in the news – Whistleblower Support Fund

Rash of assaults on whistleblowing, press freedom in Australia

Posted June 5, 2019June 5, 2019 Linda LewisPosted in in the news

Australian Federal Police raided the headquarters of Australian broadcast ABC News Wednesday, seeking files related to a 2017 expose of abuses by Australian forces in Afghanistan, including alleged killings of defenseless children. The search warrant named three ABC journalists and whistleblower David William McBride, “a former military lawyer and captain in Britain’s elite Special Air Service.” (Re-posted with permission from Whistleblowing Today.) (more…)

Chelsea Manning released from jail but may be returning

Posted May 14, 2019May 14, 2019 staffPosted in in the news

Chelsea Manning was freed on Thursday after two months in an Alexandria, Virginia jail for refusing to testify to a grand jury. That grand jury’s term expired but prosecutors immediately convened a new grand jury and sent a new subpoena to Manning requiring her to appear in court again this Thursday, May 16. It is expected that she will again refuse to respond to questions about WikiLeaks or Julian Assange. In that case, she could be returned to jail until the new grand jury completes its term. [This story reposted with permission from Whistleblowing Today.}

Trump’s Space Force rejects whistleblower protections

Posted March 31, 2019March 31, 2019 Linda LewisPosted in in the news

Challenger space shuttle crew remains await transport to Dover AFB. [NASA photo, 1986.]

President Trump’s proposal for a Space Force to assure US military dominance in space has come under fire for its proposed personnel system, an alleged “merit-based” system that would give fired employees no right of appeal or external review. The Federal News Network quotes AFGE National President J. David Cox, who observed that “an employee or whistleblower adhering to his or her oath of office could be terminated at will.” That would seem to violate the Constitutional oath every elected official and federal employee takes. (Cross-posted from WhistleblowingToday.org.) (more…)

Chelsea Manning jailed “in defense of a free press”

Posted March 27, 2019 Linda LewisPosted in in the news

Chelsea Manning, the Army whistleblower, is again in jail less than two years after her release from prison on a grant of clemency from President Obama. US District Court judge Claude Hilton ordered Manning to be taken into custody for after she refused to answer questions before a grand jury thought to be targeting Julian Assange for prosecution. (Cross-posted from WhistleblowingToday.org.) (more…)