The Whistleblowers

Blowing the whistle in Congo

Blowing the whistle on illegality, waste, or fraud is hard enough in the Western, developed world. But how does it work in nations with much less legal infrastructure and protections? In this episode of the Whistleblowers, John Kiriakou talks to Kudra Maliro, a Congo-based freelance journalist, to discuss what it’s like blowing the whistle in Africa and in other developing nations around the globe.

Death by fire: The burn pits

For years, American military forces burned the by-products of their activities at sites called burn pits. Medical waste, discarded shells and bullets, rubber, plastic, and all sorts of other toxic materials were burned next to overseas military bases. The fumes were known to cause extremely virulent forms of cancer; something the US military establishment denied for a long time. On this episode of the Whistleblowers, John Kiriakou sits down with former marine Joseph Hickman to discuss his work and his book detailing the horrors of the burn pits.

The whistleblower who tried to stop a war

It’s no secret the American government during the George W. Bush Administration made up its mind to go to war with Iraq on false pretenses. They didn’t care what the truth was. We’re going to talk about how that cynical decision led to war with a whistleblower who tried to stop it. John Kiriakou speaks with Air Force Lt. Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski on this episode of The Whistleblowers.

TSA Whistleblower invents secure pilot doors

An air marshal was fired by the TSA when the agency was caught trying to cut federal air marshal flights after 9/11. The TSA was forced to take him back but chose to put him in dead-end jobs, prompting him to sue the agency once again. When they failed to offer a plan to secure pilot doors on American aircraft to prevent another hijacking and terrorist attack, he invented one himself and now he is back in court. TSA whistleblower Robert MacLean speaks with John Kiriakou on this episode of The Whistleblowers.

Daniel Hale blows the whistle on the US drone wars

Daniel Hale released documents that came to be known as The Drone Papers once published in The Intercept. These showed during one five-month period in 2012 that nearly 90% of those killed in drone strikes were not the intended targets. Rather, they were civilian bystanders, innocent people killed and classified as “enemies killed in action,” unless proven otherwise. He was fired and put in a “SuperMax” prison with the worst terrorists and criminals. On this episode of The Whistleblowers, John Kiriakou speaks with Ray McGovern, a former senior CIA officer and Co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity about the whistleblower Daniel Hale.

Havana syndrome

In 2016, American diplomats began complaining of a variety of medical symptoms that included things from physical pain to ringing in the ears to cognitive difficulties. These symptoms were largely ignored at first. And then the term Havana Syndrome was coined. Dr. Leonid ‘Len’ Ber joins John Kiriakou to discuss his own case of Havana Syndrome and why the FBI is blaming crickets.