Once again, Donald Trump is set to take the helm of the vast, secretive national security apparatus. This country will need whistleblowers, sources, and strong investigative journalism as much as ever.
Trump has already pledged to “launch a major crackdown on government leakers… When possible, we will press criminal charges.”
This was the policy pioneered under Presidents Bush and Obama, expanded under Trump, carried on by Biden, and now enthusiastically promised by Trump yet again. Trump’s attacks on the press will be buoyed by the fact that Biden’s Justice Department declined to drop the Espionage Act charges against Julian Assange, instead pursuing a plea deal and normalizing the first ever criminal punishment for a journalist for seeking and publishing true information.
WHISPeR is the preeminent legal protection program for defending sources and whistleblowers against the national security state. We rely on donations from individuals like you – your support provides us the independence to represent our most important and controversial clients, including Edward Snowden, John Kiriakou, Thomas Drake, Daniel Hale, and many others lesser known but whose disclosures have broad implications for accountability within the U.S. intelligence community.
We have been there at every key moment in the escalating war on journalism and with your help, we will continue to defend those who speak the truth, even at great personal cost.
Our work is vital in this moment because we know increasingly aggressive and repressive attacks on the free press are imminent.