The CIA Whistleblowing on the President?

By Nick Levinson

Whistleblowing may have been a vehicle for the CIA to get the word out about a well-known issue on Ukraine.

Whistleblowers in the national security establishment over the years have been complaining that whistleblowing is followed by being treated by the FBI as a threat to national security, presumably because an agency so alleged to the FBI. In this case, the whistleblower is allegedly an analyst who works for the CIA and who consulted with a CIA lawyer before blowing the whistle and for whom the CIA has been providing, at times, an armed escort to and from work because of death threats s/he receives online. It’s unlikely the CIA would do so without having investigated why there are threats and whether the analyst contributed to being threatened. Almost certainly, the CIA has concluded that s/he’s the whistleblower, that s/he’s not a threat to national security, and that s/he should continue working for the CIA, possibly in the capacity s/he was serving before consulting the CIA lawyer.

Either there’s been a change to how whistleblowers in national security are treated or the CIA made an exception for her/him. If the latter, I wonder if s/he was serving the CIA and the national security establishment by whistleblowing on the theme of her/his complaint.

The ultimate impact of the whistleblowing doesn’t tell us about the CIA’s role. The impact came later. However, it might inform whether the tactic will be tried in the future.