What Happens to Snowden Now? 5 Government Whistleblowers Under Attack From Obama

From:  AlterNet 

By Alex Kane

National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden is the latest to find himself in the crosshairs of the government.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

June 10, 2013  |  

Edward Snowden is in the crosshairs of the Obama administration. The 29-year-old former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency has just become world-famous for his disclosure to The Guardian of the massive surveillance of Americans implemented by the National Security Agency (NSA).

Now, holed up in a Hong Kong hotel, he’s facing the possibility of being locked up in jail for his actions. But he’s not the only one.

The Obama administration has waged a war on government whistleblowers. So here’s 5 whistleblowers who have been under attack by a president who once said that official whistleblowers were “often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government.”

1. Edward Snowden

Snowden is the latest whistleblower to find himself facing the possibility of jail time for leaking information to the press in the hopes of greater transparency and accountability. Snowden gave an interview to The Guardian in which he explained his actions, which included giving the news outlet access to top-secret NSA documents revealing that the phone records of Americans have been collected and that the NSA has direct access to the systems of Internet companies like Google and Facebook.

“My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them,” said Snowden in the interview.  MORE