Kathleen McClellan

Hegseth team told to stop polygraph tests after complaint to White House The polygraph tests of Pentagon officials occurred as the defense secretary sought to stamp out unflattering leaks to the media.

So paranoid & demoralizing for Whiskey Pete to polygraph his own ppl. Sheesh.
#AmateurHour
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

It's a careful, well-reasoned opinion that rightly describes the exclusion of AP as retaliatory, viewpoint-based, and unconstitutional. And it reaffirms that viewpoint discrimination is off-limits even in nonpublic forums. An important opinion, especially right now.

Tulsi Gabbard’s new anti-leak hysteria is what she used to warn against The Trump administration crosses the Rubicon into politically-motivated prosecutions

There's a big difference between 𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔 and 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚-𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒔. It's called the First Amendment.
www.salon.com/2025/03/23/t...

Trump Live Updates: Tariffs, Federal Layoffs and Greenland Backlash

‼️Hegseth violated the #EspionageAct by putting US operational war plans in a commercial grp chat that included a journalist. #WHISTLEBLOWERS I REP HAVE GONE TO PRISON FOR MUCH LESS SERIOUS DISCLOSURES.
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/03...

Hegseth Disclosed Secret War Plans in Group Chat With Atlantic Journalist The conversation among the defense secretary and other national security officials on a commercial messaging app mistakenly included the editor in chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg.

@PeteHegseth should’ve been on SIPRNet, not Signal. At a minimum, he should resign over this rookie sloppiness. My clients were prosecuted for far less serious natsec disclosures — and ones that were in the public interest.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/u...

Public records are for the public Plus: Catch us on NPR while you still can

In partnership with @freedom.press, @wired.com stopped paywalling articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act

We commend Wired for tipping the balance between public interest and business toward the former and hope others will follow its lead.

Excited to join this conversation today and speak about @mediajustice.bsky.social work responding to over-policing and tech’s role within it.

White House Moves to Pick the Pool Reporters Who Cover Trump In announcing plans to hand-select the reporters who can ask the president questions at many events, the White House is breaking decades of precedent.

This move to hand pick WH reporters is about controlling the narrative. The worrisome next question is: what else will the Trump administration do to sources and journalists who work to reveal true but unfavorable information about our government?

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/b...

Exclusive: Government departments stop whistleblower training Newsweek obtained documents revealing at least two government departments have stopped antidiscrimination and whistleblower training.

Trump scrapping internal whistleblowing and discrimination training will create an opaque environment where discrimination, fraud, waste, abuse and illegality can flourish unchecked amid a culture of fear of retaliation.
www.newsweek.com/no-fear-act-...

Excited to hear @jesselynradack.bsky.social @stevenrenderos.bsky.social & @chipgibbons.bsky.social
online today at #RightsCon2025

5 Tips for Speaking Safely to the Press as a Federal Employee The Trump administration is currently giving all federal workers the same retaliatory treatment traditionally reserved for whistleblowers and media sources. Amidst the carnage and chaos, investigat…

Tips for federal employees who need to become #whistleblowers.

whisper.exposefacts.org/5-tips-for-s...

Elon Musk is using the whistleblower playbook DOGE is giving all civil servants the whistleblower treatment

My act of resistance today:
“The over-the-top tactics Trump & Musk are using — placing ppl on ad leave w/o due process, leaning on career civil servants to resign, accusing them of ‘complete & utter incompetence’ — are very familiar to most #whistleblowers.”
www.salon.com/2025/02/13/e...

This is not my most animated speech, but in 2021 I tried to warn people about Elon Musk's consolidation of power over the globe and the global imperial underpinnings of the "Kill Cloud" (timestamp 20:30), which I cowrote about in the book "Whistleblowing For Change" www.youtube.com/results?sear...

How Patel’s personal battles with intelligence officials have shaped his view of the FBI | CNN Politics Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, has for years battled US intelligence agencies over the handling of some of the government’s most sensitive national security secrets.

I’ve had clients prosecuted under the #EspionageAct & imprisoned for disclosing #classified info, even if in the public’s interest to know about (eg, torture)!! But Team Trump gets a pass when they do it for fame, gain, profit or revenge.
🤩💲👺🤺
www.cnn.com/2025/01/28/p...

YouTube video by Face the Nation Could Edward Snowden get a fair trial in the U.S.?

While Trump & his minions skate on criminal charges for mishandling classified info, here’s a refresher on what happens to #whistleblowers:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=lHwe...

Trump was prosecuted under the Espionage Act — now he'll turn it against his "enemies" We've seen how ruthless presidents use this deeply flawed law — and Trump already knows it's an effective weapon

"The Espionage Act is an ideal weapon for Trump’s retribution toolkit...If the past is prologue, the danger that press freedom may fall victim to personal vendettas is real."

Whistleblowing in Data-Centric Warfare · Jesselyn Radack, Thomas Drake · #KillCloud #DNL34 Whistleblowing in Data-Centric WarfareWith Jesselyn Radack (Head of the Whistleblower and Source Protection Program WHISPeR at ExposeFacts, US), Thomas Drake...

In their introduction to the Investigating the #KillCloud conference, Jesselyn Radack and Thomas Drake discuss the key role of whistleblowers in the narrative of #AI and #warfare.
Watch the video here: https://buff.ly/3ZP1D8X.
#DNL34
@thomasdrake.bsky.social @jesselynradack.bsky.social

The Espionage Act continues to be sharpened as an unconstitutional and draconian weapon against #whistleblower & media leak cases. Already notoriously difficult for defense, pretrial detention makes things even harder.

The public has a right to know.

Trump was prosecuted under the Espionage Act — now he'll turn it against his "enemies" We've seen how ruthless presidents use this deeply flawed law — and Trump already knows it's an effective weapon

My dire warning for whistleblowers, journalists & Trump critics. ⚠️
www.salon.com/2024/12/15/w...

Reality Winner is a Whistleblower Reality Winner, the 25-year-old Air Force veteran and NSA contractor charged with mailing classified material to a news outlet, is a classic whistleblower. She hasn’t claimed that mantle, which is …

If ppl need a refresher on #RealityWinner — @reazlepuff.bsky.social —
& why she’s a classic #whistleblower deserving of a pardon, I wrote abt it here. exposefacts.org/reality-winn...

Joe Biden should pardon Reality Winner for her actions as a whistleblower | Margaret Sullivan The leaker went to jail for a patriotic, if illegal, act. She has a lot to offer the world if she’s allowed to move on

Scapegoated by Trump’s Justice Department, Reality Winner deserves a pardon now for the public service she performed. My new column https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/05/joe-biden-pardon-reality-winner-whistleblower

The Assange Campaign | Send the open letter | Pardon Assange Can you add your name to the open letter to President Biden, urging him to protect press freedom and First Amendment rights by pardoning Julian Assange?

‼️Pls sign #Assange pardon petition. The Espionage Act should not be used as a tool to bludgeon publishers, journalists, whistleblowers, or sources for disclosing information in the public interest.
www.action.assangecampaign.org

"#Whistleblowing is critical in the context of drone war because we would have no idea of what's occurring in the most secret and most lethal governement program without the perspective of insiders." @jesselynradack.bsky.social

#DNL34 #KillCloud
dnlb.org/live

Kash Patel Has Plan to Remake the F.B.I. Into a Tool of Trump President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the F.B.I. has called for firing the agency’s top officials, shutting down its Washington headquarters and prosecuting journalists.

Trump will go after journalists and their sources -- protect them this #givingtuesday by donating to the Whistleblower and Source Protection Program (WHISPeR) at ExposeFacts
whisper.networkforgood.com

www.nytimes.com/2024/12/02/u...