It takes a lot of guts these days to come forward as a whistleblower and expose fraud or corruption in our government. Just for doing the right thing, you’re likely to face retaliation, ostracism, and attacks from those who would defend the (oftentimes corrupt) status quo.
The Whistleblower Protection Act of 2012 was supposed to correct this situation. It established the legal rights of whistleblowers and set up resources designed to protect them from retaliation, including a national hotline under the Office of the Inspector General.
Under both the Obama and Trump administrations, however, prosecutors have gone in a disturbing new direction to circumvent the clear intent of that legislation: using a 1917 wartime law, the Espionage Act, to prosecute whistleblowers. So instead of protecting these courageous individuals as the 2012 law directed, they now face very serious charges that usually come with long prison terms.
This is fundamentally wrong and needs to stop.
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