, 2024
Guterres warned that 70% of the global workforce—over 2.4 billion people—is at substantial risk of experiencing extreme heat, and the situation is especially dire for workers in Africa and the Middle East. He called for strong laws to protect workers, which some countries are enacting. The Biden administration recently moved to set the first national workplace heat safety protections in the U.S.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Labour Ditches Tory Plan to Oppose ICC Request for Netanyahu Arrest Warrant
Now the United Kingdom's government must "stop selling Israel weapons," said one observer.
Jul 26, 2024
The United Kingdom's newly elected Labour government abandoned plans by its Tory predecessor to challenge the International Criminal Court's May application for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Under Conservative leadership, the U.K. joined the U.S., Germany, and other Israel allies in condemning the ICC prosecutor's application for arrest warrants against the top Israeli officials for alleged war crimes in Gaza, including "starvation of civilians as a method of warfare" and "extermination."
The ICC prosecutor also applied for arrest warrants against Hamas leaders over atrocities committed in Israel on October 7.
As The Financial Timesreported, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer "had until Friday to decide whether to make legal arguments to support questions raised by the previous Conservative government over the ICC's jurisdiction to issue warrants against Netanyahu and his defense minister."
A spokesperson for the Labour government said it would "not be pursuing this in line with our long-standing position" that "it's a matter for the courts to decide."
"Well done to the millions of people across the country who have made it clear that they refuse to be complicit in war crimes."
Humanitarians applauded the government's decision. Rohan Talbot, director of advocacy and campaigns at Medical Aid for Palestinians, called Tory opposition to the proposed arrest warrants "a disgraceful attempt to delay justice."
"I hope the new government will now throw its full support behind the court and uphold any warrants issued," Talbot added.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, also welcomed the move and urged the government to "stop selling Israel weapons." Between October 7 and May 31, the U.K. government issued more than 100 arms export licenses to Israel, according to official figures reported by The Guardian.
Reutersreported earlier this week that in documents released Tuesday, "judges granted permission to 18 states including the U.S., Germany, and South Africa to file written submissions to the ICC about its proposed arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, and Hamas leaders.
"While there is no set deadline to rule on the prosecution request for arrest warrants," the news agency noted, "allowing dozens of legal arguments will slow the process by the three-judge panel deciding on the matter."
Former Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, who won reelection to his Islington North seat as an Independent following his expulsion from the Labour Party, called the Starmer government's decision to ditch the Tories' opposition to the ICC arrest warrant requests "an important first step in respecting the universal application of international law."
"Well done to the millions of people across the country who have made it clear that they refuse to be complicit in war crimes," Corbyn added. "We will continue to demand an end to the massacre in Gaza, an end to all arms sales to Israel, and an end to the occupation of Palestine."
Keep ReadingShow Less
US Healthcare Workers Back From Gaza Tell Harris and Biden: 'End This Madness'
"Every day that we continue supplying weapons and munitions to Israel is another day that women are shredded by our bombs and children are murdered with our bullets."
Jul 26, 2024
As President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Thursday, dozens of American healthcare workers who recently volunteered in the Gaza Strip urged the U.S. leaders to do everything in their power to end Israel's assault on the enclave, citing the horrors they witnessed firsthand.
In an open letter addressed to Biden, Harris, and First Lady Jill Biden, 45 physicians, surgeons, and nurses wrote that "we wish you could see the nightmares that plague so many of us since we have returned: dreams of children maimed and mutilated by our weapons, and their inconsolable mothers begging us to save them."
"We wish you could hear the cries and screams our consciences will not let us forget," the letter reads. "We cannot believe that anyone would continue arming the country that is deliberately killing these children after seeing what we have seen."
The healthcare workers called on the Biden administration to "withhold military, economic, and diplomatic support from the state of Israel and to participate in an international arms embargo of both Israel and all Palestinian armed groups until a permanent cease-fire is established, and until good-faith negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians lead to a permanent resolution of the conflict."
"We are not politicians. We do not claim to have all the answers," they continued. "We are simply physicians and nurses who cannot remain silent about what we saw in Gaza. Every day that we continue supplying weapons and munitions to Israel is another day that women are shredded by our bombs and children are murdered with our bullets. President Biden and Vice President Harris, we urge you: End this madness now!"
This is an open letter addressed to @POTUS, @VP , and @FLOTUS signed by 45 American physicians and nurses, about what we saw while working in Gaza. Please feel free to distribute. A PDF can be downloaded from the link and/or QR code on page 1. pic.twitter.com/LHVvmeAFad
— Feroze Sidhwa (@FerozeSidhwa) July 25, 2024
The letter was released as Netanyahu, fresh off his widely condemned address to the U.S. Congress, met separately on Thursday with Biden and Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
In remarks following her meeting with Netanyahu, Harris said that "what has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating," pointing to "the images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third, or fourth time."
"We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies," the vice president added. "We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. And I will not be silent."
Harris said she told Netanyahu directly to "get this deal done"—referring to a cease-fire agreement with Hamas—but, as expected, she did not break with the administration on supplying arms to the Israeli military.
While there has been no obvious policy change from the administration now that Harris has taken over for Biden at the top of the Democratic Party's presidential ticket, Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft argued that the vice president "clearly broke with Biden on Israel in terms of rhetoric and tone."
Parsi also contended that there was "a substance shift."
"Biden has disingenuously claimed that Hamas blocked a cease-fire deal," Parsi wrote on social media. "By saying that she urged Netanyahu 'to clinch the deal,' Kamala pointed to the real obstacle."
BREAKING: VP Harris speaks after meeting with Israeli PM Netanyahu
Harris calling for an immediate cease-fire deal to free the hostages.
The VP saying she “will not be silent" about the suffering in Gaza, the "devastating" loss of life and the "dire" humanitarian crisis. pic.twitter.com/Fe5QPoOuFh
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 25, 2024
In their letter to Harris and Biden, the healthcare workers wrote that Israel "has directly targeted and deliberately devastated Gaza's entire healthcare system" and "targeted our colleagues in Gaza for death, disappearance, and torture." According to figures from the United Nations Human Rights Office, Israeli forces have killed one in every 40 healthcare workers in the Palestinian territory since October as diseases spread and the number of Gazans killed or wounded continues to grow by the hour.
The healthcare workers expressed the view that—based on available evidence and their experiences—"the death toll from this conflictis many times higher than what is reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health," which currently stands at over 39,100.
"We also believe this is probative evidence of widespread violations of American laws governing the use of American weapons abroad, and of international humanitarian law," they continued. "We cannot forget the scenes of unbearable cruelty directed at women and children that we witnessed ourselves."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular