A whistleblower is a current or former employee who reveals what he or she reasonably believes evidences fraud, waste, abuse, illegality, or a danger to public health and safety. The individual can disclose their concerns to their superiors, Congress, an interest group representative, or the media. Unfortunately, often nothing gets fixed when employees report internally; in fact, they often become the target of smear campaigns, sued under the Espionage Act, fired and new work made difficult, threatened, or even assassinated or ‘suicided’. This is especially true in the Intelligence Community, where whistleblowers lack strong protection from retaliation. It is easier to shoot the messenger than listen to the message.
On the other hand, those involved in the corruption and illegalities are never charged with anything. The word “whistleblower” was coined by Ralph Nader. All governments engage in leaks to control how the media reports a story (leakers), but hate unauthorized leaks (whistleblowers), because suddenly they lose control of the story. The evidence is undeniable and incontrovertible: there is a concerted campaign to suppress information that exposes government fraud, corruption or abuse.