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April 9, 2015 By Richard Bowen

Snowden Documentarian Academy Award Winner Glenn Greenwald Wonders Why We Put Whistle Blowers in Jail!

Whistle Blower Richard M. Bowen with Glen Greenwald Pic Apr 3 2015
Glenn Greenwald and me at a National Center for Policy Analysis luncheon.

Glenn Greenwald, journalist, lawyer, academy award winner and author of No Place To Hide, spoke recently at a National Center for Policy Analysis luncheon I attended. His book chronicles the trip he made to Hong Kong in May of 2013 to meet with an anonymous source who claimed he had evidence of massive government spying.

The source turned out to be former NSA contractor Edward Snowden who addressed what he (Snowden) believed to be widespread, pervasive, intrusive government spying on average Americans. Snowden’s revelations have resulted in heated controversy over national security and information privacy. Snowden’s disclosures have branded him as a traitor to some, to others a hero and whistle blower.

I was struck by several comments Greenwald made such as, “The climate for whistleblowers has never been worse. More whistleblowers have been convicted in this century than ever before. Why do we put whistleblowers in jail?”

Or, I ask, why is the information they bring to the table ignored – information that the public needs to know about corporate or government wrongdoing – despite our attorney general’s claims that it is welcomed?

Ironically, Snowden and I share the same attorneys, the Government Accountability Project, who represent whistleblowers.  While some brand Snowden as a traitor, they do not, nor does Greenwald. He says, “you can debate whether he did the right thing, you can debate whether he is a traitor, but he shines a light on the people with the greatest power so they are not concealing information they have no right to conceal.”

Good point. Many whistleblowers, me included, report – or attempt to report – on the unprecedented abuses of power we’ve witnessed. Unfortunately, too often, regardless of the U.S. Attorney Generals and others calls to action , the data is ignored, discarded, and maligned – along with the people, the whistleblowers, who bring it to light.

Greenwald ferociously takes on the establishment and the media, reviling their increasing avoidance of adversarial reporting on the government and their failure to serve the interest of the people. He claims, “media has converted from the role of watchdogs of government to being servants of government.”

Greenwald asks, “what does it mean both for individuals and for a nation’s political health when a government pries so invasively into the private lives of its citizens?”

I question what it means, as well, for the economic health of a country when the government “permits” corporate entities to write its laws as they – the organization – sees fit to their own best interest; as the big banks are doing, right at this moment.

His work is very controversial; he causes one to think. And question. And ask, what is the right thing?

Do we call it when we see the right thing abused? Or, do we play it safe. I didn’t.

Greenwald chose not to play it safe. It won him an Oscar.

Related articles across the web

  • Glenn Greenwald: NSA Surveillance Program is ‘Antithesis’ of Fourth Amendment
  • Man Who Broke NSA Scandal Says This Is What People Got Wrong About Edward Snowden

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Tagged With: Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, Richard Bowen, whistle blowers

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Richard Bowen is widely known as the Citigroup whistleblower. As Business Chief Underwriter for Citigroup during the housing bubble financial crisis meltdown, he repeatedly warned Citi executive management and the board about fraudulent behavior within the organization. The company certified poor mortgages as quality mortgages and sold them to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other investors.

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"Richard's speech at the April Financial Executives International dinner was informative, interesting, riveting, and fast moving.  The feedback from members was overwhelming positive, and Richard received one of the few standing ovations given by our membership." ~ Jim Farrell, Program Chairman, Dallas Chapter, Financial Executives International
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"Richard Bowen has been there, done that, and has the scars to prove it, and his message of corruption at the highest levels of industry and government needs to be heard. I only wish that more bankers had the courage that Bowen exhibits. He is not only one of the most talented bankers I have ever met, he has more integrity than all the bankers on Wall Street put together. If his former employer had listened to him taxpayers would not have had to bail out Citi for the third time in the last 30 years." ~ Dennis McCuistion, Host of the McCuistion TV program
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Presentation Topics

Playing for High Stakes: The Principles and Practice of Ethical Leadership

Dark Citi: The Story of a Whistleblower

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Now an ethical leadership speaker, Richard Bowen was Citigroup's Business Chief Underwriter during the housing bubble.

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