Topics
Jurisdiction
Fees
Anonymous intake?
Introduction:
What kind of cases are you the right organization for?
Founded in 2015 by renowned human rights attorney Jesselyn Radack, WHISPeR is focused primarily on defending whistleblowers, journalists, and suspected sources in national security, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies.
The Whistleblower and Source Protection Program (WHISPeR) at ExposeFacts.org facilitates investigative journalism in the public interest by providing free, direct legal representation to whistleblowers and suspected media sources, with a focus on First Amendment protected speech, civil service, and human rights.
WHISPeR gives clients the support they need to bring transparency to otherwise unaccountable government agencies and programs. WHISPeR’s work encompasses impact litigation, media outreach, and policy advocacy. WHISPeR unlocks information in the public interest, fosters high-quality investigative journalism, protects the freedoms of speech and the press, and furthers the most critical component of a democratic society: an informed citizenry.
They do not solicit or accept classified information; however, if you are suspected of disclosing classified or other protected information, they are glad to represent you.
Why should AI whistleblowers come to you?
WHISPeR have defended some of the most consequential whistleblowers in the emerging tech space, such as Edward Snowden, Bill Binney, and Thomas Drake, as well as drone whistleblowers and AI whistleblowers like Lisa Ling. There are more and more scenarios where AI and national security overlap, and WHISPeR’s team has unmatched experience in representing people who have exposed controversial and extremely complex government programs by “three-letter agencies” (NSA, CIA, DIA and FBI) running clandestine operations that have often been found by courts to be illegal, unethical, and/or unconstitutional.
- Drone Strikes on Civilians (representing Daniel Hale, Brandon Bryant, Lisa Ling and a dozen other unnamed pilots and technicians)
- Warrantless Mass Domestic Surveillance (representing Edward Snowden, Thomas Drake, and Bill Binney)
- Intelligence Community Abuses (representing John Kiriakou and Christopher Aaron)
- Law Enforcement (representing John Parkinson)
Here a list of selected clients – many of WHISPeR’s clients however remain anonymous and confidential, especially those still working within the U.S. Intelligence Community and those who have received credible threats of retaliation from the government.
WHISPeR’s clients and work facilitating investigative journalism has been featured in award-winning documentary films like Citizen Four, Silenced, and National Bird, and major news media publications worldwide including the New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, New York Magazine, Pro Publica, Der Spiegel, WIRED, and The New Yorker.
Why do you care about Whistleblowing in AI?
AI is the new frontier of whistleblowing because the law often lags behind new tech, and AI is largely unregulated. AI is run by algorithms, which are created by human input. Other times, however, AI has no “human in the loop.” Whistleblowers have already revealed AI copyright infringement in training models, incorrect inputs, restrictive NDAs, no safety protocols, no accountability mechanism, and no whistleblower protection.
Get in Touch
Signal
If you want to reach out to us via a secure encrypted channel, we are also all on Signal (reach out to OAISIS for details) and can help you set up encrypted and/or in-person chats.
Past cases of the team
Drones: Daniel Hale
Daniel Hale, former US Air Force member (2009-2013), worked in the drone program with NSA and Special Operations. After service, he publicly opposed US targeted killings, citing his experience with flawed targeting and civilian casualties. He appeared in “National Bird” documentary and speaks at public forums.
Surveillance: Thomas Drake
Thomas Drake, former NSA executive, exposed billion-dollar fraud, illegal mass surveillance programs, and 9/11 intelligence failures. The Obama Administration charged him with espionage in 2010, threatening 35 years imprisonment before their case collapsed in 2011. Labeled “self-radicalized” by authorities, Drake received multiple whistleblower awards and now advocates for constitutional freedoms.
Intelligence: John Kiriakou
John Kiriakou, former CIA counterterrorism officer who captured Abu Zubaydah after 9/11, became the first CIA officer to confirm waterboarding as official policy in 2007. Faced with Espionage Act charges, he pleaded guilty to one count and served 30 months in prison. His prison essays won the PEN First Amendment Award. A recipient of the Callaway Award for Civic Courage, he continues advocating against torture and human rights abuses.
Resources
Case Focus
Type of Cases
Employees experiencing retaliation for revealing suspected fraud, waste, and abuse.
Dangers to national security, intelligence-gathering, democracy, and human rights.
Unlocking information that is in the public interest and citizens’ right to know.
Possible lawbreaking by government agency.
Focus Areas
Journalism
National Security
Intelligence Community
Espionage Act Defense
Targets of Leak Investigations
Human Rights
Timing
If you’re interested in making a protected disclosure, whether anonymously or in your own name.
If you’ve made a protected disclosure and are now being retaliated against.
If you want to have counsel before, during, or after contact with an investigator or journalist.
If a journalist suggests you talk to a lawyer.
Barred in
District of Columbia
Maryland
Member of various courts nationwide (if not a member, they can join pro hac vice via legal partners)
We may not be the best fit for…
Environmental whistleblowers, purely corporate whistleblowers, qui tam whistleblowers, and discrimination/EEO whistleblowers.
Team:
The WHISPeR core team is supported by an illustrious advisory board.
Jesselyn Radack heads the Whistleblower and Source Protection Program (WHISPeR) at ExposeFacts. As Director of WHISPeR, her work focuses on the issues of secrecy, surveillance, torture and drones, where she has been at the forefront of challenging the government’s unprecedented war on whistleblowers, which has become a war on journalists, hacktivists and those who reveal information that the public has right to know but the government wants kept secret.
Among her clients are national security and intelligence community employees who have been investigated, charged, or prosecuted under the Espionage Act for allegedly mishandling classified information, including Daniel Hale, Edward Snowden, Thomas Drake, and John Kiriakou. She also represents clients bringing whistleblower retaliation complaints in federal court and other administrative bodies. Previously, she headed the National Security and Human Rights program at the Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower protection organization, served on the DC Bar Legal Ethics Committee and worked at the Justice Department for seven years, first as a trial attorney and later as a legal ethics advisor.
Ms. Radack has testified before the U.S. Congress, European Parliament, Council of Europe and Germany’s Bundestag. The author of TRAITOR: The Whistleblower & the “American Taliban,” Ms. Radack has written prominent opinion pieces that have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, L.A. Times, Washington Post, Guardian, The Nation, Salon, Legal Times, National Law Journal, and numerous academic law reviews. Ms. Radack received the “Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence Award” in 2012, the “Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award” in 2012, and was named one of Foreign Policy magazine’s “Leading Global Thinkers of 2013.” She served as a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow for 2014-2015.
Ms. Radack is a graduate of Brown University and Yale Law School.
Among her clients are national security and intelligence community employees who have been investigated, charged, or prosecuted under the Espionage Act for allegedly mishandling classified information, including Daniel Hale, Edward Snowden, Thomas Drake, and John Kiriakou. She also represents clients bringing whistleblower retaliation complaints in federal court and other administrative bodies. Previously, she headed the National Security and Human Rights program at the Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower protection organization, served on the DC Bar Legal Ethics Committee and worked at the Justice Department for seven years, first as a trial attorney and later as a legal ethics advisor.
Ms. Radack has testified before the U.S. Congress, European Parliament, Council of Europe and Germany’s Bundestag. The author of TRAITOR: The Whistleblower & the “American Taliban,” Ms. Radack has written prominent opinion pieces that have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, L.A. Times, Washington Post, Guardian, The Nation, Salon, Legal Times, National Law Journal, and numerous academic law reviews. Ms. Radack received the “Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence Award” in 2012, the “Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award” in 2012, and was named one of Foreign Policy magazine’s “Leading Global Thinkers of 2013.” She served as a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow for 2014-2015.
Ms. Radack is a graduate of Brown University and Yale Law School.
Kathleen McClellan is Deputy Director for the Whistleblower and Source Protection Program (WHISPeR) at ExposeFacts. A licensed attorney in the U.S., she provides pro bono legal representation to national security and intelligence community whistleblowers and media sources, with a focus on human rights issues of mass surveillance, excessive secrecy, torture, and drone warfare. She has represented whistleblowers from the National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security, including Thomas Drake, John Kiriakou, and Daniel Hale.
Ms. McClellan has appeared on television and radio programs, including NPR, CNN, The Thom Hartmann Show, Progressive Radio Network, and Al-Jazeera English, and written academic articles and op-eds focused on whistleblowing and national security. Previously, Ms. McClellan worked at Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower protection organization, and the American Civil Liberties Union’s legislative office, where she worked on surveillance reform and torture accountability issues.
Ms. McClellan is a graduate of St. Mary’s College of Maryland and the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Ms. McClellan has appeared on television and radio programs, including NPR, CNN, The Thom Hartmann Show, Progressive Radio Network, and Al-Jazeera English, and written academic articles and op-eds focused on whistleblowing and national security. Previously, Ms. McClellan worked at Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower protection organization, and the American Civil Liberties Union’s legislative office, where she worked on surveillance reform and torture accountability issues.
Ms. McClellan is a graduate of St. Mary’s College of Maryland and the University of Wisconsin Law School.
William Neuheisel is human rights and civil liberties advocate for the Whistleblower and Source Protection Program (WHISPeR) at ExposeFacts. William brings more than a decade of activism and public advocacy experience to WHISPeR as well as an expertise and passion for privacy, civil liberties, First Amendment and national security issues. William is a graduate of Concordia College in Moorhead, MN.
Support Offerings
This organization offers the following support offerings to (potential) whistleblowers along their journey.
If you are looking for more details on what might be included in each category, scroll further below. If you have questions on their exact offerings, please get in touch with us.
Offerings*
Offered?
Comment
Initial Support & Intake
Inhouse
Legal Support
Inhouse
They also have connections to judicially-recognized experts on classification and technology.
Technical & Evidence Support
Inhouse, with partner legal orgs, and/or volunteer technicians.
Security
Inhouse; Network
Financial support
Foundation grants & individual donors
Media Support
Inhouse and with media partners
Psychosocial support
Via network referral
Post-Resolution Support
Inhouse & via network
For your reference only:
For your reference, the following table details what might be included in the above outlined offerings.
They are a general indication for your understanding and not necessarily offered in full by they organization.
If you require more details on a specific organization’s detailed offerings, please get in touch with us.
| Service | Sample Details |
| Initial Support & Intake | Free initial consultation |
| Attorney-client privileged consultation | |
| Secure/encrypted communications channels | |
| Anonymous reporting option | |
| Multi-language support | |
| Initial risk assessment | |
| Legal Support | Direct legal representation |
| Attorney referral network | |
| Legal fee coverage/pro bono services | |
| Contingency fee arrangements | |
| Legal research support | |
| Filing assistance with relevant agencies | |
| Legal document preparation | |
| Representation in retaliation cases | |
| Seal/confidentiality protection | |
| Immunity negotiation | |
| Technical & Evidence Support | Secure document collection methods |
| Digital evidence preservation | |
| Metadata protection | |
| Technical evidence analysis | |
| Expert witness coordination | |
| Forensic accounting support | |
| Legal document preparation | |
| Technical validation of claims | |
| Data anonymization | |
| Security & Protection | Digital security assessment |
| Device security measures | |
| Online identity protection | |
| Counter-surveillance support | |
| Physical security assessment | |
| Safe housing/relocation assistance | |
| Family protection measures | |
| Identity change support (extreme cases) | |
| Temporary relocation | |
| Long-term security planning | |
| Financial Support | Living expenses during proceedings |
| Career transition assistance | |
| Job search support | |
| Reward/bounty program guidance | |
| Financial planning support | |
| Emergency funds | |
| Loan arrangements | |
| Insurance coverage guidance | |
| Fundraising assistance | |
| Media & Public Relations | Media strategy development |
| Interview coaching | |
| Statement preparation | |
| Media contact vetting | |
| Controlled release coordination | |
| Social media management | |
| Public narrative development | |
| Crisis communications support | |
| Platform coordination | |
| Psychological & Wellbeing | Individual therapy/counseling |
| Support group access | |
| Family counseling | |
| Stress management training | |
| Resilience building | |
| Trauma-informed support | |
| Health insurance coordination | |
| Wellness program access | |
| Long-term mental health support | |
| Post-Resolution Support | |
| Case outcome analysis | |
| Policy reform advocacy | |
| Ongoing security monitoring | |
| Public recognition support | |
| Community integration | |
| Long-term financial planning | |
| Record sealing/expungement |