Whistleblowers in an Era of Big Data
Historical Background:
- Daniel Ellsberg, Vietnam, and “The Pentagon
Papers”
- COINTELPRO and Intelligence Reform in the 1970s
Today’s Internet Age:
- Julian Assange and WikiLeaks
- Edward Snowden Exposes the National Security
Agency
Broad Questions for the Day
• Do whistleblowers help or harm (or potentially both)
international society?
• What does the rise of Big Data mean for individual privacy and
government transparency?
-What role will investigative journalism play in the
electronic age?
• How do democracies handle the tension between SECURITY
and LIBERTY?
Daniel Ellsberg – The Disillusioned
Insider
• Excerpt from The Most
Dangerous Man in America
(2009)
• Worked for Dept. of
Defense on Vietnam in mid1960s, initially supports the
war
• Begins doubting the war’s
effectiveness and its
morality while at RAND
Corp.
Ellsberg Takes Action
• Has access to secret
Pentagon report on history
of U.S. involvement in
Vietnam
• Report portrays private U.S.
pessimism about war in
contrast to optimistic public
statements
• 1969: Ellsberg makes
photocopies and seeks
outlet to expose duplicity
– Does not leak diplomatic vols.
“The Pentagon Papers” Hit the Press
• Congressmen largely
uninterested
-exception: Mike Gravel (D-AK)
• Taken to New York Times;
Concerns about prosecution by
Espionage Act but still published
in June 1971
• Nixon admin. stops NYT; Other
newspapers print instead; Court
rules against Nixon injunction
• Exposes the “Credibility Gap”
Ellsberg on Trial
• Ellsberg and friend
Anthony Russo put on
trial for violating
Espionage Act, theft, and
conspiracy in summer of
1971
• Mistrial due to “improper
government conduct”
(illegal wire-tapping,
tampering with judge)
Unintended Result: The Watergate
Scandal
• Nixon admin. (not
implicated in Pentagon
Papers) use “Plumbers” to
break into office of
Ellsberg’s psychiatrist
• Wiretapping and breakins precedent for
Watergate that leads to
Nixon’s resignation in
1974…and increases
Credibility Gap further
Exposure of FBI’s COINTELPRO
Program
• Also takes place in Vietnam
War era
• COunter INTELligence
PROgram
• J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI, and
domestic spying on
“subversives”
• On Hoover’s “Enemies” List:
MLK and Civil Rights leaders,
homosexuals, anti-war
activists
COINTELPRO Shut Down in 1971
• Impact of break-in of FBI
office in PA in March 1971
– 1971 – new documentary
by Laura Poitras, journalist
in contact with Snowden
• Surveillance and other
intelligence issues taken
up by the Church
Committee in 1975
– post-VN, Watergate
– Frank Church (D-Idaho)
Church Committee: Review of U.S.
Intelligence Agencies
• Investigated CIA, FBI, NSA, IRS, others
• Concern over opening citizens’ mail, intercepting
telegrams
• Exposed CIA support for assassination of foreign
leaders
• Substantial “mission creep” by agencies
• Result: OVERSIGHT - Intell. Cmtes formed in both
houses of Congress, Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act and FISA Court
WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, the
Hacker-Activist
Established in 2006 by
Australian Assange
Role of Technology:
layering/obscuring
identity of leaker for
protection
WikiLeaks initially releases
docs in full (no
redactions)
WikiLeaks’ Major Leaks (2010)
• “Collateral Murder” video, Apr.
• Afghan War Diary, 91k docs,
July
• Iraq War Logs, 400k docs, Oct.
• State Dept. Cables, 250k docs,
Nov.
– “Cablegate” largest leak
ever
– Released in collaboration
with NYT, The Guardian
(UK), and Der Spiegel
(Germany)
– U.S. gov’t does not stop
Source: Private Manning
• How discovered?
Bragging to hacker
• Charged and Convicted
in Aug. 2013 under
Espionage Act – 35
years in prison,
dishonorable discharge
Diplomatic Fallout?
• Tunisia and Arab Spring
• U.S. Gov’t Concerned
about:
-Endangering
assets/informants
-Jeopardizing
ongoing programs
and negotiations
-Embarrassing
statements
Snowden and NSA Context
• Restructuring and Growth of Intelligence
Agencies post-9/11
-Patriot Act
-George W. Bush’s Warrantless Wiretapping
• Washington Post’s “Top Secret America” series
(2010): http://projects.washingtonpost.com/topsecret-america/
Edward Snowden – The Contract
(Worker) Assassin
• Former CIA systems analyst
and Booz Allen Hamilton
employee contracted by NSA
• Leaks NSA information to few
journalists, esp. Glenn
Greenwald of The Guardian
• A Wanted Man: Hong Kong ->
Russia
• Snowden in his own words,
June 2013:
https://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=5yB3n9fu-rM
Revelations about the National
Security Agency’s Mass Surveillance
Brings Concerns about Privacy to the
Forefront
-spying on foreigners in U.S.
PRISM – data mining
Email, Social Media, and Cell Phones
Justified targeting or pre-emptive
dragnet?
Gen. Keith Alexander, head of NSA
-Snowden made U.S. less safe, helped
terrorists
-Lied to Congress about # of terrorist
plots thwarted
Impact: International and Domestic
Heightened domestic scrutiny and
discussion about surveillance
-The Security vs. Liberty
conundrum
Listening in on foreign leaders’
private cell phones
– Angela Merkel of Germany
– U.S. refuses to release Merkel’s
NSA file, April 2014
Future Reforms by Obama
Administration
– FISA Court
– A New Church Cmte?
More from Snowden’s Guardian
• The Guardian and Washington
Post win 2014 Pulitzer Prize for
Public Service
• Glenn Greenwald, now part of
First Look Media and editor of
its online “The Intercept”
(https://firstlook.org/theinterc
ept/)
• The Snowden Files by Luke
Harding, who also wrote Inside
WikiLeaks