Lau

Jeffrey Lau
June 18, 2017
Sociology 001
Whistleblowers
Throughout history, whistleblowers have had irreversible effects by the
actions they take by alerting society of horrific wrongdoings by both private
corporations and the government. However, the reception to whistleblowers by
society has never been consistent; at times they are regarded as heroes putting
themselves out there to be subjected to criticism and punishment, other times as
villains seeking to undermine our safety by revealing valuable information that
terrorists would use against us. In order to help determine whether or not
whistleblowers have a positive or negative effect on society, famous whistleblowers
such as Mark Felt, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden will be analyzed for the
impact of their actions and how whistleblowers play a role in society based on the
view of a conflict perspective.
The Watergate scandal is one of the largest and most well known political
scandals in history when former President Richard Nixons administration broke into
Democratic National Committees headquarters during the summer of 1972, in an
attempt to wiretap them. Eventually the attempted coverup of the burglaries began
to attract attention by the media, namely the Washington Post. Mark Felt a member
of the FBI known as Deep Throat(Woodward) during the Watergate scandal, was the
main anonymous source of information for leaks to the Post and provided them with
accurate information. Eventually, due to overwhelming negative attention and a
plethora of evidence against him, Richard Nixon resigned as President of the United
States. Mark Felts role in the Watergate scandal is undeniable, he supplied
information to the media informing the public about the governments role in the
burglary of DNC headquarters and its multiple attempts to cover up the
investigation through numerous means, including firing investigators. It wasnt
until 2005 that Mark Felt revealed himself to be the whistleblower in the Watergate
scandal and reception of this was mixed.(Woodward) Certain parties such as his
family, saw him as a hero, while others such as those who served in Nixons
administration, denounced him as a traitor who revealed national security
interests. Overall, Mark Felts role as a whistleblower should be viewed as
positive as he notified the public of improper and illegal behavior being taken by
the executive administration.
Edward Snowden is a more recent whistleblower in comparison to Mark Felt
and leaked documents to numerous press outlets detailing numerous secretive
government programs such as PRISM, which allowed for government access into various
parts of ordinary citizens private life, including calls, emails, texts, and
tracking(NBC). Furthermore, parts of his leaks revealed other foreign nations own
secret government surveillance programs as well as their alliances and intentions.
Snowden fled to Hong Kong where he applied for asylum to numerous countries and
eventually made his way to Russia where he currently resides.(Trivedi) In contrast
to Mark Felts more broad support, Edward Snowden remains a highly controversial
figure. Opinion polls show no real clear distinctive answer as the country remains
divided over his actions. Throughout the years his perception has changed as an
increasing amount of political figures have come out to voice their opinion of him,
but there seems to be a general divide among party lines. Neither political party
completely opposes him or supports him, showing the difficulty that not only the
general public has in deciding their opinion of him, but also prominent individuals
as well. Daniel Ellsberg, leaker of the Pentagon Papers which detailed the entire
involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War including secret bombings of
neighboring countries such as Laos and Cambodia, came out to support him. On the
other hand, James Clapper the Director of the National Intelligence voiced his
opposition to him and claimed that Edwards actions severely impacted the nations
intelligence capabilities. (Reitman)Ultimately its difficult to conclude with
certainty how much of an impact Edward Snowden really had despite his big splash.
The NSAs abilities have been limited by the passage of the USA Freedom Act, and
has caused society to rethink about the battle between privacy and government
surveillance.
Finally, Chelsea Manning is a U.S. soldier who leaked 750,000 classified and
unclassified sensitive military documents to Wikileaks.(Biography) These documents
revealed a very broad amount of information ranging from naming allies aiding
American efforts in the middle east, to showing videos of American war crimes.
Chelsea Manning was dishonorably discharged and sentenced to 35 years of prison for
charges of espionage and theft, but was acquitted of aiding the enemy. In January
of 2017, former President Barack Obama commuted Mannings sentence to four months.
(Savage) Chelsea Manning is perhaps the most controversial in contrast to Mark Felt
and Edward Snowden, mainly because her leaks involved information that directly put
U.S. lives and allies at stake by revealing various types of information including
location. Critics claim her leaks to Wikileaks dumped thousands of files that
didnt involve U.S. war crimes or other wrongdoings. Although some view Manning
positively for her actions revealing American war crimes and partially helping
ignite the Arab Spring, many disagree with her actions of revealing unrelated
documents that could have potentially harmed U.S. lives and allies.
Overall from a conflict perspective, whistleblowers exist because of conflicts
between the interests of the general public and big powerful institutions such as
governments. Governments hold power over their citizens and at times exercise these
powers unfairly and immorally and thus whistleblowers are necessary in order to
inform the public of these wrongdoings and prevent governments from abusing their
power. At times members of the government gain vasts amount of power and abuse it
in order to satisfy their goals. Whether or not these goals range from spying on
political opponents, to spying on their own citizens potentially for nefarious
purposes, whistleblowers are necessary for the citizenry to prevent themselves from
being controlled by the government.
All in all, it is undeniable that whistleblowers play a profound role and have
strong impacts on society. Their actions vary greatly from informing the media of
an attempted government cover up of a failed burglary on political opponents, to
vast spying on ordinary citizens, to handing over numerous documents which contain
information pertaining to war crimes and allies in hostile areas. In terms of a
conflict perspective, whistleblowers play a role in fighting abuses of power by
powerful governments seeking to maintain their power through means such as covering
up crimes and blocking investigations, mass surveillance of their citizens, and
committing atrocious war crimes against innocent bystanders.

Works Cited
Timm, Trevor. "Four ways Edward Snowden changed the world and why the fight's not
over | Trevor Timm." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 05 June 2014. Web. 19
June 2017.
"Chelsea Manning." Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, 17 May 2017. Web. 19
June 2017.
Reitman, Rainey. "3 Years Later, the Snowden Leaks Have Changed How the World Sees
NSA Surveillance." Electronic Frontier Foundation. N.p., 05 June 2016. Web. 19 June
2017.
Savage, Charlie. "Chelsea Manning to Be Released Early as Obama Commutes Sentence."
The New York Times. The New York Times, 17 Jan. 2017. Web. 19 June 2017.
Trivedi, Anjani. "Whats Next for Snowden: 10 Notorious Leakers and How They
Fared." Time. Time, 10 June 2013. Web. 19 June 2017.
"Who Is Edward Snowden, the Man Who Spilled the NSA's Secrets?" NBCNews.com.
NBCUniversal News Group, 26 May 2014. Web. 19 June 2017.
Woodward, Bob. "How Mark Felt Became 'Deep Throat'" The Washington Post. WP
Company, 20 June 2005. Web. 19 June 2017.