for protecting the civil rights and civil liberties of americans. and you took, took your oath to the constitution. seriously. was this your calculation that americans civil liberties and civil rights were being violated? but nobody was doing anything about it without question that's i've always said about myself that i'm a centrist in that the constitution is, you know, i think it really matter to me from a personal politics standpoint and also from a professional standpoint. so when i, you know, had the opportunity to look into some of the january 6 investigations and realize people were doing this. so. ready out of step with the f b i rules, i really grew on my heart's friends in that regard because the due process clause in the 6th amendment and the cruel, unusual punishment in the members who are in there. and that's what i brought to the attention to my supervisor when i made my disclosures. why would be f b i fire you when you made a legally protected whistleblower disclosure just as you were trained to do. you

didn't go to the media. you didn't even go to the congressional oversight committees. you didn't have the, the chance you went to the f b i inspector general, which is exactly what you were supposed to do. so why the heavy handed punishment? well, when i can tell they disagree with my assessment of the situation and they tried to create a situation where they never divorced the 2 aspects of me making my disclosure, which they repeatedly told me was allowed. and i could do. but they, from their perspective, i said i was refusing to do my job and they repeatedly said to refuse into your job, right? that what you're saying, right? and i always contradicted that and said that my job is to protect and defend the constitution of the united states. so there was a disagreement in that regard. and when the rubber kind of met the road and it was unstoppable force and they had to use the elephant gun to kill the mouse tactic

they like to do when it comes to security clearance. right. so they found ways to suspend my security plans because about that clearance you, you can't be an asian. so actually on my suspension document that i got from the human resource division, i listed a few things, one of which being my refusal to participate in lawful arrest, which was the january 6th, which again i didn't refuse to pay. and i said that i had a conflict of interest, conscientious objection and spoke to them about that. and then secondarily, once i was fearful that i was going to be disciplined, i got legal representation. and my attorney asked me to require the f, b, i handbook, and some disciplinary procedures for him to math, my defense. so when i did that, they said that i probably access the system to do that. even though that information is unclassified. ridiculous. many of us like to think that the u. s.

government has made great progress on whistleblower protections. over the past 15 or 20 years. congress passed the whistleblower protection act of course. but unfortunately, national security and federal law enforcement whistleblowers are exempt from its protections. there have been other whistleblowers from the f b i before you most notably calling rally jane turner, fred white hurst, what is your case say about the failure of the government to protect its whistleblowers. why do you think national security whistleblowers still aren't protected? i think national security just like a lot of things. it's this huge, encompassing force that you know, the f, b i and then the federal government, large kind of leads on it is get out of jail free card. so you know it spying on people or you know, my case, it's sort of just crushing down on a whistleblower or a legitimate concern, or they're just always going to lean on that crotch of its national security. and

that's, you know, guided them in their decision making. it's certainly done while for them on the national side because that the funding for national security is seeming limitless. and that's just the default the perspective they always are gonna have until there's real reform within the wisdom lower community. stephen, i recently found myself in kind of a strange position where i had been offered, what i thought was the job of a lifetime. i accepted that job and within weeks i realized that the company's leadership was engaging in fraud and money laundering. so i resigned and i took thousands of pages of documents with me on a thumb drive. and then through my attorney, i contacted the f. b, i here in washington, we went to the f. b i's washington field office. it was very, very difficult to get a meeting, but i finally got in front of an f b i agent. just minutes after i began explaining what i had and what i wanted to turn over to the f b i the f

b i agent interrupted me and he said no offense. but if this doesn't have the word terrorism attached to it, we're not interested. my attorney and i walked out and to the best of my knowledge that company continues to engage in fraud and money laundering. what has happened to the f b i? what is this focus on terrorism? and frankly, who defines terrorism at the f b i i think that the, the focus on terrorism is in a couple component. certainly in your case with the financial and my background investigating violent crime. i always, when i had interactions with prosecutors and even look at the asians, anything with dollars and then some numbers, the immediate assumption is going to be very complicated, very complex and very to the agent that they just don't want to take on that challenge. and people read that because they're supposed to be representing the premier law course of ac and really the, the route for the f

b i or white color criminal work. and that's why i was an accounting major in college. i was one of the skills that was why i was recruited, and i think that after 2001 and 911, the, the wallets were opened up significantly when it came to national security. and just the intelligence and military for that matter, just have this blank check where they have unlimited funds and, and certainly my experience in the government shrinking any, anything in government or suggesting that we're going to do away with a better ticket or program. it's really not the best route to want to elevate. it's always proposing something new and expanding. and just pretty much the national security label on top of that page is just kind of gets you a lot more or less roadblocks and bumps in the road. so i think that's a huge part of it. and then on and also the, the f

b i work in the glove of federal prosecutors. and a lot of those folks are lifetime workers and they're doing good work. but other ones are just shrink and vicious. and want to have that high pain defense attorney job after a few years in the us attorney's office. and they will say in physically in large cities, do not bring a case to me unless it's x amount of threshold. so you know what, chicago, it must have a $1000000.00. we're not touching it. take it over to the state to go to the levels . well, because they're just kind of drowning in homicides. not going to be over there. bad tree. ok. what's, you know, threat to wiping it head about an error. and so what happens is it just lingers until the statue runs out and you just never grasp. you're watching the whistle blowers, we're going to take a short break and then returned to our conversation with api. i whistleblower stephen friend stay 2. 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 ah

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created over the past 1500 years is now questioned, actually condemned, reviled, and rejected. just to remind you that it was funny at the will of bell. there's a lot closer on a whole bunch. thank you. sort of a little short list. joining total condemnation, gross daily, and now includes, does de escalate to cascade shostakovich that i need to you a quick tour left, but yes, you will see that with that i'm will you do obama lee? you're not going to do that a little more. ah ah, the all of i will say we want to get into your body. it goes right into your mar

and causes information. so that we are often it's a new virus on the chrome since lucille, when it's starving. so glad you're spreading around. when we finally is at the virus, mostly just picking up after your upper respiratory, it doesn't go into your lungs. so that's why the symphony is relatively mine and my usually does not cause to be considered. so this is something which feeds a lot of other people and why it actually so much compromise with it is cognitive the ah, welcome back to the whistleblowers. i'm john curiosity, who were speaking with f. b. i whistleblower steven friend who complained about the political is ation of the f. b i and the f b i's lack of respect for americans. civil rights and civil liberties. the cases

over. but so far it looks like he's paid, frankly, for his honesty with his job. we're going to talk about that. welcome back, steven steven, let's drill down a little bit into what you've revealed. you said that you were a member of the f b. i squad. that investigated and targeted pedophile and sex traffickers. but you were taken off that assignment and made to investigate people who had participated in the protest at the capital building on january 6th, 2021. i'm not talking about writers necessarily. you were told to investigate, in some cases perhaps arrest people who had participated peacefully. you told your supervisor on 2 separate occasions that you had a moral and ethical problem with this. you believed that the f b i was violating demonstrators 6th and 8th amendment rights. you told your supervisors that your previous work against pedophile is and sex trackers was, of course more important. and so you were fired or at least suspended. is there

a broader message here that we should take from this? what is the message that you think this action conveys to the rest of the f b i workforce? well, i think they would like any large organization, they have to develop priorities. so with what it came to me personally, i felt really, really strongly about the importance of doing a child for non investigation were right. but i alternately told them that i'm a team player. i'm not, i'm not going to say i'm refusing to do this work and i was assigned the top line to work domestic terrorism. so when i was rolled into that, my got a little more familiar. it was my understanding that most of that was january 6, wasn't specifically general 6, but it was kind of unspoken thing. i think the writ large workforce. do you really just not kidding seriously. if you're just

a number for executive management, you know, they're, they're kind of plugging all their moving chair pieces around the board really without regard for a particular skill set or passion or anything. and that's for the job. and i never something else whether except, and i certainly wasn't gonna refused to do the work. my, my problem was it has to be done the right way. and if the f b, i can be operating outside of the rules, you know, whatever the motivations for that are. and i have my own surmise, my own theories on why they were operating outside the domestic investigation. not great since guide. if you call them on that, they're going to be really quick to turn on you and find any way they can get the suppressive information from coming out. and really just removing you, being an impediment to whatever their agenda is. absolutely. i went through the same thing after, after i revealed the torture program, i'm interested to know what the reaction from your colleagues has been when i blew

the whistle on the sea ice torture program way back in 2007. i was very pleasantly surprised by the number of my former colleagues who reached out to me to express support. they couldn't do that publicly, of course, but the fact that they got in touch was a source of strength for me. how is it been with you? have you found yourself with the support of your friends and colleagues? it's been a mix bad. i've had a lot of retired special agents who i've never worked with new been reached out to racial friends and i just are social media. that's one of the few positive social media providers. so i had a huge, according to work in them, and then they really invited me to a lot of the inner circles. i've become familiar with terra and who's the other f. b i russell lower and he's introduced me to others. but for the exception of a couple of agents that to their friends in the f b, i really, it's in radio silence from them. it's been really disheartening. i said this

a couple times when i came forward and i knew this is going to be a difficult fight. ultimately knew that i was for my career on the line and just had accepted that. and i had this image in my head that i was going to be captain america at the end of avengers, and game room and beat and, and then just went all over was here on your left. and i look over and there will be all these men and women of the rank and file at my side, and that's just not come to happen. and it's unfortunate to me, it's really maybe disillusion about that. yeah, sure. but you can sleep at night, stephen, whatever the next steps for you, you are out there giving interviews, were very grateful for this one. i've seen that you're active on linkedin, you're looking for work. it's clear to me that you understand that this is going to be a process, it's going to take some time. so in the meantime, what are you looking to accomplish? do you want to go back to the f b i or do you want it admission from the f b i that you've been wronged? and also, do you have congressional support?

senators chuck grassley, ron johnson, ron wyden are generally very good on federal whistleblower issues. are they being helpful? yes. and the media, grassland johnson there. orderly, the issued a letter, you will be turning general on to the f b i, director on my behalf and asking some very specific questions and then interesting that i be reinstated that fall on deaf ears. it wasn't surprising to me. you being the f b, i was really my dream job. i really love the work. i always wanted to do it and having the opportunity for the 8 years was. ready really, it didn't come through just coming home every night and having my, my young sons just be my band was, was live in my best life. i am pragmatic and realistic. i know that going back at this point is going to be extremely difficult. and really, you know, i'm not in a position of power to negotiate, you know, for them to bring me back. but in

a perfect world, in a vacuum, certain reforms are made. i could see myself doing that, but i also don't see that come to pass. so in the meantime, i'm just going to speak out as much as i can to make sure this information reaches the widest possible audience. because i do think it's very important, regardless of who you put a letter for a week ago, i hear an american citizen and you need to know what your government is doing. so that's, that's my goal from the standpoint. that's why i'm speaking to the media directly about my complaint and professionally. i had dormant linkedin account that way kind of be more active. so i could hope to obtain new employment because she's, she was actually late actually after my my, then she came down again have my own suspicions about the nature of that. so we're both point to young kids in our later thirty's and, and i have some career changes,

so i'll just put my resume out. and anybody who wants to somebody can always talk. she's triggered. yeah. in demonstration integrity, i think that's a pretty good resume or an answer for me. and i'm hopeful that miguel worship we've seen news in the major media outlets. cnn fox, politico, the hill, it's all over washington that there are at least a dozen other f b. i. agents who have gone to speak to senator ron johnson, staff or the staff of representative jim jordan of ohio, who's going to take over the the house, the chairmanship of the house investigations committee. are we talking about the same kind of information that these other whistleblowers are going to capitol hill to discuss? or is this something that separate from what i understand we are as a wide variety, it's not necessarily tied to january. i've talked to a couple of them. one is with pertaining to the use of social media,

specifically facebook and inspiring on individuals and giving that information over to the f b. i was concerned the, the labeling of parents at school board meetings. so it's really a cornucopia of issues. i think it's just that's why i thought a lot of people would come for it once i did. i thought the dam that. busy actually break teams that they've kind of filled it up a little bit more for now. but i'm hopeful that with change over at least on the gamble in january to coming from jordan. and he's going to want to go after these, these issues a little more aggressively that maybe we'll see that there's a little bit of a calorie there to support us and also support whistleblowers legally. you know, i've worked with the empower oversight. i was really fortunate, congressman, different doctors attached me to to boss or empower oversight. and without doubt, i really would've been, had hung out to dry, you know,

something like that becomes more public re knowledgeable. i think folks will we're comfortable about information or regardless of it's january 6 or anything. right. let me ask you actually a follow up about that after i blew whistle on the torture program back in 2007, i did a lot on capitol hill that the media didn't cover the media didn't know about. i was asked to testify privately before the the senate armed services committee, for example. i went over to the house side to talk to the house intelligence committee. are you getting these kinds of requests from staff members? the people who make capitol hill run on a day to day basis to they want to know the background to this case, the kinds of things that would go into a proper capitol hill investigation. so i talked to the staff per bolt center, johnson and grassley, and that was that information is departments there letters. i've talked multiple times with congressman jordan staff and i believe the information i provided to

them was tied to his page report. so i can, it's not going to change hands. i don't expect to have any in committee requests next year from that side. i would walk of it. i really want them to look into this, but i'm also realistic. i didn't get your and will probably try to bring that too ahead, but he's also got most all number of issues that he can be looking into. so i'm hoping to participate that i'm hoping to work with the staff. certainly when i have talked to them that they really receptive the right now, not too much interaction with congress, obviously they were working on their election. so i think they all got a little sidetracked. right. i mean, i basically had agreed to speak with anybody who would like to and it's really been mostly conservative media that has reached out to me. i was fortunate that matter. maybe i came in and did a long, long form interview with may. and there's during the multiple piece exposure to me,

the problems with the f b i and he released that last week and he certainly something we have left. i talked to jane turner, her podcast, and i think she, she probably we and left as well. so again, the politics situation, no matter to me, it's just, i'm really concerned about an audience, you know, across the board having this information at their fingertips because it's important . it is important. you're doing the right thing. what can the rest of us do to help you and other whistleblowers or to help and encourage others considering becoming whistleblowers? this is a long and very difficult road. what advice would you give them to make the experience a little bit easier? i, i, i kinda came into this totally brush. i didn't know the process. i and certainly the agencies are not going to process very readily available because they don't want problems coming in. the lights are easily so, you know, as i've learned more,

i've been trying to extend that information to others so that you know, they decide they do the right way, the right process themselves and, you know, call up and anything. me personally, i just continue to have this message from what you said. i'm just going to keep talking because i know i had the facts and constitution on my side wall on my side . so no need to have the table when you have the facts and the law and then also just career opportunities. and that's really the, the scary thing. you know, my wife and i, you know, we were, we were scared, you know, we did the right thing. i would never per 2nd have done anything different again, occurred to me that i had any other options than to do with the job that was in front of me, which was to protect the constitution. so, you know, at this point, you know, it's a little bit of a stress on us. we are great in the network and certainly allowable to venture goal and offer to support us. but i'm not looking for a handout. i just, somebody, once you are honest days work and i kind of reach out and i'm hoping that we have

more because you know, the more opportunity to get the better for us. we're pretty well transfer. we are we're definitely open to relocate. fantastic. i want to thank our guests, steven friend, and i want to wish him well in this experience. and thank you to our viewers for joining us. whistle blowing is a tough decision. the truth tellers life changes forever and rarely for the better . but there's a bigger issue at play here. it's the issue of honesty and integrity. author william faulkner once said, never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. if people all over the world would do this, it would change the earth. those are words to live by. you've been watching the whistle blowers, i'm john kerry aku until next time. a.

2 2 2 2 ah, a. ringback ready because she knew spencer with barclay's me, that was a name is us, are forced from national guido, which would you still with going to do or no, but who do a lot with national anthem, a campus that the carpet from wanted to see that as the boys are new to me,

it's with me. me. ah, no one, no, no, not a joke. no, no. well dog, more shrill than what they end up unit $73.00. 1 was a unique organization in the history of the world. what they were trying to do was to simply do nothing short and build the most powerful and most deadly biological weapons program that the world had every now and real no to production issue or sure, doug, did that enough fuel to when you suddenly we're going to

keep on more, more general manager thought this is meant new. again, the more i got the sale i got, i got on monday. i wish to know about julie. whoa, whoa, knew david or guzzle more or less than a jr? let's i had to put the sky mother on all a couch. nice. oh boy, that's good to go on. what the on this. wow, she my a new on it all. i can send more a year. not a give us a resume. it was up with anybody

to look at that was just from what it what ship when you're ready all the way with decent. ah, yes, i'm love. it is a global scope with the, with the, with people in the office who and i used to get my service with

a to be a house. ukrainian nationalist used to high precision high march rocket against this volition 3 dead as ukraine continues. the shelling of civilian areas in the done yet, and we've done republics leaving residential buildings in ruins. party repulsively grow inside generation in africa is under threats as hunger and health care crises are set to burst in on the continent on us. the dog warning coming from an affiliate of the world health organization ah, on the cautious.