“Whistleblowing or Leaking? The NKC: Snowden, et al. and the GCP: Pompeo, et al.

• In Event: 30662 - Section on Crime, Law, and Deviance Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 8: Crime & Deviance

Abstract

The findings show the emergence of a recent class of government power brokers who embody the different administrations that have overseen national security since the 9/11 attacks, with its shared social phenomena, whom a new term will know: the "Government CyberProtectors" (GCP). The development of the GCP was revealed as a reaction to the riveting data revelations by Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and Chelsea Manning (and others), also known as the New Knowledge Cyberclass (NKC). What separates the GCP (i.e., President Obama, General Michael Hayden, and CIA Director Mike Pompeo) from the NKC, who assert that these individuals stole and leaked top-secret records that endangered lives, is their definitions of what it means to be defenders of democracy, here, that pertains to protecting citizens' online privacy rights and the level of secrecy within the United States government.
In contrast to the NKC, and drawing on routine activity theory and deterrence theory, this research explores the formation of this new class of senior government officials and a collective ethos of this group, whose primary motivation is to discourage the leaking of classified documents that are vital to American national security interests.  Despite these shared interests that bind this group together, there are tensions and conflicts within this new class.  Applying these theories makes it possible to identify potential risks and develop strategies to protect whistleblowers and prevent wrongdoing within organizations while guarding against damaging national security.

Author

• Emanuel Boussios, Hofstra University