Page 307 - Total War on PTSD

term “whistleblower” has been conflated to include individuals like Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning. Those individuals are not whistleblowers — they are “leakers,” and they did not engage in protected activity and in compliance with the law. “Whistleblowers," on the other hand, are individuals who disclose wrongdoing through appropriate channels — like to an Office of Inspector General or through lawful means to Congress.
I know this area well because when I worked as a federal official, I developed the legal and investigative framework for protecting whistleblowers with access to classified information. As a byproduct of working within that field, I have seen individuals who have experienced multiple tours of combat, return to an assignment within the Continental United States, see something wrong, disclose the wrongdoing lawfully, and be threatened with having an illustrious career ruined because when they came home they did the right thing and lawfully disclosed wrongdoing.
For example: years ago, there was a matter where a series of individuals reported, up through the chain-of-command, that their investigative leadership was fabricating evidence in order to obtain a guilty plea/verdict in a federal criminal matter. When leadership decided to continue in the illegal activity, disclosures were made to an Office of Inspector General of jurisdiction. That resulted in a heavy response, to include the involvement of the FBI. The result: leadership circled the wagons and the whistleblowers were targeted for reprisal through retaliatory investigations. While in private practice, I have witnessed clients’ leadership manipulate their colleagues and others as a form of workplace bullying, effectively “swarming” the individual in an attempt to make their life so miserable that they ultimately quit or retire early. Such experiences can certainly create significant stress creating or execrating already present medical conditions. Furthermore, such experiences can certainly impact an individual’s relationship with their loved ones.
Finally, I have colleagues and friends who have neither served in combat nor are whistleblowers. Their jobs are quite stressful and, in addition to their day-to-day
307 of 1042