Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons Faculty Publications 2007 On Terrorism and Whistleblowing Michael P. Scharf Case Western Reserve University - School of Law,
[email protected] Colin T. McLaughlin Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/faculty_publications Part of the Criminal Law Commons, and the Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons Repository Citation Scharf, Michael P. and McLaughlin, Colin T., "On Terrorism and Whistleblowing" (2007). Faculty Publications. 1060. https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/faculty_publications/1060 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. ON TERRORISM AND WHSTLEBLOWING MichaelP. Schar! & Colin T. McLaughlin' At a Bio-Terrorism Conference at Case Western Reserve University School of Law on March 31, 2006, the government participants were asked what they would do if a superior instructed them not to disclose in- formation to the public about the likely grave health affects of an ongoing bio-terrorist attack. In response, they indicated that they would be reluc- tant to become a "whistleblower." This is not surprisingsince, despite the federal and state laws that purport to facilitate such whistleblowingfor the public good, government whistleblowers routinely have faced loss of pro- motion, harassment,firing, and in some instances criminal prosecution when they have gone public with their important information. Yet, without government whistleblowers who had the courage to go to the press, the public would never have learned about Watergate, the Iran-Contrascan- dal, the inhumane practices at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the secretpris- ons run by the United States in Eastern Europe, or the NSA policy of wire- tappingAmericans without warrants.