14 DAY TRIAL // Edward Snowden states that the whistleblower laws currently set in place, don’t actually offer him any kind of protection.
In a live Q&A today, Snowden was asked what he thought of Obama’s whistleblowing protection act.
“One of the things that has not been widely reported by journalists is that whistleblower protection laws in the US do not protect contractors in the national security arena. There are so many holes in the laws, the protections they afford are so weak, and the processes for reporting they provide are so ineffective that they appear to be intended to discourage reporting of even the clearest wrongdoing,” Snowden said.
He states that if he had revealed what he knew to the Congress, he’d have been charged with a felony. At the same time, Snowden admits, as he’s done in the past, to going to co-workers, supervisors and anyone in the NSA with the proper clearance to express his concerns. However, no one was willing to risk their jobs, families and freedom to go through with this.
“My case clearly demonstrates the need for comprehensive whistleblower protection act reform. If we had had a real process in place, and reports of wrongdoing could be taken to real, independent arbiters rather than captured officials, I might not have had to sacrifice so much to do what at this point even the President seems to agree needed to be done,” Snowden concluded his reply.
In the same Q&A the whistleblower also addressed a report that ran several months ago, in which it was stated that Snowden had stolen his co-workers log-in and password information, which offered him a way to get all the files and to cover his tracks.
“I never stole any passwords, nor did I trick an army of co-workers,” he said, stating that the report was simply wrong.