Truthtelling can be an act of resistance. Join Defending Rights & Dissent policy director Chip Gibbons as he brings you the stories of whistleblowers and other truthtellers who expose civil liberties and human rights abuses committed under the guise of national security and the attempts to silence them.
The Voices of the Belmarsh Tribunal featuring Margaret Kunstler, Srecko Horvat, Chip Gibbons, Jeffrey Sterling, Deborah Hrbek, Nancy Hollander & Mohamed Ould Slahi
When whistleblowers have been tried under the Espionage Act, the US government has successfully barred them telling the jury about what it is they are on trial for exposing. It’s clear the US government is afraid of juries hearing about the realities of drone strikes, mass surveillance, torture, and other abuses of power. When war crimes are exposed, the government puts the truth teller in jail. The Belmarsh Tribunal, named for the notorious British prison where Julian Assange is being...
26 Jan 2022
The Persecution of Julian Assange featuring Nils Melzer
"A prosecution is when you use court proceedings to prosecute a crime. When you misuse judicial institutions to persecute, to silence a dissident who has committed no crime and you're using the judicial machinery to silence him and to punish him, that's persecution." This is how UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer describes to host Chip Gibbons the legal proceedings against Assange. Melzer was initially skeptical and reluctant to become involved in the Assange case. Yet, afte...
23 Dec 2021
The War on WikiLeaks featuring Kevin Gosztola
This is the story of one of the largest leaks of classified information in US history, leaks which exposed US war crimes and other abuses of power. From 2010 to 2011, WikiLeaks worked with media the world over, to publish the Collateral Murder Video, Iraq and Afghan War Logs, State Department Cables, and Guantanamo Bay Detainee Assessments. It is also the story of the US national security state's ruthless relation against those involved, including the source, whistleblower Chelsea Man...
18 Nov 2021
Wikileaks & The Guantanamo Files feat. Andy Worthington & Clive Stafford Smith
The prosecution of Julian Assange marks the first time a publisher of truthful information has been indicted under the Espionage Act. In the first of a series of episodes exploring what WikiLeaks exposed and the lengths the US government went to silence them, Primary Sources looks at WikiLeaks' role in exposing human rights abuses at the notorious US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Nearly ⅓ of the charges against WikiLeaks publisher Assange pertain to Guantanamo Bay Detainee Assessment files ...
27 Oct 2021
The Drone Whistleblowers feat. Lisa Ling, Cian Westmoreland, Keagan Miller & Christopher Aaron
Those in the drone program have witnessed first hand the serious human costs of the US's global assassinations program. For years, veterans of the drone program have worked to alert the public to the realities of the drone warfare. The Kabul Strike, which killed 10 civilians, including 7 children, shocks the conscience of all thinking people. But as drone whistleblowers, have tried to warn, it was hardly an unusual event. Host Chip Gibbons is joined by drone whistleblowers Lisa Ling, Keag...
8 Oct 2021
Empire of Lies feat. Matthew Hoh
"There's been one systemic process of lying throughout the Afghan War. From the Bush Administration to the Obama Administration to the Trump Administration it has just been systemic lying from the American government about the war." This is what Matthew Hoh says about the US war in Afghanistan during this episode of Primary Sources. Hoh would know. After already completing two assignments in Iraq, Hoh joined the US State Department in Afghanistan. In 2009, he made headlines when he resigned ...
8 Sept 2021
Jailing the Messenger: The CIA's Torture Whistleblower feat. John Kiriakou
After September 11, 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency, with the approval of President George W. Bush, began a highly classified program of renditions and torture. While torture violates both US and international law, President Obama declined to hold any one accountable for the program, saying he was looking forwards, not backwards. That policy, however, did not apply to whistleblowers. The Obama Administration prosecuted former CIA analyst and case officer John Kiriakou for revealing info...
26 Aug 2021
The Whistleblower and the Wrath of the NSA feat. Thomas Drake
Thomas Drake swore an oath to defend the US Constitution on multiple occasions. His fidelity to that oath put him on a collision course with his employer, the National Security Agency. Drake assisted in an inspector general complaint concerning a costly intelligence boondoggle and aided Congressional investigations into intelligence failures in the lead-up to 9/11. And as the national security state expanded post 9/11, Drake's oath forbade him to remain silent when the government under...
11 Aug 2021
The CIA v. The Unwanted Spy feat. Jeffrey Sterling
Jeffrey Sterling has described himself as an unwanted spy. In the early 2000s, he attempted to take the CIA on over its racial discrimination against him. Citing the state secrets doctrine, his case was never considered on its merits. Later, he would go to the Senate Intelligence Committee to alert them about Operation Merlin, a plan to give Iran faulty nuclear plans. After being fired from the CIA, Sterling thought his ordeal was over. Then in 2006, the FBI raided his home and in 2011...
28 Jul 2021
The Whistleblower Who Takes On Espionage Act Prosecutions feat. Jesselyn Radack
Attorney Jesselyn Radack has been at the forefront of opposing the government's War on Whistleblowers. She has represented numerous clients indicted under the Espionage Act, including Edward Snowden, Daniel Hale, Thomas Drake, and John Kiriakou. Jesselyn knows first hand the perils of being a whistleblower. Before becoming one of the leading attorneys defending the rights of national security whistleblowers, she was a Department of Justice employee who blew the whistle on FBI ethics vi...
14 Jul 2021
Secrecy, Repression, and The Espionage Act Century feat. Carey Shenkman
Passed during World War I, the Espionage Act was President Woodrow Wilson's "firm hand of repression" that he used to silence antiwar voices. Touted as a law against spies and saboteurs, the Espionage Act has in fact been a tool to control the flow of information and suppress dissent. Over the interceding years, the Espionage Act became a way to retaliate against those who publish "official secrets." Today it is the government's go to weapon against national security whistleblowers and even j...
30 Jun 2021
Defending Rights & Dissent Presents... The Primary Sources Podcast, hosted by Chip Gibbons
Truthtelling can be an act of resistance. Join Defending Rights & Dissent policy director Chip Gibbons as he brings you the stories of whistleblowers and other truthtellers who expose civil liberties and human rights abuses committed under the guise of national security and the attempts to silence them. Support the show
30 Jun 2021
The New York Times, the Pentagon Papers, and the Secret Weapon of the First Amendment
When The New York Times published the Pentagon Papers it sparked one of the greatest battles for press freedom in US history. In an unprecedented move, the Nixon administration sought to bar The New York Times from publishing further. The Times's outside counsel had told them they would not defend them if they chose to publish the top-secret history of the Vietnam War. But their General Counsel, James Goodale, argued that The New York Times had the right to publish. As Goodale explains to h...
13 Jun 2021
From the Pentagon Papers to the Doomsday Machine feat. Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg is the most iconic whistleblower in US history. On our inaugural episode, he joins host Chip Gibbons for an in-depth conversation. On the 50th anniversary of the Pentagon Papers release, Ellsberg explains how the top secret history of the Vietnam War led him to believe the war was not merely a mistake, but a crime. Ellsberg explains what was in the Pentagon Papers, why he chose to release them, and what he hoped to accomplish. The Pentagon Papers whistleblower also tal...
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