at least are hoping that once people realize the value of whistleblowers to democracy to the economy and then certainly to the national security that those laws will filter up to the federal level and eventually will have protections at that level you know earlier you said whistleblower should be praised and usually we see them persecuted now one of the events at today's summit was there was a blogger legislative campaigns discussing protections for a whistleblower so in your opinion what kind of protections do whistleblowers need the most well there are already some protections not full protections the problem with the current was a blower protection law here in the states is that national security whistleblowers are exempt from its coverage so if you are with the cia n.s.a. the f.b.i. d.o.d. or any of its components and you blow the whistle on something that you see that's illegal the chances are that you will be persecuted you will be prosecuted there are no protections there that is the most important thing that has to change. some of the important roles that was the players whistle blowers play in our society oh sure one

sharyl: a month later, national security agency whistleblower edward snowden exposed the shocking extento which the u.s. government had been spying on law-abiding citizens, including so-called "incidental" surveillance, without a court warrant, of americans who simply communicated with a foreign target. on that basis, the government has secretly recorded members of congress, we've learned, including jane harmon speaking with pro-israel lobbyists and dennis kucinich speaking with a libyan official. someone illegally leaked the conversations to the press. some people today may not realize that privacy of our citizens and controlling the government from doing these sorts of things is sort of a basic tenet in our society. elizabeth goitein: it is. i mean, it's right there in the fourth amendment. sharyl: elizabeth goitein leads the liberty and national security program at the brennan center for justice policy group. elizabeth: essentially every administration, starting from fdr up through nixon, had abused the surveillance authorities that were in their power in order to go after personal en

undemocratic then there is fact paralysed still of this fact paralyze refers basically to national security leaks from whistleblowers came from . chelsea manning i'd work snowden these things are you know fact then there's my personal favorite fact toxic are truths exposed in the absence of contacts and therefore poison important political discourse again the investigative journalist that you have spoken about nazis i met right in short the us army war college study team believe that the spread of facts challenging the legitimacy of american empire is a major driver of its decline not the actual behavior of the empire which such facts point to that is the thing that blows my mind it's like come on it's true these are mad things but they're facts that make us uncomfortable and make us not look as fabulous as we think we are so incredible we are like a teenage like you know we're like a teenager like trying to maintain popularity in high school and beating up people and not. just the people around and that we just be the love is like no don't don't talk bad about me and it's almost even worse it's like now that person

the standpoint that there isn't the exact protection for whistleblowers that the fbi it's different than most other agencies except national security. when we met, i gave you a list of fbi whistleblower cases. that list shows that it has taken two to ten years to get cases resolved by the department of justice internal process. now, you may not have any control over that internal process, but the extent to which you do i guess that's how i'm asking this question. fbi whistleblowers also have no access to independent review and the fbi rarely disciplines anyone for retaliating against whistleblower. tone is set at the top, that's why it's so important how you feel about this. how will you protect whistleblowers in the fbi and hold retaliators accountable, not just with your words but with your actions? i'm sorry to say that your predecessors did a poor job in this respect even though they may have been very effective in running a law enforcement agency and seeing that everybody got the criminals they should get. >> well, mr. chairman, your reputation for looking out for whistleblowers, i think, is maybe unparalleled. and certainly i

whistleblowers that the fbi. it's different than most agencies accept national security. when we met, i gave you a list of fbi whistleblower cases. that list shows that it has taken two to ten years to get cases resolved by the department of justice internal process. now, you may not have any control over that internal process, but the extent to which you do, i guess that's how i'm asking this question. fbi whistleblowers also have no access to independent review and the fbi rarely disciplines anyone for retaliating against whistleblower. tone is set at the top. that's why it is so important how you feel about this. how will you protect whistleblowers in the fbi and hold retaliators accountable, not just with your words, but with your actions. i'm sorry to say that your predecessors did a poor job in this respect even though they may have been very effective in running a law enforcement agency and seeing that everybody got the criminals they should get. >> well, mr. chairman, your reputation for looking out for whistleblowers, i think, is maybe unparalleled and certainly i

national security issues and protect the american people and uphold the constitution of the united states in keeping with the fbi's mission. of course everyone here knows that i care about whistleblowersower protections. in december president obama signed the fbi whistleblower protection bill that senator leahy and i worked together to pass. the law clarifies that fbi employees who make disclosures to supervisors are protected. unfortunately, there is still a lot of problems with the whistleblower protection process. unlike other law enforcement agencies, the justice department doesn't allow fbi agents to get an independent judicial review of retaliation claims. it concerns me that the department and the fbi hasn't worked with us on the legislation to fix that. fbi whistleblowers need the support of their leadership to ensure that there is a speedy and effective way to resolve their cases. i'd like the assurance from mr. wray that whistleblowers will not face retaliation. some of his predecessors have done a poor job of protecting whistleblowers. at the fbi oversight hearing on may 3, i said that a cloud of doubt hangs over the fbi's objectivity. the previous director, james comey, sa

national security issues and protect the american people and uphold the constitution of the united states in keeping with the fbi's mission.up of course, everyone here knows that i care about whistleblowers and whistleblower protections. in december president obama signed the fbi whistleblower protection bill that senator leahy and i worked together to pass. the law clarifies that fbi employees who make disclosures to supervisors are protected. unfortunately, there is still a lot of problems with the whistleblower protection process. unlike other law enforcement agencies, the justice department does allow fbi agents to get an independent judicial review of retaliation claims. it concerns me that the department and the fbi hasn't worked with us on the legislation to fix that. fbi whistleblowers need the support of their leadership to ensure that there is a speedy and effective way to resolve their cases.s. i'd like the assurance from mr. wray that whistleblowers will not face retaliation. some of his predecessors have done a poor job of protectingg whistleblowers.ot face at the fbi oversight hearing on may 3 i said a cloud of doubt hangs over the fbi objectivity. the previous director, ja