Collecting (mostly) fact-checked of previous US govt whistleblowers.
Who?
Primary target audience: Potential whistleblowers in future. Especially focussed on those working at AI companies.
Why?
Might aid future whistleblowers, or people directly working with them, or people indirectly supporting them.
Unknown unknown reasons. I can’t pre-emptively guess every way this resource might be used in future.
Database categories
Since there are many people who become sources, it is useful to categorise them. I have categorised them as follows based on intent, action and consequences.
categories based on intent
(categorising based on intended beneficiary not intended recipient)
whistleblowers
intended beneficiary: perceived public interest
intended recipient of info: usually public. sometimes specific people acting in public interest such as judges or congressmen.
leakers
intended beneficiary: perceived personal gain but not money (romantic interest, personal rivalry, social status, etc)
intended recipient of info: anyone
spies
intended beneficiary: perceived value-alignment with foreign govt or ideology, or money
intended recipient of info: intelligence service of foreign govt
categories based on action
leaked classified documents
did not leak classified documents, but may have leaked classified information
did not leak classified documents or information
categories based on consequences
was imprisoned
was not imprisoned
(not categorising based on other consequences such as social ostracism, financial loss, etc)
Some notes and disclaimers (about the database below)
About classification
Background info
US classification levels: CONFIDENTIAL < SECRET < TOP SECRET < TOP SECRET/SCI
As of 2022-09-30, public claim is that 1.35 million people have TOP SECRET security clearance.
TS/SCI indicates a compartment which only few named individuals can access, not everyone with a TOP SECRET security clearance. Different documents can belong to different compartments. A compartment can be as small as 10 people.
Conclusion
in many whistleblower cases, seems unclear if classification status was SECRET or TOP SECRET at time of leak
About key dates recorded
date of first transmission of a document to a second person (there could be multiple documents sent on different dates)
date of first public publication of a document (there could be multiple documents published on different dates)
date of arrest
date of public revealing of whistleblower’s identity
date of being released from prison
About consequences on social circle
Typical consequences once identity is publicly out
Family members are interrogated, house raided and wiretapped.
Family members face significant legal expenses. Almost always, a defence fund is raised with donations from non-profits and the general public.
Family members are verbally harassed in-person and online.
Multiple people in extended social circle cut off contact. A common reason is to avoid being involved in the investigation.
Once imprisoned, prison visits are allowed for immediate family members.
Family members are not imprisoned.
Unless specified otherwise, it is IMO a reasonable assumption that all of the above consequences occured in every single case of US govt whistleblowers/leakers who were imprisoned. There may or may not be documented proof for all of the consequences.
Usually there is more documented proof if the whistleblower chose to talk to journalists or the general public about the challenges they faced. Usually law enforcement or intelligence did not make information public against the will of the whistleblower.
About opsec mistakes
Remember parallel construction of a chain of evidence is common, what evidence is presented in court may not be how law enforcement first found out the act occurred. I have tried sticking to court evidence and not speculating too much beyond it.
Remember evidence presented in court faces selection effects and framing effects due the adversarial nature of a court trial.
About journalists
This list is not an endorsement of the values or capabilities of any specific journalists. It only provides historical fact-checked information.
Information recorded
Date, title, authors, media house of first publication
Link to original copy of first publication, or a mirror if possible
Whether publication contains original documents
Whether journalists and editors knew identity of the source
Some journalists later quit the orgs they worked at, at the time of the leak. Unless stated otherwise, I have specified the org they worked for at the the time of the leak.
Some articles may have older edits or link urls. Internet Archive Wayback Machine is one possible place you can check for this.
In multiple cases there is public record of a journalist being informed of the source identity but no public record of the editor being informed.
Speculation by me (Samuel): It is highly likely that if a journalist knows the identity of a source, the editor will pressurise the journalist to inform them as the editor.
Editor’s reputation is affected if the journalist invents fake information claiming an anonymous source, and this sequence of events becomes public later. Editor’s reputation is affected if the source’s reputation is negative for the editor in some way (for example they’re a criminal or spy), and the source’s identity or reputation becomes public later.
As per AP policy as of 2025, a reportor/journalist must inform the editor of the identities of any sources.
As per Fox News policy as of 2025, no mandatory requirement for reporter/journalist to share the identity of a source with the editors.
About lawyers
This list is not an endorsement of the values or capabilities of any specific lawyer. It only provides historical fact-checked information.
Some minor details may be incorrect. I lack a formal legal background.
Category A: US govt whistleblowers/leakers who leaked classified documents and were not imprisoned
Category A (sorted by date)
Edward Joseph Snowden—still wanted for arrest
Daniel Ellsberg, Anthony (Tony) J. Russo Jr.
Classification status
Category A, classification status of leaked info (sorted by date)
Edward Joseph Snowden
100,000-2,000,000 documents (exact number is not public record), many of which were TOP SECRET/SCI
Daniel Ellsberg, Anthony (Tony) J. Russo Jr.
TOP SECRET
Key dates
Category A, key dates (sorted by date)
Edward Joseph Snowden
first transmission 2013-01 to 2013-06 (date is not public record), flight from Hawaii US to Hong Kong 2013-05-10, first major transmission 2013-06-02, first publication 2013-06-05, public identity 2013-06-09, flight from Hong Kong to Moscow 2013-06-23, first asylum request made 2013-06-23, first asylum granted (by russia) 2013-08-01, citizenship granted (by russia) 2022-09-26
Daniel Ellsberg, Anthony (Tony) J. Russo Jr.
first involvement of an unauthorised person (Anthony (Tony) J. Russo Jr.) 1969-10-01, transmission to US senator 1969-10 (??? exact date unclear), first transmission to journalist 1971-03-02, first publication 1971-06-13, arrest 1971-06-28, released on bond 1971-06-28, case dismissed 1973-05-11
Social circle
Category A, consequences on social circle
Edward Joseph Snowden
Documented social circle at time of leak: Father, mother, (divorced multiple years before the leak), 1 sister, girlfriend (now wife as of 2025-06), no children (2 children as of 2025-06)
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, polygraph, wiretap, significant legal expenses, online harassment
Documented visits in asylum: Father visited on 2013-10-10, girlfriend (now wife) permanently shifted to moscow in 2014-07 (possibly 2014-07-15 ??? exact date not clear), multiple in-person visits by journalists and lawyers since 2013-06, multiple video calls by journalists. No public record indicating mother ever visited him after the leak. (??? seems unclear)
Misc
Snowden’s family members working for US govt kept their jobs but with no further promotions.
Snowden had two children with his wife in Russia and they still live together in Russia as of 2025-07.
Daniel Ellsberg
Documented social circle at time of leak: Father, wife (married on 1970-08-08, during leak), siblings unknown (??? seems unclear), mother dead, ex-wife (divorced), 2 children from ex-wife (later had 1 child from wife)
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, significant legal expenses, in-person harassment by FBI agents, cut off by extended circle
Documented visits: After case dismissal: Visited by children and step-children. Visited by multiple friends and anti-war activists. Visited by multiple journalists. Significant surveillance by FBI and NSA continued during this time frame.
Misc
Psychiatrist’s office was (illegally) broken into under direction of Howard Hunt, CIA officer, to obtain evidence so that Ellsberg could deemed mentally unfit for trial.
Daniel Ellsberg’s father initially disowned him for this decision to leak the documents, but may have later changed his mind. (??? exact details not clear)
Daniel Ellsberg’s son later claimed parents had strained marriage for many years and he had less contact with his father.
Glenn Greenwald, Janine Gibson (editor, US), Alan Rusbridger, (editor, UK) - The Guardian
Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman, Anne E Kornblut (editor) - Washington Post
Gleen Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill knew the identity of the source before publishing. Janine Gibson and Alan Rusbridger knew that Greenwald was meeting an anonymous source in Hong Kong, but no public record confirming they knew the identity of the source.
Speculation by me (Samuel): It is highly likely they knew the identity of the source.
Laura Poitras and Barton Gellman knew the identity of source before publishing. No public record confirming Anne E Kornblut or other Washington Post editors knew identity of source before publishing.
Most of the 100,000-2,000,000 documents leaked by Snowden have never been published publicly. Public record is that only a handful of journalists (listed above) have access to a copy of the full set of documents.
Neil Sheehan, other team members, Abe Rosenthal (editor) - The New York Times
Newspaper contained only small excerpts per issue, total 9 issues contained excerpts.
Neil Sheehan knew the identity of the source. As per public record, Neil Sheehan negotiated with Abe Rosenthal (managing editor) to ensure that the story could be published without the latter being informed of the identity of source.
Ben Bagdikian, other team members, Ben Bradlee (editor) - Washington Post
Ellsberg provided Bagdikian with a copy on 1971-06-16, during the FBI manhunt.
Ben Bagdikian provided a copy to Senator Mike Gravel on 1971-06-26. 4100 out of ~7000 pages were published by Senator Mike Gravel on 1971-06-29 to Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds.
Ben Bagdikian knew the identity of the source. No public info confirming Ben Bradlee or others at WaPo knew the identity of the source.
lawyers for: No trial occurred, only asylum requests: Ben Wizner (US, ACLU Director), Jesselyn Radack (US, WHISPer Director), Robert Tibbo (Hong Kong), Jonathan Man (Hong Kong), Albert Ho Chun-yan (Hong Kong), Anatoly Kucherena (Russia), Plato Cacheris (US), Wolfgang Kaleck (Germany/EU), William Bourdoun (France/EU), Marcel Bosonnet (Switzerland), Gonzalo Boye (Chile), Baltasar Garzón (Spain/Chile, Wikileaks international legal head), Halvard Helle (Norway), Emanuel Feinberg (Norway), other anonymous lawyer-advisors
lawyers against: No trial occurred: Neil H. MacBride, Eric H. Holder Jr.
Civil suit over book published: G. Zachary Terwilliger, Jody Hunt, Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Jeffrey A. Rosen, Lauren A. Wetzler, R. Trent McCotter
Daniel Ellsberg
lawyers for: Leonard Boudin, Charles Nesson, Leonard Weinglass
lawyers representing NYT: Daniel Sheehan, Floyd Abrams
lawyers against: David Nissen, Warren P. Reese, Richard J. Barry, Joseph L. Tauro, Erwin Nathaniel Griswold
Category A, public fundraising for legal defence
Edward Joseph Snowden—Yes (via Freedom of the Press Foundation)
Daniel Ellsberg—Yes
Misc
Category A, miscellaneous information
Edward Joseph Snowden
empty
Daniel Ellsberg
G Gordon Liddy, ex-FBI ex-Army, claims Howard Hunt (who broke into Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office) also planned to induce LSD overdose to deem Ellsberg mentally unfit.
Wiretap also performed without warrant. Judge dismissed case due to extensive illegal evidence gathering.
Robert L. Meyer, US attorney, was forced to resign for refusing to pursue case against Daniel Ellsberg
Category B: US govt whistleblowers/leakers who leaked classified documents and were imprisoned
Category B (sorted by date)
Jack Douglas Teixeira
Daniel Everette Hale
Reality Leigh Winner
Terry J Albury
Joshua Adam Schulte
James Hitselberger
Donald Sachtleben
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning
Shamai Kedem Leibowitz
Samuel Loring Morison
Classification status
Category B, classification status of leaked info (sorted by date)
Jack Douglas Teixeira
classified at time of leak
most documents TOP SECRET/SCI (TOP SECRET//HCS-P/SI-G/TK//NOFORN or Top Secret//SI//NOFORN//FISA ???), some documents SECRET//REL FVEY
remains classified as of 2025, US govt has confirmed authenticity of some documents
Daniel Everette Hale
classified at time of leak
some documents TOP SECRET (TOP SECRET//SI//NOFORN), other documents SECRET
remains classified as of 2025
Reality Leigh Winner
classified at time of leak
TOP SECRET//SI//ORCON/NOFORN
remains classified as of 2025
Terry J Albury
classified at time of leak
some documents SECRET, some documents CONFIDENTIAL, other documents unclassified, at time of leak (??? seems unclear)
remains classified as of 2025
Joshua Adam Schulte
classified at time of leak
some documents SECRET, some documents TOP SECRET or TOP SECRET/SCI (??? seems unclear), operational details of vault7 not leaked at all
remains classified as of 2025
James Hitselberger
classified at time of leak
SECRET
remains classified as of 2025
Donald Sachtleben
classified at time of leak
main documents TOP SECRET // SCI, other documents SECRET
remains classified as of 2025. Summarised details confirmed in press interviews.
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning
classified at time of leak
iraq war logs SECRET//NOFORN, guantanamo bay SECRET//NOFORN, collateral murder video SECRET, diplomatic cables CONFIDENTIAL or SECRET or TOP SECRET (??? seems unclear)
Remains classified as of 2025: iraq war logs, guantanmo bay documents, collateral murder video
Some redacted documents declassified as of 2025: Diplomatic cables
Shamai Kedem Leibowitz
classified at time of leak
SECRET
remains classified as of 2025
Samuel Loring Morison
classified at time of leak
TOP SECRET or SECRET (??? seems unclear)
some lower resolution photos similar to leaked photos declassified as of 2025
Key dates
Category B, key dates (sorted by date)
Jack Douglas Teixeira
first transmission to semi-public discord 2022-02, first transmission to journalist likely 2022-12 (discord server logs 2022-02 to 2022-12 not publicly available), publication to wide audience 2023-04-06, public identity 2023-04-13, arrest 2023-04-13, not released as of 2025-06
Daniel Everette Hale
first transmission 2014-05 (multiple messages sent, exact date of first message containing classified document is not public record), first publication 2015-10-15, arrest 2019-05-09, public identity 2019-05-09, released 2025-07-04
Reality Leigh Winner
first transmission 2017-05-09, arrest 2017-06-03, first publication 2017-06-05, public identity 2017-06-05, released 2021-06-02
Terry J Albury
first transmission 2016-02, first publication 2017-01-31, arrest 2018-03-28, public identity 2018-03-29, released 2020-11
Joshua Adam Schulte
first transmission 2016-04 (exact date not in public record), first publication 2017-03-07, arrest on allegedly unrelated charge 2017-08-24, public identity as a suspected whistleblower 2018-05-15, public identity as whistleblower confirmed 2018-06-18, not released as of 2025-06
James Hitselberger
first transmission 2012-04-11, no publication, arrest 2012-10-25, public identity 2012-10-25, released 2014-07
Donald Sachtleben
first transmission 2012-04-30, first publication 2012-05-07, arrest on allegedly unrelated charges 2012-05-11, indicted as whistleblower 2013-09-23, public identity 2013-09-23, released 2022 (??? exact date not clear)
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning
first transmission 2010-01 (as per chelsea’s claims, 2010-02 is publicly documented), first publication 2010-02-18, arrest 2010-05-27, public identity 2010-06-07, released 2017-01-17
Shamai Kedem Leibowitz
first transmission 2009-01 (exact date unclear, may not be public record), first publication 2009-03-26, house raid 2009-04 (exact date unclear, may not be public record), final arrest 2009-12-17, public identity 2009-12-17, released 2012-01 (exact date unclear)
Samuel Loring Morison
first transmission 1984-07 (??? exact date within 1984-07 not clear), first publication 1984-08-07, arrest 1984-10-01, public identity 1984-10-01, released 1988 (??? exact date unclear)
Social circle
Category B, consequences on social circle
(only done surface-level research so far)
Jack Douglas Teixeira
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Step-father, mother, biological father, 1 step-brother, 1 step-sister, 1 half-sister, girlfriend
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, online harassment of parents
Documented prison visits: no info available
Misc: gave TV interview while in prison
Daniel Everette Hale
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, two younger sibilings, no SO
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation
Documented prison visits: no info available
Reality Leigh Winner
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, 1 sister, boyfriend
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, cut off by extended circle, significant legal expenses
Documented prison visits: multiple visits by mother, multiple phone calls
Misc: Mother faced panic attacks and depression. Sister withdrew from college for a semester. Parents faced difficulties with retaining job.
Terry J Albury
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, siblings unknown, wife, 2 children
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation
Documented prison visits: no info available
Misc: Wife and multiple friends remained supportive throughout the trial and prison sentence.
Joshua Adam Schulte
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, 3 brothers, SO unknown
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, significant legal expenses, online harassment
Documented prison visits: some family visits, visits were restricted for 3 years, claimed that he was attempting to release more info from prison
James Hitselberger
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, no siblings, no SO
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation
Documented prison visits: no info available
Donald Sachtleben
Documented social circle at the time of leak: no info available
Documented consequences for social circle: no info available
Documented prison visits: no info available
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, (divorced), 1 sister, boyfriend (breakup at same time)
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, significant legal expenses, cut off by extended circle, online verbal harassment
Documented prison visits: Multiple visits by family and friends. Multiple letters received, although some were redacted. First visits were behind glass, later visits were regular.
Misc: UK govt cooperated with US govt to wiretap mother and aunt in Wales. Father lost job, mother lived in debt, until sufficient donation received for legal defence. Mother collapsed during hearing, faced multiple panic attacks and medical consequences. Father became depressed. Father’s second marriage broke apart as well.
Shamai Kedem Leibowitz
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, wife, children unknown
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation
Documeted prison visits: no info available
Misc: Used public defender not private lawyer. Grandson of Yeshayahu Leibowitz. Likely morally supported by family and broader jewish community throughout trial and imprisonment.
Samuel Loring Morison
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, siblings unknown, spouse unknown, children unknown
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation
Discord worked with US govt to provide Teixeira’s chat logs, provide Teixeira’s sign-up details and delete messages and groups from their platform. ECF No 3 Attachment #1 Discord had Teixeira’s name, billing details, home address. ECF No 135
Teixeira instructed discord group members to delete all his messages if investigated. Teixeira later deleted discord server himself.
US govt had access logs from their official database. Timestamps between database access logs and discord logs correlated.
Teixeira printed many classified documents using official printer. US govt had access to print logs. Timestamps between database access logs and print logs correlated. ECF No 135
Printer used was in the basement of the building, not the printer in same floor as where he worked. Printouts were taken during hours where less staff were present. ECF No 135
Physical trail
US govt found destroyed tablet, laptop, gaming console in a dumpster near Teixeira’s house. US govt also found GoPro camera in a dumpster near Teixeira’s house. ECF No 19
US govt claimed at trial that hard drive of this damaged laptop was not found.
People in-the-loop
Teixeira was told multiple times by his bosses not to conduct “deep dives” into classified material.
Teixeira told people at work his phone got damaged.
Source unknown
US govt at trial inferred Teixeira had been photographing documents and taking them home, to avoid using official printer.
Did not go to trial, hence some evidence may never have been published.
Digital trail
US govt found reporter’s contact in Hale’s phone’s contact list. ECF No 1
US govt found two thumb drives at Hale’s house. First thumb drive contained one page of a classified document. Second thumb drive contained TAILS installed. ECF No 1
US govt had logs of badge reads at workplace. US govt had logs of work computer being locked and unlocked. US govt had logs of official printer at workplace. All three timestamps correlated. ECF No 184 Attachment #1
US govt had print logs of all 36 documentes printed. US govt correlated which of these documents were published in the reporter’s book. ECF No 1
Source unknown—This evidence might or might not have been sent to hale’s lawyer as part of discovery process, but it was never published publicly AFAIK.
US govt knew Hale searched internet for info on a specific reporter. Also knew exact date and time of irl meeting planned with reporter. ECF No 1
US govt knew date of meeting between Hale and reporter at book fair. ECF No 1 US govt knew Hale searched for classified info the day after the meting. ECF No 1 US govt knew Hale sent a message to close friend about this meeting, also knew contents of message. ECF No 1
US govt knew about another meeting between Hale and reporter, and another message to friend about this meeting. ECF No 1
US govt knew in detail the dates of many in-person meetings between Hale and reporter, and messages sent between Hale and Hale’s friend. ECF No 1
US govt knew about phone call between Hale and reporter. ECF No 1
US govt knew about exact contents of message where reporter asks Hale to install jabber. ECF No 1 US govt knew that atleast three conversations occured on jabber. ECF No 1
US govt knew dates of meetings correlated with timestamps of print logs. ECF No 1
Winner accepted plea agreement, so no jury trial or sentencing trial occured. Hence some evidence may never have been published.
Digital trail
Using search warrant, FBI seized multiple of Winner’s devices.
Winner’s mobile phone had a screenshot with The Intercept’s SecureDrop address. ECF No 109
Winner’s personal computer had saved web history including countries she wanted to fly to (search results for flights, jobs, etc) and history of various terrorist orgs. ECF No 110
Winner’s personal computer had stored login to social media account DMs where Winner admitted to supporting Snowden and Assange, searching about Anonymous, and having anti-US motivations. ECF No 110
Physical trail
Using search warrant, FBI found handwritten notes at Winner’s house.
Winner had notes on how to do a SIM swap. ECF No 109
Winner had notes on how to setup Tor and anonymous email address.
Winner had notes on countries she wanted to escape to, and notes supporting Taliban leaders, possibly non-serious. ECF No 109
People-in-the-loop
The Intercept contacted the US govt and sent them a hard copy of the leaked document before publishing it. The Intercept informed US govt that they received the document via post from Augusta, Georgia. This matched Winner’s house address. This combined with the print logs enabled the US govt to obtain search warrant. Search Warrant, ECF No 110, ECF No 120
Using search warrant, FBI agents interrogated Winner at her house while they were searching it. Winner admitted to the following during the interrogation. ECF No 29. Full interview transcript: ECF No 100-1
Winner admitted that she printed the document, removed it from a secure building, stored it in her car for 2 days, then mailed it to the news outlet.
Winner admitted her phone had a screenshot with The Intercept’s SecureDrop address.
Winner admitted she had political anti-US motivations for leaking the document.
Winner admitted she searched how to safely insert USB drive into TOP SECRET work computer. Winner admitted she inserted the USB drive to the computer.
Once arrested, over recorded calls from prison, Winner admitted to sister to leaking documents. ECF No 109
Source unknown
US govt claimed they had logs showing only 6 people had printed the document that The Intercept sent them. It is not clear whether these were printer logs or Winner’s work computer logs or server database logs. This combined with the mailing label from The Intercept enabled them to obtain search warrant.
Albury pled guilty quite early, hence not much evidence was published. No jury trial occurred.
Digital trail
The public version of a document published by The Intercept contained a grey highlight proving the document was obtained by screenshotting the document from a specific web interface. Public version of another document also contained screen defects proving it was screenshotted. Redaction by The Intercept not carried out correctly. Search warrant
US govt had logs of Albury copy-pasting some documents into a Word document. Logs likely obtained from Albury’s work computer at his office directly. Search warrant
Physical trail
US govt had CCTV footage of Albury’s office room where Albury is seen with a personal camera pointed in front of his work computer. Timestamp of this footage matches those of work computer logs. Search warrant
Using search warrant, US govt found the following at Albury’s house. ECF No 16
58 sensitive and classified documents on a USB drive.
This USB drive was in an envelope with a reporter’s phone number on it.
Multiple other devices that also contained copies of some of these documents.
People-in-the-loop
The Intercept made an FOIA request to US govt with one of the documents they intended to publish.
Later on in the trial, Albury admitted to using tutanota end-to-end encrypted email and Tor, and to using Adobe Acrobat and Readdle software to manually edit the images and pdf files. ECF No 35
Source unknown
US govt had logs of 16 individuals who downloaded the same document from their server. They also had logs indicating Albury was the only individual of those 16 that performed cut-paste actions on the document, consistent with the grey highlight on The Intercept’s publicly published documents. Other blue and orange highlights made by Albury on the documents were also found. Search warrant
US govt had access to an email thread between Albury and a reporter, indicating Albury may have had intention of contacting the media if internal channels would not let him speak. Email thread does not specify details of what information he is referring to. Search warrant
No public record confirming journalists or editor (of wikileaks) knew source identity.
2nd attempt: From prison, he promised more documents offered to: Shane Harris, the Washington Post. Marcy Wheeler, Emptywheel. Both journalists knew identity of source.
Adam Goldman, Matt Apuzzo, Ted Bridis (editor) - Associated Press
Sachtleben did not send original documents to the journalist, hence they’re not published.
Court record confirms Adam Goldman knew the identity of the source. No public record confirming Matt Apuzzo or Ted Bridis knew the identity of the source. (See note above on this scenario.)
No public record confirming anyone at Wikileaks knew the identity of the source at the time of the leak. Julian Assange has declined knowing identity of source before it was publicly reported.
Speculation by me (Samuel): Since Adrian Lamo could figure out the identity from social media clues, and Julian Assange was also a skilled hacker, there is a significant probability wikileaks also independently deduced the identity of the source before it was publicly reported.
Publication contains original documents.
Shamai Kedem Leibowitz
First publication: FBI Wiretap Transcripts: Israeli Embassy Targets Iran and U.S. Opinion, Richard Silverstein (at richardsilverstein.com), 2009-03-26
Link taken down, could not find a mirror yet. - todo
Richard Silverstein knew the identity of the source.
Misc: Leibowitz and Silverstein later publicly accused each other of misaligned motives.
Samuel Loring Morison
First publication: Jane’s Defence Weekly, volume 2 no 5, 1984-08-07 sent to newsrooms, 1984-08-11 official publishing date.
Could not find digitised version of magazine issue yet. - todo
Derek Wood (editor), Sidney Jackson (managing director), other editorial staff
Publication contains original documents (photographs).
Derek Wood knew identity of the source. Public record does not confirm any staff knew the identity of the source. Speculation: Sidney Jackson also may have known the identity of the source.
Law
Supervisory role played in some cases by attorney generals or assistant attorney generals: Zachary Terwilliger, John C. Demers, Matthew G. Olsen
Category B, lawyers they directly worked with
Jack Douglas Teixeira
lawyers for: Brendan O. Kelley, Gene Allen Franco, Joshua Robert Hayne (withdrawn), Michael Bachrach
lawyers against: Nadine Pellegrini, Jared C. Dolan, Jason A. Casey, Christina A. Clark, Joshua Levy
lawyers against: Gordon Kromberg, Alexander Berrang, Heather M. Schmidt
Reality Leigh Winner
lawyers for: Titus Nichols, Alison Grinter Allen, Joe D. Whitley, Matthew S. Chester
lawyers against: Julie A. Edelstein, Jennifer G. Solari, Bobby L. Christine
Terry J Albury
lawyers for: JaneAnne Murray, Joshua L. Dratel
lawyers against: Danya E. Atiyeh, Patrick T. Murphy, David C. Recker
Joshua Adam Schulte
lawyers for: Joshua Adam Schulte (represented self), Sabrina P. Shroff, Deborah Austern Colson (withdrawn), Matthew B. Larsen, Sean Michael Maher, James Matthew Branden, Lauren Martine Dolecki, Edward S Zas, Allegra Glashausser
lawyers against: David W. Denton Jr., Michael D. Lockard, Nicholas S. Bradley, Sidhardha Kamaraju, Matthew Laroche, Scott McCulloch, Damian Williams (supervisory), Geoffrey S. Berman (supervisory)
James Hitselberger
lawyers for: Mary Manning Petras, Rosanna Margaret Taormina, A. J. Kramer, Carlos J. Vanegas
lawyers against: Jay I. Bratt, Mona N. Sahaf, Thomas A. Bednar, Deborah A. Curtis
Donald Sachtleben
lawyers for: Charles C. Hayes, Kathleen M. Sweeney, Larry A. Mackey
lawyers against: Jonathan M. Malis, G. Michael Harvey, Richard S. Scott, Mona N. Sahaf, Steven D. DeBrota, Joseph H. Hogsett
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning
lawyers for: David E. Coombs, Nancy Hollander, Vincent Ward, Matthew Kemkes, Paul Bouchard, Chase Strangio. ACLU
lawyers against: Ashden Fein, Joe Morrow, Angel Overgaard, Hunter Whyte
Shamai Kedem Leibowitz
lawyers for: Cary D. Feldman (withdrawn), Richard M. Asche
lawyers against: Steven M. Dunne, Kathleen M. Kedian, David Kris (supervisory), David Kris (supervisory)
Samuel Loring Morison
lawyers for: Jacob A. Stein, Robert F. Muse, Mark H. Lynch, Charles F.C. Ruff, Neil K. Roman, Steven F. Reich, Armistead P. Rood
lawyers against: Michael Schatzow, Michael Schatzow, Breckinridge Long Willcox. 2nd case: James G. Warwick, Rod J. Rosenstein
Category B, public fundraising for legal defence
Jack Douglas Teixeira—Could not find
Daniel Everette Hale—Yes
Reality Leigh Winner—Yes
Terry J Albury—Yes
Joshua Adam Schulte—Could not find
James Hitselberger—Yes
Donald Sachtleben—Could not find
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning - Yes
Shamai Kedem Leibowitz—Could not find
Samuel Loring Morison—Could not find
Miscellaneous information
Jack Douglas Teixeira
Misc info brought up during the trial
Discord username: TheExcaliburEffect, Discord server: Thug Shaker Central
Teixeira suspended from school for racial threats, rejected for gun license multiple times as a result, used security clearance to get gun license, had many guns in gun locker. ECF No 19 Attachment #5
Teixeira made social media statements that he might conduct a mass shooting. Teixeira’s work colleague said that he might get shot by Teixeira. (Court record is not clear if these were jokes or not.) ECF No 19 Attachment #4
After guilty plea, Teixeira attended four hour interrogation where he admitted his actions. ECF No 142
In order to reduce prison sentence, Teixeira’s lawyer got a psychiatrist to testify that Teixeira was diagnosed as having ADHD and autism, and that Teixeira was naive about who were the receipients of the info in the discord. ECF No 142
In order to reduce prison sentence, Teixeira’s lawyer published many stories and letters about Teixeira’s childhood. ECF No 142 Attachment #2
Daniel Everette Hale
Misc info brought up during the trial
Software used by Hale for converting file formats and printing documents: O&K, GhostPCL. ECF No 168
Lots of argumentation back-and-forth on whether Hale’s action of leaking documents could be seen as stealing more than $1000 of value from the govt or not. ECF No 195
Lots of argumentation occured before trial on whether the FBI interrogation transcript was admissible in court or not, as Winner was not formally informed she was arrested or read her miranda rights.
Someone else setup a GoFundMe for Winner that received $12k. No evidence confirming Winner was able to access this money.
Category C: US govt whistleblowers/leakers who did not leak classified documents but leaked information, and were imprisoned
Category C (sorted by date)
Henry Kyle Frese
John Chris Kiriakou
Stephen Jin-Woo Kim
Jeffrey Alexander Sterling
Classification status
Category C, classification status of leaked info (sorted by date)
Henry Kyle Frese
classified at time of leak
some documents TOP SECRET/SCI, some documents SECRET (?? seems unclear)
remains classified as of 2025
John Chris Kiriakou
classified at time of leak
officier identity SECRET, interrogation details TOP SECRET/SCI or CONFIDENTIAL/SECRET (??? seems unclear)
officer identity remains classified as of 2025, partial info about interrogation methods declassified as of 2025
Stephen Jin-Woo Kim
classified at time of leak
TOP SECRET/SCI
remains classified as of 2025
Jeffrey Alexander Sterling
classified at time of leak
TOP SECRET/SCI, or SECRET (??? seems unclear)
remains classified as of 2025
Key dates
Category C, key dates (sorted by date)
Henry Kyle Frese
first transmission 2018-04-27, first publication 2018-05-02, arrest 2019-10-09, public identity 2019-10-09, released 2022-10-14
John Chris Kiriakou
first non-classified transmission 2007-12-10, first non-classified publication 2007-12
identity of CIA officer deuce martinez was classified. deuce martinez involvement independently suspected in public since 2006-06-20. first transmission of classified info 2008-08 (email from public record in 2008-08, previous email in 2008-04 alleged), first public publication of martinez’ name 2008-06-22 (Scott Shane, NYT), first publication in a classified legal hearing 2009, clear public publication of classified info with surrounding context 2015-02-18.
arrest 2012-01-23, public identity 2012-01-23, released 2025-02-03
Stephen Jin-Woo Kim
first transmission 2009-06, first publication 2009-06-11, indicted 2010-08-18, arrest 2010-08-24, public identity as whistleblower confirmed 2010-08-24, released 2015 (??? exact date not clear)
Jeffrey Alexander Sterling
first transmission 2003-03 (first phone call 2003-02-27 out of multiple phone calls, not clear which phone call revealed classified info), first publication 2006-01-03, arrest 2011-01-06, public identity 2011-01-06 (identity was semi-private before this), released 2018-01 (exact date unclear)
Social circle
Category C, consequences on social circle
(only done surface-level research so far)
Henry Kyle Frese
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, 3 sisters, girlfriend
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation
Documented prison visits: no info available
John Chris Kiriakou
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, siblings unknown, wife, 5 children (of which 2 from wife, 3 from ex-wife)
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, polygraph, cut off by extended circle, significant legal expenses, online and inperson verbal harassment
Documented prison visits: Multiple visits by spouse and children, visits by journalists
Misc: Publicly talks about how being shunned by his entire social circle was painful
Stephen Jin-Woo Kim
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, girlfriend (later wife), 1 sister, other siblings unknown
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, significant legal expenses, online harassment
Documented prison visits: Multiple visits by family members, visit by journalist
Misc: James Rosen, journalist, visited Stephen Kim in prison to apologise.
Jeffrey Alexander Sterling
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, multiple siblings, wife, no children
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, significant legal expenses, online harassment
Documented prison visits: Multiple visits by wife. Some journalists were allowed visits and others were denied.
Misc: Lost house and nearly went bankrupt due to legal fees. Supported by wife throughout trial and imprisonment.
James Rosen, Michael Clemente (editor), Bill Sammon (editor) - Fox News
Kim did not send any original documents to the journalist, hence they’re not published.
James Rosen knew the identity of the source. No public record confirming the editor knew the identity of the source. (See note above on this scenario.)
Jeffrey Alexander Sterling
First publication: State of War, James Risen, 2006-01-03, published by Free Print under Simon & Schuster. State of War, Anna’s Archive book download. James Risen was a journalist at the New York Times.
Publication does not contain original documents, hence they’re not published.
James Risen knew identity of the source. Court record (US v Sterling) confirms James’ wife Holly also knew identity of the source. Multiple intelligence community members also suspected the identity of the source. Public record is not clear on who all were informed by Sterling that he was the source.
Law
Category C, lawyers they directly worked with
Henry Kyle Frese
lawyers for: Stuart Sears
lawyers against: Jennifer Kennedy Gellie, Danya E. Atiyeh, Neil Hammerstrom
John Chris Kiriakou
lawyers for: Robert Trout, Plato Cacheris, John F. Hundley, Jesse Isaac Winograd, Jesselyn Radack (advisory)
lawyers against: Neil H. MacBride, Mark Schneider, Iris Lan, Patrick Fitzgerald (absent), Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Ryan Fayhee, William N. Hammerstrom Jr., Lisa Owings
Stephen Jin-Woo Kim
lawyers for: Abbe D. Lowell, Paul M. Thompson, James M. Commons, Ruth Wedgwood
lawyers against: Michael Harvey, Jonathan M. Malis, Thomas A. Bednar, Deborah A. Curtis, Julie A. Edelstein, Ronald C. Machen Jr. (supervisory)
Jeffrey Alexander Sterling
lawyers for: Edward MacMahon, Barry Pollack, William James Trunk, J. Richard Supple Jr., Mia Haessly, Lawrence S. Robbins
lawyers against: James L. Trump, Eric G. Olshan, Dennis Fitzpatrick, William M. Welch II (withdrawn), Timothy Kelly, Neil H. MacBride, Dana J. Boente (supervisory), Robert A. Parker (supervisory), Leslie R. Caldwell (supervisory), Sung-Hee Suh (supervisory)
Category C, public fundraising for legal defence
Henry Kyle Frese—Could not find
John Chris Kiriakou—Yes
Stephen Jin-Woo Kim—Could not find
Jeffrey Alexander Sterling—Yes
Misc
empty
Category D: US govt whistleblowers/leakers who did not leak classified documents but may have leaked classified information, and were not imprisoned
Category D (sorted by date)
Thomas Andrews Drake
Mark Lee Klein
Russell D Tice
Thomas M Tamm
Sibel Deniz Edmonds
Edward Loomis
William Edward Binney
John Kirk Wiebe
Perry Douglas Fellwock
Classification status
Category D, classification status of leaked info (sorted by date)
Thomas Andrew Drake
not classified
govt alleged classified documents leak, judge declared those documents were not classified
Mark Lee Klein
leaked existence of program that may have been classified, but no classified documents
Russell D Tice
leaked existence of classified program, but no classified documents
Thomas M Tamm
leaked existence of classified program, but no classified documents
Sibel Deniz Edmonds
leaked details that were retroactively classified after the leak, did not leak classified documents
Edward Loomis
leaked details of classified program, but no classified documents
William Edward Binney
leaked existence and details of classified program, but no classified documents (as per court record)
John Kirk Wiebe
leaked existence and details of classified program, but no classified documents (as per court record)
Perry Douglas Fellwock
leaked existence and extensive amount of details of classified program, likely did not leak classified documents (as per court record)
Key dates
Category D, key dates (sorted by date)
Thomas Andrews Drake—first transmission to journalist 2005-11 to 2006-02 (??? exact date unclear), first publication 2006-01-29, house raid 2007-11-28, trial sentencing date 2011-07-15, no arrest
Mark Lee Klein—first transmission to EFF (for sealed legal hearing) 2006-01-20, first transmission to journalist 2006-01 to 2006-02 (??? exact date unclear), first publication 2006-04-06, no house raid / indictment / arrest
Russell D Tice—first transmission to journalist 2004 (??? exact date unclear), first internal complaint to DoD IG 2004 or 2005 (??? exact date unclear), security clearance revoked 2005-05 (??? exact date unclear), first publication 2005-12-16, no house raid / indictment / arrest
Thomas M Tamm—first transmission 2006-03 to 2006-06 (??? exact date unclear), first publication 2005-12-16, house raid 2007-08-01, public identity 2008-12-13, no indictment, investigation formally closed 2011-04
Sibel Deniz Edmonds—first internal complaint 2001-12-02, fired 2002-03-22, first transmission 2002 (??? exact date unclear), first publication (TV interview) 2002-10-27
Edward Loomis—first internal complaint 2002-11-09, no transmission of secret info to outside sources (??? seems unclear), house raid 2007-07-26, no indictment
William Edward Binney—binney resigned 2001-10-31, first internal complaint (with wiebe) 2002-11-09, first transmission—exact date unclear, first publication 2011-05-23 (seems unclear if previous publication existed), house raid (with wiebe) 2007-07-26, no indictment, public identity 2011-05-23 (seems unclear if previous publication existed)
John Kirk Wiebe—first internal complaint (with binney) 2002-11-09, first transmission—exact date unclear, first publication (with binney) 2011-05-23 (seems unclear if previous publication existed), house raid (with binney) 2007-07-26, no indictment, public identity 2011-05-23 (seems unclear if previous publication existed)
Perry Douglas Fellwock—first transmission 1972 (exact date not clear), first publication 1972-08, public identity 1972-07-18, no house raid, no indictment
Social circle
Category D, consequences on social circle
Thomas Andrews Drake
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, siblings unknown, wife, five sons
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, cut off by extended circle, significant legal expenses, in-person and online verbal harassment
Misc: lost pension worth over $1M
Mark Lee Klein
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, 1 older brother, ex-wife, wife, no children
Documented consequences for social circle: in-person verbal harassment
Russell D Tice
Documented social circle at the time of leak: todo
Documented consequences for social circle: todo
Misc: todo
Thomas M Tamm
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, brother, another late brother, wife, three children
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, significant legal expenses, online verbal harassment
Misc: Thomas Tamm suffered depression after the leak. Lost employment and went into debt due to legal expenses, later received funding.
Sibel Deniz Edmonds
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Late father, mother, two younger sisters, husband, no children
Documented consequences for social circle: interrogation, wiretap, significant legal expenses, cut off by extended circle, online and in-person verbal harassment
Misc: Computers were searched, but no house raid
Edward Loomis
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, siblings unknown, wife, atleast two children, children unknown (???)
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, cut off by extended circle and immediate family members (as per Ed Loomis’ own decision)
Misc: Kirk Wiebe claims Edward Loomis’ divorce with his wife was a result of the leak. Edward Loomis isolated from immediate family for multiple years to prevent them finding out that he was the source.
William Edward Binney
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, elder brother, wife, three children
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, in-person and verbal harassment, cut off by extended circle
Misc: ??? consequences on family relationships not clear. More verbal harassment due to recent political opinions shared by Bill Binney
John Kirk Wiebe
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, siblings unknown, wife, multiple children, children unknown (???)
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, faced significant legal expenses
Perry Douglas Fellwock
Documented social circle at the time of leak: unknown. (As of 2013 interview, Fellwock continues to successfully deflect journalist’s questions about who his family memmbers are.)
Documented consequences for social circle: unknown
Siobhan Gorman, Timothy A Franklin (editor) - Baltimore Sun
Diane S Roark knew identity of the source. No public record confirming anyone at Baltimore Sun (including Siobhan Gorman or the editor) knew identity of the source. Anonymous encrypted email used for communication.
No original documents published in this media publication. Three documents were provided to sealed legal hearing.
Ryan Singel, Evan Hansen (editor) - Wired
Source declared identity publicly in this publication.
Russell D Tice
First publication: Same as Thomas Tamm, listed below. All details similar.
No public record confirming anyone knew identity of the source. Speculation (as per Samuel): James Risen, Eric Lichtblau, Bill Keller, and Arthur Sulzberger Jr likely knew the identity of the source.
James Risen, Eric Lichtblau, Bill Keller (editor) - The New York Times
No public record confirming anyone knew identity of the source. Speculation (as per Samuel): James Risen, Eric Lichtblau, Bill Keller, and Arthur Sulzberger Jr likely knew the identity of the source.
Ed Bradley (correspondent i.e. main reporter on TV), David Kohn (writer), Don Hewitt (producer), Philip Scheffler (editor)
Source declared identity publicly in same interview.
Edward Loomis
As per public record, no media publication directly used sensitive info from him. (He gave TV interview in 2013 but all details mentioned were public record by then.)
Both editors knew the identity of the source. Source declared identity publicly immediately after the publication.
Law
Category D, lawyers they directly worked with
Thomas Andrews Drake
lawyers for: James Wyda, Deborah Boardman, Jesselyn Radack, Meghan A. Skelton, James Bamford (advisory)
lawyers against: William M. Welch II, John P. Pearson, Lanny A. Breuer, Steven Tyrrell
Mark Lee Klein
Note: No trial against Mark Lee Klein directly, trials were fought by EFF against AT&T and US govt. Landmark case: Jewel v NSA.
lawyers for: EFF legal team (Kurt Opsahl, Kevin S. Bankston, Cindy Cohn, Lee Tien, James S. Tyre, Corynne McSherry, Mark Rumold, Jamie L. Williams, Andrew Crocker, James S. Tyre), Bert Voorhees, Theresa M. Traber, Keker and Van Nest LLP (Rachael E. Meny, Benjamin W. Berkowitz , Michael S. Kwun, Audrey Walton-Hadlock, Philip J. Tassin), Richard R. Wiebe, Aram Antaramian, Thomas E. Moore III
lawyers against: Representing AT&T/telecoms: Michael Kellogg, Brian Matthew Boynton, Sidley Austin LLP (Bradford Allan Berenson, Eric Dean McArthur, Eric Shumsky), Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP (Bruce A. Ericson, Kevin M. Fong) ; Representing US govt: Peter Keisler, Michael Mukasey (supervisory), Anthony Joseph Coppolino, Thomas Mark Bondy, Kevin V. Ryan, Carl J. Nichols, Joseph H. Hunt, Andrew H. Tannenbaum
Russell D Tice
Note: No trial against Russell D Tice directly.
lawyers for: Mark Zaid, Tom Devine, Jesselyn Radack, Roy W. Krieger
lawyers against: Alberto R. Gonzales, David Kris, Paul J. McNulty (related hearing), Robert L. Deitz (related hearing)
Thomas M Tamm
Note: No trial against Thomas M Tamm for whistleblowing, trial was for revoking bar license. He won the trial and kept his license.
lawyers for: Paul Kemp, Michael Frisch, Cary Feldman, Asa Hutchinson
lawyers against: Hamilton P. Fox III, Gene Shipp
Sibel Deniz Edmonds
lawyers for: Mark S. Zaid, Michael D. Kohn, ACLU legal team (Benjamin Wizner, Ann Beeson, Art Spitzer, Melissa Goodman), Eric Seiff, Roy W. Krieger
lawyers against: John Ashcroft (supervisory), Paul D. Clement, Peter D. Keisler, Douglas Letter, H. Thomas Byron III, Vesper Mei, Valerie Caproni, Kimberly Dawn Ziropoulos, Bruce Fein, Dan Marino
Edward Loomis
Note: No trial against Edward Loomis
lawyers for: Jesselyn Radack (advisory)
lawyers against: none
William Edward Binney, John Kirk Wiebe
Note: No important trial involving William Edward Binney or John Kirk Wiebe. Main trials were against Thomas Andrews Drake, and the landmark case Jewel v NSA. William Edward Binney had to sue only to retrieve his personal belongings taken from him during house raid.
lawyers for: John K. Wiebe, William Edward Binney
lawyers against: Rod J. Rosenstein (supervisory)
Perry Douglas Fellwock
Note: No trial involving Perry Douglas Fellwock
lawyers for: no public info (??? seems unclear)
lawyers against: none
Category D, public fundraising for legal defence
Thomas Andrews Drake—Yes
Mark Lee Klein—Could not find
Russell D Tice—Could not find
Thomas M Tamm—Yes
Sibel Deniz Edmonds—todo
Edward Loomis—Could not find
William Edward Binney—Could not find
John Kirk Wiebe—Could not find
Perry Douglas Fellwock—Could not find
Misc
empty
Category E: Details of US govt whistleblowers/leakers who did not leak classified documents or information, and were not imprisoned
Category E (sorted by date, incomplete list)
John R Crane
James Robertson
Robert J. MacLean—leaked SSI, which is unclassified but restricted
Diane Roark
todo
more info
todo
Special case: Julian Assange
Assange is rare example of a media publisher not a whistleblower, who went to prison. I’m yet to find another example of a publisher or journalist who spent significant amount of time in prison for working with whistleblowers.
US Govt Whistleblower Database
Link post
2025-10-17
Disclaimer
Incomplete
All information here is based on public record
What?
Collecting (mostly) fact-checked of previous US govt whistleblowers.
Who?
Primary target audience: Potential whistleblowers in future. Especially focussed on those working at AI companies.
Why?
Might aid future whistleblowers, or people directly working with them, or people indirectly supporting them.
Unknown unknown reasons. I can’t pre-emptively guess every way this resource might be used in future.
Database categories
Since there are many people who become sources, it is useful to categorise them. I have categorised them as follows based on intent, action and consequences.
categories based on intent
(categorising based on intended beneficiary not intended recipient)
whistleblowers
intended beneficiary: perceived public interest
intended recipient of info: usually public. sometimes specific people acting in public interest such as judges or congressmen.
leakers
intended beneficiary: perceived personal gain but not money (romantic interest, personal rivalry, social status, etc)
intended recipient of info: anyone
spies
intended beneficiary: perceived value-alignment with foreign govt or ideology, or money
intended recipient of info: intelligence service of foreign govt
categories based on action
leaked classified documents
did not leak classified documents, but may have leaked classified information
did not leak classified documents or information
categories based on consequences
was imprisoned
was not imprisoned
(not categorising based on other consequences such as social ostracism, financial loss, etc)
Some notes and disclaimers (about the database below)
About classification
Background info
US classification levels: CONFIDENTIAL < SECRET < TOP SECRET < TOP SECRET/SCI
As of 2022-09-30, public claim is that 1.35 million people have TOP SECRET security clearance.
TS/SCI indicates a compartment which only few named individuals can access, not everyone with a TOP SECRET security clearance. Different documents can belong to different compartments. A compartment can be as small as 10 people.
Conclusion
in many whistleblower cases, seems unclear if classification status was SECRET or TOP SECRET at time of leak
About key dates recorded
date of first transmission of a document to a second person (there could be multiple documents sent on different dates)
date of first public publication of a document (there could be multiple documents published on different dates)
date of arrest
date of public revealing of whistleblower’s identity
date of being released from prison
About consequences on social circle
Typical consequences once identity is publicly out
Family members are interrogated, house raided and wiretapped.
Family members face significant legal expenses. Almost always, a defence fund is raised with donations from non-profits and the general public.
Family members are verbally harassed in-person and online.
Multiple people in extended social circle cut off contact. A common reason is to avoid being involved in the investigation.
Once imprisoned, prison visits are allowed for immediate family members.
Family members are not imprisoned.
Unless specified otherwise, it is IMO a reasonable assumption that all of the above consequences occured in every single case of US govt whistleblowers/leakers who were imprisoned. There may or may not be documented proof for all of the consequences.
Usually there is more documented proof if the whistleblower chose to talk to journalists or the general public about the challenges they faced. Usually law enforcement or intelligence did not make information public against the will of the whistleblower.
About opsec mistakes
Remember parallel construction of a chain of evidence is common, what evidence is presented in court may not be how law enforcement first found out the act occurred. I have tried sticking to court evidence and not speculating too much beyond it.
Remember evidence presented in court faces selection effects and framing effects due the adversarial nature of a court trial.
About journalists
This list is not an endorsement of the values or capabilities of any specific journalists. It only provides historical fact-checked information.
Information recorded
Date, title, authors, media house of first publication
Link to original copy of first publication, or a mirror if possible
Whether publication contains original documents
Whether journalists and editors knew identity of the source
Some journalists later quit the orgs they worked at, at the time of the leak. Unless stated otherwise, I have specified the org they worked for at the the time of the leak.
Some articles may have older edits or link urls. Internet Archive Wayback Machine is one possible place you can check for this.
In multiple cases there is public record of a journalist being informed of the source identity but no public record of the editor being informed.
Speculation by me (Samuel): It is highly likely that if a journalist knows the identity of a source, the editor will pressurise the journalist to inform them as the editor.
Editor’s reputation is affected if the journalist invents fake information claiming an anonymous source, and this sequence of events becomes public later. Editor’s reputation is affected if the source’s reputation is negative for the editor in some way (for example they’re a criminal or spy), and the source’s identity or reputation becomes public later.
As per AP policy as of 2025, a reportor/journalist must inform the editor of the identities of any sources.
As per Fox News policy as of 2025, no mandatory requirement for reporter/journalist to share the identity of a source with the editors.
About lawyers
This list is not an endorsement of the values or capabilities of any specific lawyer. It only provides historical fact-checked information.
Some minor details may be incorrect. I lack a formal legal background.
Category A: US govt whistleblowers/leakers who leaked classified documents and were not imprisoned
Category A (sorted by date)
Edward Joseph Snowden—still wanted for arrest
Daniel Ellsberg, Anthony (Tony) J. Russo Jr.
Classification status
Category A, classification status of leaked info (sorted by date)
Edward Joseph Snowden
100,000-2,000,000 documents (exact number is not public record), many of which were TOP SECRET/SCI
Daniel Ellsberg, Anthony (Tony) J. Russo Jr.
TOP SECRET
Key dates
Category A, key dates (sorted by date)
Edward Joseph Snowden
first transmission 2013-01 to 2013-06 (date is not public record), flight from Hawaii US to Hong Kong 2013-05-10, first major transmission 2013-06-02, first publication 2013-06-05, public identity 2013-06-09, flight from Hong Kong to Moscow 2013-06-23, first asylum request made 2013-06-23, first asylum granted (by russia) 2013-08-01, citizenship granted (by russia) 2022-09-26
Daniel Ellsberg, Anthony (Tony) J. Russo Jr.
first involvement of an unauthorised person (Anthony (Tony) J. Russo Jr.) 1969-10-01, transmission to US senator 1969-10 (??? exact date unclear), first transmission to journalist 1971-03-02, first publication 1971-06-13, arrest 1971-06-28, released on bond 1971-06-28, case dismissed 1973-05-11
Social circle
Category A, consequences on social circle
Edward Joseph Snowden
Documented social circle at time of leak: Father, mother, (divorced multiple years before the leak), 1 sister, girlfriend (now wife as of 2025-06), no children (2 children as of 2025-06)
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, polygraph, wiretap, significant legal expenses, online harassment
Documented visits in asylum: Father visited on 2013-10-10, girlfriend (now wife) permanently shifted to moscow in 2014-07 (possibly 2014-07-15 ??? exact date not clear), multiple in-person visits by journalists and lawyers since 2013-06, multiple video calls by journalists. No public record indicating mother ever visited him after the leak. (??? seems unclear)
Misc
Snowden’s family members working for US govt kept their jobs but with no further promotions.
Snowden had two children with his wife in Russia and they still live together in Russia as of 2025-07.
Daniel Ellsberg
Documented social circle at time of leak: Father, wife (married on 1970-08-08, during leak), siblings unknown (??? seems unclear), mother dead, ex-wife (divorced), 2 children from ex-wife (later had 1 child from wife)
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, significant legal expenses, in-person harassment by FBI agents, cut off by extended circle
Documented visits: After case dismissal: Visited by children and step-children. Visited by multiple friends and anti-war activists. Visited by multiple journalists. Significant surveillance by FBI and NSA continued during this time frame.
Misc
Psychiatrist’s office was (illegally) broken into under direction of Howard Hunt, CIA officer, to obtain evidence so that Ellsberg could deemed mentally unfit for trial.
Daniel Ellsberg’s father initially disowned him for this decision to leak the documents, but may have later changed his mind. (??? exact details not clear)
Daniel Ellsberg’s son later claimed parents had strained marriage for many years and he had less contact with his father.
Opsec mistakes
Category A, opsec mistakes
todo
Journalism
Category A, journalists they worked with
Edward Joseph Snowden
First publication: NSA collecting phone records of millions …, The Guardian, 2013-06-05
Also published: US, British intelligence mining data from …, Washington Post, 2013-06-07
Glenn Greenwald, Janine Gibson (editor, US), Alan Rusbridger, (editor, UK) - The Guardian
Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman, Anne E Kornblut (editor) - Washington Post
Gleen Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill knew the identity of the source before publishing. Janine Gibson and Alan Rusbridger knew that Greenwald was meeting an anonymous source in Hong Kong, but no public record confirming they knew the identity of the source.
Speculation by me (Samuel): It is highly likely they knew the identity of the source.
Laura Poitras and Barton Gellman knew the identity of source before publishing. No public record confirming Anne E Kornblut or other Washington Post editors knew identity of source before publishing.
todo—more research on this topic
Github archive by iamcryptoki containing documents published publicly from 2013 to 2018.
Most of the 100,000-2,000,000 documents leaked by Snowden have never been published publicly. Public record is that only a handful of journalists (listed above) have access to a copy of the full set of documents.
Speculation by electrospaces.net on who all have access as of 2019
todo—more research on this topic
Daniel Ellsberg
First publication: Vietnam Archive: Pentagon Study Traces 3 Decades of Growing U.S. Involvement, The New York Times, 1971-06-13, weekly issue
Neil Sheehan, other team members, Abe Rosenthal (editor) - The New York Times
Newspaper contained only small excerpts per issue, total 9 issues contained excerpts.
Neil Sheehan knew the identity of the source. As per public record, Neil Sheehan negotiated with Abe Rosenthal (managing editor) to ensure that the story could be published without the latter being informed of the identity of source.
Another publication: Documents Reveal U.S. Effort in ’51 To Delay Viet Election, Washington Post, 1971-06-18
Ben Bagdikian, other team members, Ben Bradlee (editor) - Washington Post
Ellsberg provided Bagdikian with a copy on 1971-06-16, during the FBI manhunt.
Ben Bagdikian provided a copy to Senator Mike Gravel on 1971-06-26. 4100 out of ~7000 pages were published by Senator Mike Gravel on 1971-06-29 to Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds.
Ben Bagdikian knew the identity of the source. No public info confirming Ben Bradlee or others at WaPo knew the identity of the source.
More research on this topic—todo
Unredacted copy of Pentagon Papers by released by US govt, 2001-06-13
Law
Category A, lawyers they worked with
Edward Joseph Snowden
lawyers for: No trial occurred, only asylum requests: Ben Wizner (US, ACLU Director), Jesselyn Radack (US, WHISPer Director), Robert Tibbo (Hong Kong), Jonathan Man (Hong Kong), Albert Ho Chun-yan (Hong Kong), Anatoly Kucherena (Russia), Plato Cacheris (US), Wolfgang Kaleck (Germany/EU), William Bourdoun (France/EU), Marcel Bosonnet (Switzerland), Gonzalo Boye (Chile), Baltasar Garzón (Spain/Chile, Wikileaks international legal head), Halvard Helle (Norway), Emanuel Feinberg (Norway), other anonymous lawyer-advisors
lawyers against: No trial occurred: Neil H. MacBride, Eric H. Holder Jr.
Civil suit over book published: G. Zachary Terwilliger, Jody Hunt, Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Jeffrey A. Rosen, Lauren A. Wetzler, R. Trent McCotter
Daniel Ellsberg
lawyers for: Leonard Boudin, Charles Nesson, Leonard Weinglass
lawyers representing NYT: Daniel Sheehan, Floyd Abrams
lawyers against: David Nissen, Warren P. Reese, Richard J. Barry, Joseph L. Tauro, Erwin Nathaniel Griswold
Category A, public fundraising for legal defence
Edward Joseph Snowden—Yes (via Freedom of the Press Foundation)
Daniel Ellsberg—Yes
Misc
Category A, miscellaneous information
Edward Joseph Snowden
empty
Daniel Ellsberg
G Gordon Liddy, ex-FBI ex-Army, claims Howard Hunt (who broke into Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office) also planned to induce LSD overdose to deem Ellsberg mentally unfit.
Wiretap also performed without warrant. Judge dismissed case due to extensive illegal evidence gathering.
Robert L. Meyer, US attorney, was forced to resign for refusing to pursue case against Daniel Ellsberg
Category B: US govt whistleblowers/leakers who leaked classified documents and were imprisoned
Category B (sorted by date)
Jack Douglas Teixeira
Daniel Everette Hale
Reality Leigh Winner
Terry J Albury
Joshua Adam Schulte
James Hitselberger
Donald Sachtleben
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning
Shamai Kedem Leibowitz
Samuel Loring Morison
Classification status
Category B, classification status of leaked info (sorted by date)
Jack Douglas Teixeira
classified at time of leak
most documents TOP SECRET/SCI (TOP SECRET//HCS-P/SI-G/TK//NOFORN or Top Secret//SI//NOFORN//FISA ???), some documents SECRET//REL FVEY
remains classified as of 2025, US govt has confirmed authenticity of some documents
Daniel Everette Hale
classified at time of leak
some documents TOP SECRET (TOP SECRET//SI//NOFORN), other documents SECRET
remains classified as of 2025
Reality Leigh Winner
classified at time of leak
TOP SECRET//SI//ORCON/NOFORN
remains classified as of 2025
Terry J Albury
classified at time of leak
some documents SECRET, some documents CONFIDENTIAL, other documents unclassified, at time of leak (??? seems unclear)
remains classified as of 2025
Joshua Adam Schulte
classified at time of leak
some documents SECRET, some documents TOP SECRET or TOP SECRET/SCI (??? seems unclear), operational details of vault7 not leaked at all
remains classified as of 2025
James Hitselberger
classified at time of leak
SECRET
remains classified as of 2025
Donald Sachtleben
classified at time of leak
main documents TOP SECRET // SCI, other documents SECRET
remains classified as of 2025. Summarised details confirmed in press interviews.
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning
classified at time of leak
iraq war logs SECRET//NOFORN, guantanamo bay SECRET//NOFORN, collateral murder video SECRET, diplomatic cables CONFIDENTIAL or SECRET or TOP SECRET (??? seems unclear)
Remains classified as of 2025: iraq war logs, guantanmo bay documents, collateral murder video
Some redacted documents declassified as of 2025: Diplomatic cables
Shamai Kedem Leibowitz
classified at time of leak
SECRET
remains classified as of 2025
Samuel Loring Morison
classified at time of leak
TOP SECRET or SECRET (??? seems unclear)
some lower resolution photos similar to leaked photos declassified as of 2025
Key dates
Category B, key dates (sorted by date)
Jack Douglas Teixeira
first transmission to semi-public discord 2022-02, first transmission to journalist likely 2022-12 (discord server logs 2022-02 to 2022-12 not publicly available), publication to wide audience 2023-04-06, public identity 2023-04-13, arrest 2023-04-13, not released as of 2025-06
Daniel Everette Hale
first transmission 2014-05 (multiple messages sent, exact date of first message containing classified document is not public record), first publication 2015-10-15, arrest 2019-05-09, public identity 2019-05-09, released 2025-07-04
Reality Leigh Winner
first transmission 2017-05-09, arrest 2017-06-03, first publication 2017-06-05, public identity 2017-06-05, released 2021-06-02
Terry J Albury
first transmission 2016-02, first publication 2017-01-31, arrest 2018-03-28, public identity 2018-03-29, released 2020-11
Joshua Adam Schulte
first transmission 2016-04 (exact date not in public record), first publication 2017-03-07, arrest on allegedly unrelated charge 2017-08-24, public identity as a suspected whistleblower 2018-05-15, public identity as whistleblower confirmed 2018-06-18, not released as of 2025-06
James Hitselberger
first transmission 2012-04-11, no publication, arrest 2012-10-25, public identity 2012-10-25, released 2014-07
Donald Sachtleben
first transmission 2012-04-30, first publication 2012-05-07, arrest on allegedly unrelated charges 2012-05-11, indicted as whistleblower 2013-09-23, public identity 2013-09-23, released 2022 (??? exact date not clear)
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning
first transmission 2010-01 (as per chelsea’s claims, 2010-02 is publicly documented), first publication 2010-02-18, arrest 2010-05-27, public identity 2010-06-07, released 2017-01-17
Shamai Kedem Leibowitz
first transmission 2009-01 (exact date unclear, may not be public record), first publication 2009-03-26, house raid 2009-04 (exact date unclear, may not be public record), final arrest 2009-12-17, public identity 2009-12-17, released 2012-01 (exact date unclear)
Samuel Loring Morison
first transmission 1984-07 (??? exact date within 1984-07 not clear), first publication 1984-08-07, arrest 1984-10-01, public identity 1984-10-01, released 1988 (??? exact date unclear)
Social circle
Category B, consequences on social circle (only done surface-level research so far)
Jack Douglas Teixeira
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Step-father, mother, biological father, 1 step-brother, 1 step-sister, 1 half-sister, girlfriend
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, online harassment of parents
Documented prison visits: no info available
Misc: gave TV interview while in prison
Daniel Everette Hale
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, two younger sibilings, no SO
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation
Documented prison visits: no info available
Reality Leigh Winner
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, 1 sister, boyfriend
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, cut off by extended circle, significant legal expenses
Documented prison visits: multiple visits by mother, multiple phone calls
Misc: Mother faced panic attacks and depression. Sister withdrew from college for a semester. Parents faced difficulties with retaining job.
Terry J Albury
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, siblings unknown, wife, 2 children
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation
Documented prison visits: no info available
Misc: Wife and multiple friends remained supportive throughout the trial and prison sentence.
Joshua Adam Schulte
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, 3 brothers, SO unknown
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, significant legal expenses, online harassment
Documented prison visits: some family visits, visits were restricted for 3 years, claimed that he was attempting to release more info from prison
James Hitselberger
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, no siblings, no SO
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation
Documented prison visits: no info available
Donald Sachtleben
Documented social circle at the time of leak: no info available
Documented consequences for social circle: no info available
Documented prison visits: no info available
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, (divorced), 1 sister, boyfriend (breakup at same time)
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, significant legal expenses, cut off by extended circle, online verbal harassment
Documented prison visits: Multiple visits by family and friends. Multiple letters received, although some were redacted. First visits were behind glass, later visits were regular.
Misc: UK govt cooperated with US govt to wiretap mother and aunt in Wales. Father lost job, mother lived in debt, until sufficient donation received for legal defence. Mother collapsed during hearing, faced multiple panic attacks and medical consequences. Father became depressed. Father’s second marriage broke apart as well.
Shamai Kedem Leibowitz
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, wife, children unknown
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation
Documeted prison visits: no info available
Misc: Used public defender not private lawyer. Grandson of Yeshayahu Leibowitz. Likely morally supported by family and broader jewish community throughout trial and imprisonment.
Samuel Loring Morison
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, siblings unknown, spouse unknown, children unknown
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation
Documented prison visits: no info available
Misc: Grandson of Samuel Eliot Morison
Opsec mistakes
Category B, opsec mistakes
Jack Douglas Teixeira
Trial: United States v. Teixeira, 1:23-cr-10159, (D. Mass.)
Digital trail
Discord worked with US govt to provide Teixeira’s chat logs, provide Teixeira’s sign-up details and delete messages and groups from their platform. ECF No 3 Attachment #1 Discord had Teixeira’s name, billing details, home address. ECF No 135
Teixeira instructed discord group members to delete all his messages if investigated. Teixeira later deleted discord server himself.
US govt had access logs from their official database. Timestamps between database access logs and discord logs correlated.
Teixeira printed many classified documents using official printer. US govt had access to print logs. Timestamps between database access logs and print logs correlated. ECF No 135
Printer used was in the basement of the building, not the printer in same floor as where he worked. Printouts were taken during hours where less staff were present. ECF No 135
Physical trail
US govt found destroyed tablet, laptop, gaming console in a dumpster near Teixeira’s house. US govt also found GoPro camera in a dumpster near Teixeira’s house. ECF No 19
US govt claimed at trial that hard drive of this damaged laptop was not found.
People in-the-loop
Teixeira was told multiple times by his bosses not to conduct “deep dives” into classified material.
Teixeira told people at work his phone got damaged.
Source unknown
US govt at trial inferred Teixeira had been photographing documents and taking them home, to avoid using official printer.
Daniel Everette Hale
Trial: United States v. Hale, 1:19-cr-00059, (E.D. Va.)
Did not go to trial, hence some evidence may never have been published.
Digital trail
US govt found reporter’s contact in Hale’s phone’s contact list. ECF No 1
US govt found two thumb drives at Hale’s house. First thumb drive contained one page of a classified document. Second thumb drive contained TAILS installed. ECF No 1
US govt had logs of badge reads at workplace. US govt had logs of work computer being locked and unlocked. US govt had logs of official printer at workplace. All three timestamps correlated. ECF No 184 Attachment #1
US govt had print logs of all 36 documentes printed. US govt correlated which of these documents were published in the reporter’s book. ECF No 1
US govt was given access to Hale’s gmail account by Google. Emails used to argue Hale had self-serving motivations. ECF No 227 Attachment #2, ECF No 227, ECF No 168 Attachment #9
Physical trail
None found
People in-the-loop
None found
Source unknown—This evidence might or might not have been sent to hale’s lawyer as part of discovery process, but it was never published publicly AFAIK.
US govt knew Hale searched internet for info on a specific reporter. Also knew exact date and time of irl meeting planned with reporter. ECF No 1
US govt knew date of meeting between Hale and reporter at book fair. ECF No 1 US govt knew Hale searched for classified info the day after the meting. ECF No 1 US govt knew Hale sent a message to close friend about this meeting, also knew contents of message. ECF No 1
US govt knew about another meeting between Hale and reporter, and another message to friend about this meeting. ECF No 1
US govt knew in detail the dates of many in-person meetings between Hale and reporter, and messages sent between Hale and Hale’s friend. ECF No 1
US govt knew about phone call between Hale and reporter. ECF No 1
US govt knew about exact contents of message where reporter asks Hale to install jabber. ECF No 1 US govt knew that atleast three conversations occured on jabber. ECF No 1
US govt knew dates of meetings correlated with timestamps of print logs. ECF No 1
Reality Leigh Winner
Trial: United States v. Winner, 1:17-cr-00034, (S. D. Ga.)
Winner accepted plea agreement, so no jury trial or sentencing trial occured. Hence some evidence may never have been published.
Digital trail
Using search warrant, FBI seized multiple of Winner’s devices.
Winner’s mobile phone had a screenshot with The Intercept’s SecureDrop address. ECF No 109
Winner’s personal computer had saved web history including countries she wanted to fly to (search results for flights, jobs, etc) and history of various terrorist orgs. ECF No 110
Winner’s personal computer had stored login to social media account DMs where Winner admitted to supporting Snowden and Assange, searching about Anonymous, and having anti-US motivations. ECF No 110
Physical trail
Using search warrant, FBI found handwritten notes at Winner’s house.
Winner had notes on how to do a SIM swap. ECF No 109
Winner had notes on how to setup Tor and anonymous email address.
Winner had notes on countries she wanted to escape to, and notes supporting Taliban leaders, possibly non-serious. ECF No 109
People-in-the-loop
The Intercept contacted the US govt and sent them a hard copy of the leaked document before publishing it. The Intercept informed US govt that they received the document via post from Augusta, Georgia. This matched Winner’s house address. This combined with the print logs enabled the US govt to obtain search warrant. Search Warrant, ECF No 110, ECF No 120
Using search warrant, FBI agents interrogated Winner at her house while they were searching it. Winner admitted to the following during the interrogation. ECF No 29. Full interview transcript: ECF No 100-1
Winner admitted that she printed the document, removed it from a secure building, stored it in her car for 2 days, then mailed it to the news outlet.
Winner admitted her phone had a screenshot with The Intercept’s SecureDrop address.
Winner admitted she had political anti-US motivations for leaking the document.
Winner admitted she searched how to safely insert USB drive into TOP SECRET work computer. Winner admitted she inserted the USB drive to the computer.
Once arrested, over recorded calls from prison, Winner admitted to sister to leaking documents. ECF No 109
Source unknown
US govt claimed they had logs showing only 6 people had printed the document that The Intercept sent them. It is not clear whether these were printer logs or Winner’s work computer logs or server database logs. This combined with the mailing label from The Intercept enabled them to obtain search warrant.
Terry J Albury
Trial: United States v. Albury, 0:18-cr-00067, (D. Minn.)
Albury pled guilty quite early, hence not much evidence was published. No jury trial occurred.
Digital trail
The public version of a document published by The Intercept contained a grey highlight proving the document was obtained by screenshotting the document from a specific web interface. Public version of another document also contained screen defects proving it was screenshotted. Redaction by The Intercept not carried out correctly. Search warrant
US govt had logs of Albury copy-pasting some documents into a Word document. Logs likely obtained from Albury’s work computer at his office directly. Search warrant
Physical trail
US govt had CCTV footage of Albury’s office room where Albury is seen with a personal camera pointed in front of his work computer. Timestamp of this footage matches those of work computer logs. Search warrant
Using search warrant, US govt found the following at Albury’s house. ECF No 16
58 sensitive and classified documents on a USB drive.
This USB drive was in an envelope with a reporter’s phone number on it.
Multiple other devices that also contained copies of some of these documents.
People-in-the-loop
The Intercept made an FOIA request to US govt with one of the documents they intended to publish.
Later on in the trial, Albury admitted to using tutanota end-to-end encrypted email and Tor, and to using Adobe Acrobat and Readdle software to manually edit the images and pdf files. ECF No 35
Source unknown
US govt had logs of 16 individuals who downloaded the same document from their server. They also had logs indicating Albury was the only individual of those 16 that performed cut-paste actions on the document, consistent with the grey highlight on The Intercept’s publicly published documents. Other blue and orange highlights made by Albury on the documents were also found. Search warrant
US govt had access to an email thread between Albury and a reporter, indicating Albury may have had intention of contacting the media if internal channels would not let him speak. Email thread does not specify details of what information he is referring to. Search warrant
Joshua Adam Schulte
Trial: United States v. Schulte, No. 1:17‑cr‑00548, (S.D.N.Y.)
todo
todo
Journalism
Category B, journalism
Jack Douglas Teixeira
First publication: Semi-public discord server Thug Shaker Central, 2022-02.
First publication in mass media: Ukraine War Plans Leak Prompts Pentagon Investigation, The New York Times, 2023-04-06
New York Times publication does not contain original documents.
Could not find a mirror to original documents yet. - todo
Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt, Joseph F Kahn (editor) - The New York Times
No journalist directly contacted by the source. Journalists eventually found the discord and broadcast the information further.
No public record confirming journalists or editor knew the identity of the source.
Daniel Everette Hale
First publication: The Drone Papers, The Intercept, 2015-10-15
Jeremy Scahill, Betsy Reed (editor) - The Intercept
Publication contains some original documents.
Journalist knew the identity of the source. No public record confirming editor knew the identity of the source. (See note above on this scenario.)
Reality Leigh Winner
First publication: Top Secret NSA Report Details …, The Intercept, 2017-06-05
Richard Esposito, Matthew Cole, Sam Biddle, Ryan Grim (editor) - the Intercept
Publication contains some original documents.
No public record confirming journalists or editor knew source identity.
Terry J Albury
First publication: The FBI’s Secret Rules, The Intercept, 2017-01-31
Trevor Aaronson, Cora Currier, Jenna McLaughlin, Alice Speri. Betsy Reed (editor) - The Intercept
Publication contains some original documents.
No public record confirming journalists or editor knew source identity.
Joshua Adam Schulte
First publication: Vault 7, Wikileaks, 2017-03-07
Anonymous team, Julian Assange (editor) - Wikileaks
Publication contains some original documents.
No public record confirming journalists or editor (of wikileaks) knew source identity.
2nd attempt: From prison, he promised more documents offered to: Shane Harris, the Washington Post. Marcy Wheeler, Emptywheel. Both journalists knew identity of source.
James Hitselberger
Publication: No publication
Did not work with any journalists.
Donald Sachtleben
First publication: CIA thwarts new al-Qaida underwear bomb plot, Associated Press, 2012-05-07.
Unable to find text article on AP website, may have been taken down, may still be available on Wayback Machine—todo.
Same news repeated, Fox News, 2012-05-07
Adam Goldman, Matt Apuzzo, Ted Bridis (editor) - Associated Press
Sachtleben did not send original documents to the journalist, hence they’re not published.
Court record confirms Adam Goldman knew the identity of the source. No public record confirming Matt Apuzzo or Ted Bridis knew the identity of the source. (See note above on this scenario.)
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning
First publication: Classified cable from US Embassy Reykjavik on Icesave, Wikileaks, 2010-02-18
Anonymous team, Julian Assange (editor) - Wikileaks
No public record confirming anyone at Wikileaks knew the identity of the source at the time of the leak. Julian Assange has declined knowing identity of source before it was publicly reported.
Speculation by me (Samuel): Since Adrian Lamo could figure out the identity from social media clues, and Julian Assange was also a skilled hacker, there is a significant probability wikileaks also independently deduced the identity of the source before it was publicly reported.
Publication contains original documents.
Shamai Kedem Leibowitz
First publication: FBI Wiretap Transcripts: Israeli Embassy Targets Iran and U.S. Opinion, Richard Silverstein (at richardsilverstein.com), 2009-03-26
Link taken down, could not find a mirror yet. - todo
Later article by Richard Silverstein discusses the transcripts but does not contain the original transcripts
Richard Silverstein—independent blogger
Richard Silverstein knew the identity of the source.
Misc: Leibowitz and Silverstein later publicly accused each other of misaligned motives.
Samuel Loring Morison
First publication: Jane’s Defence Weekly, volume 2 no 5, 1984-08-07 sent to newsrooms, 1984-08-11 official publishing date.
Could not find digitised version of magazine issue yet. - todo
Derek Wood (editor), Sidney Jackson (managing director), other editorial staff
Publication contains original documents (photographs).
Derek Wood knew identity of the source. Public record does not confirm any staff knew the identity of the source. Speculation: Sidney Jackson also may have known the identity of the source.
Law
Supervisory role played in some cases by attorney generals or assistant attorney generals: Zachary Terwilliger, John C. Demers, Matthew G. Olsen
Category B, lawyers they directly worked with
Jack Douglas Teixeira
lawyers for: Brendan O. Kelley, Gene Allen Franco, Joshua Robert Hayne (withdrawn), Michael Bachrach
lawyers against: Nadine Pellegrini, Jared C. Dolan, Jason A. Casey, Christina A. Clark, Joshua Levy
Daniel Everette Hale
lawyers for: Todd Richman, Cadence Mertz, Ruth Vinson, Tor Ekeland, Jesselyn Radack
lawyers against: Gordon Kromberg, Alexander Berrang, Heather M. Schmidt
Reality Leigh Winner
lawyers for: Titus Nichols, Alison Grinter Allen, Joe D. Whitley, Matthew S. Chester
lawyers against: Julie A. Edelstein, Jennifer G. Solari, Bobby L. Christine
Terry J Albury
lawyers for: JaneAnne Murray, Joshua L. Dratel
lawyers against: Danya E. Atiyeh, Patrick T. Murphy, David C. Recker
Joshua Adam Schulte
lawyers for: Joshua Adam Schulte (represented self), Sabrina P. Shroff, Deborah Austern Colson (withdrawn), Matthew B. Larsen, Sean Michael Maher, James Matthew Branden, Lauren Martine Dolecki, Edward S Zas, Allegra Glashausser
lawyers against: David W. Denton Jr., Michael D. Lockard, Nicholas S. Bradley, Sidhardha Kamaraju, Matthew Laroche, Scott McCulloch, Damian Williams (supervisory), Geoffrey S. Berman (supervisory)
James Hitselberger
lawyers for: Mary Manning Petras, Rosanna Margaret Taormina, A. J. Kramer, Carlos J. Vanegas
lawyers against: Jay I. Bratt, Mona N. Sahaf, Thomas A. Bednar, Deborah A. Curtis
Donald Sachtleben
lawyers for: Charles C. Hayes, Kathleen M. Sweeney, Larry A. Mackey
lawyers against: Jonathan M. Malis, G. Michael Harvey, Richard S. Scott, Mona N. Sahaf, Steven D. DeBrota, Joseph H. Hogsett
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning
lawyers for: David E. Coombs, Nancy Hollander, Vincent Ward, Matthew Kemkes, Paul Bouchard, Chase Strangio. ACLU
lawyers against: Ashden Fein, Joe Morrow, Angel Overgaard, Hunter Whyte
Shamai Kedem Leibowitz
lawyers for: Cary D. Feldman (withdrawn), Richard M. Asche
lawyers against: Steven M. Dunne, Kathleen M. Kedian, David Kris (supervisory), David Kris (supervisory)
Samuel Loring Morison
lawyers for: Jacob A. Stein, Robert F. Muse, Mark H. Lynch, Charles F.C. Ruff, Neil K. Roman, Steven F. Reich, Armistead P. Rood
lawyers against: Michael Schatzow, Michael Schatzow, Breckinridge Long Willcox. 2nd case: James G. Warwick, Rod J. Rosenstein
Category B, public fundraising for legal defence
Jack Douglas Teixeira—Could not find
Daniel Everette Hale—Yes
Reality Leigh Winner—Yes
Terry J Albury—Yes
Joshua Adam Schulte—Could not find
James Hitselberger—Yes
Donald Sachtleben—Could not find
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning - Yes
Shamai Kedem Leibowitz—Could not find
Samuel Loring Morison—Could not find
Miscellaneous information
Jack Douglas Teixeira
Misc info brought up during the trial
Discord username: TheExcaliburEffect, Discord server: Thug Shaker Central
Teixeira’s bedroom photos, later argued these guns were fake. ECF No 19 Attachment #6.
Teixeira’s arrest photos. ECF No 20 Attachment #1
Teixeira’s dicord messages quoted verbatim. ECF No 19 Attachment #8. Teixeira repeatedly boasts about his leak. ECF No 34
Teixeira suspended from school for racial threats, rejected for gun license multiple times as a result, used security clearance to get gun license, had many guns in gun locker. ECF No 19 Attachment #5
Teixeira made social media statements that he might conduct a mass shooting. Teixeira’s work colleague said that he might get shot by Teixeira. (Court record is not clear if these were jokes or not.) ECF No 19 Attachment #4
Teixeira denied bail. ECF No 34
After guilty plea, Teixeira attended four hour interrogation where he admitted his actions. ECF No 142
In order to reduce prison sentence, Teixeira’s lawyer got a psychiatrist to testify that Teixeira was diagnosed as having ADHD and autism, and that Teixeira was naive about who were the receipients of the info in the discord. ECF No 142
In order to reduce prison sentence, Teixeira’s lawyer published many stories and letters about Teixeira’s childhood. ECF No 142 Attachment #2
Daniel Everette Hale
Misc info brought up during the trial
Software used by Hale for converting file formats and printing documents: O&K, GhostPCL. ECF No 168
Lots of argumentation back-and-forth on whether Hale’s action of leaking documents could be seen as stealing more than $1000 of value from the govt or not. ECF No 195
In order to reduce prison sentence, Hale’s lawyer attached letters in support of Hale. ECF No 240 Attachment #1, ECF No 240 Attachment #4
Hale’s lawyer obtained expert testimony indicating no harm occured as a result of the disclosure. ECF No 240 Attachment #7
Reality Leigh Winner
Misc info brought up during the trial
On a recorded phone call from prison, Winner asked mother to transfer funds out of her bank account to avoid them being frozen. ECF No 109
US govt had logs showing USB drive was inserted into work computer, but no logs indicating filenames, hashes or timestamps of exact files transferred.
Misc info also published to trial. House photos ECF No 234. Warrants ECF No 235
Lots of argumentation occured before trial on whether the FBI interrogation transcript was admissible in court or not, as Winner was not formally informed she was arrested or read her miranda rights.
Someone else setup a GoFundMe for Winner that received $12k. No evidence confirming Winner was able to access this money.
Winner’s anonymous email address used to contact The Intercept: da3re.fitness@gmail.com
Winner planned to contact Wikileaks first but was underwhelmed by what they had to offer. Hence contacted The Intercept.
Terry J Albury
Misc info brought up during trial
Amicus brief by Freedom of the Press Foundation pleading lenient sentencing for Albury. Amicus Brief
Letters from Albury’s social circle pleading for a lenient sentence for Albury. ECF No 33 Attachment #4, ECF No 41
Category C: US govt whistleblowers/leakers who did not leak classified documents but leaked information, and were imprisoned
Category C (sorted by date)
Henry Kyle Frese
John Chris Kiriakou
Stephen Jin-Woo Kim
Jeffrey Alexander Sterling
Classification status
Category C, classification status of leaked info (sorted by date)
Henry Kyle Frese
classified at time of leak
some documents TOP SECRET/SCI, some documents SECRET (?? seems unclear)
remains classified as of 2025
John Chris Kiriakou
classified at time of leak
officier identity SECRET, interrogation details TOP SECRET/SCI or CONFIDENTIAL/SECRET (??? seems unclear)
officer identity remains classified as of 2025, partial info about interrogation methods declassified as of 2025
Stephen Jin-Woo Kim
classified at time of leak
TOP SECRET/SCI
remains classified as of 2025
Jeffrey Alexander Sterling
classified at time of leak
TOP SECRET/SCI, or SECRET (??? seems unclear)
remains classified as of 2025
Key dates
Category C, key dates (sorted by date)
Henry Kyle Frese
first transmission 2018-04-27, first publication 2018-05-02, arrest 2019-10-09, public identity 2019-10-09, released 2022-10-14
John Chris Kiriakou
first non-classified transmission 2007-12-10, first non-classified publication 2007-12
identity of CIA officer deuce martinez was classified. deuce martinez involvement independently suspected in public since 2006-06-20. first transmission of classified info 2008-08 (email from public record in 2008-08, previous email in 2008-04 alleged), first public publication of martinez’ name 2008-06-22 (Scott Shane, NYT), first publication in a classified legal hearing 2009, clear public publication of classified info with surrounding context 2015-02-18.
arrest 2012-01-23, public identity 2012-01-23, released 2025-02-03
Stephen Jin-Woo Kim
first transmission 2009-06, first publication 2009-06-11, indicted 2010-08-18, arrest 2010-08-24, public identity as whistleblower confirmed 2010-08-24, released 2015 (??? exact date not clear)
Jeffrey Alexander Sterling
first transmission 2003-03 (first phone call 2003-02-27 out of multiple phone calls, not clear which phone call revealed classified info), first publication 2006-01-03, arrest 2011-01-06, public identity 2011-01-06 (identity was semi-private before this), released 2018-01 (exact date unclear)
Social circle
Category C, consequences on social circle (only done surface-level research so far)
Henry Kyle Frese
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, 3 sisters, girlfriend
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation
Documented prison visits: no info available
John Chris Kiriakou
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, siblings unknown, wife, 5 children (of which 2 from wife, 3 from ex-wife)
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, polygraph, cut off by extended circle, significant legal expenses, online and inperson verbal harassment
Documented prison visits: Multiple visits by spouse and children, visits by journalists
Misc: Publicly talks about how being shunned by his entire social circle was painful
Stephen Jin-Woo Kim
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, girlfriend (later wife), 1 sister, other siblings unknown
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, significant legal expenses, online harassment
Documented prison visits: Multiple visits by family members, visit by journalist
Misc: James Rosen, journalist, visited Stephen Kim in prison to apologise.
Jeffrey Alexander Sterling
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, multiple siblings, wife, no children
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, significant legal expenses, online harassment
Documented prison visits: Multiple visits by wife. Some journalists were allowed visits and others were denied.
Misc: Lost house and nearly went bankrupt due to legal fees. Supported by wife throughout trial and imprisonment.
Opsec mistakes
Category C, opsec mistakes
todo
Journalism
Category C, journalism
Henry Kyle Frese
First publication: China quietly installed missle systems …, CNBC, 2018-05-02
Amanda Macias, CNBC News, in romantic relationship with Frese. Courtney Kube, CNBC News.
Frese did not transmit original documents, hence they’re not published.
Journalists knew source identity.
John Chris Kiriakou
First publication with name of CIA officer (considered classified info): Inside a 9/11 Mastermind’s Interrogation, the New York Times, 2008-06-22
Scott Shane, Bill Keller (editor) - The New York Times. Info also offered to: Matthew Cole—the Intercept.
Both journalists and editor knew the identity of the source.
Misc: John Kiriakou publicly accuses Matthew Cole, journalist at the Intercept, for getting him imprisoned.
Stephen Jin-Woo Kim
First publication: NK’s Post UN Sanctions Plans, Revealed, Fox News, 2009-06-11
James Rosen, Michael Clemente (editor), Bill Sammon (editor) - Fox News
Kim did not send any original documents to the journalist, hence they’re not published.
James Rosen knew the identity of the source. No public record confirming the editor knew the identity of the source. (See note above on this scenario.)
Jeffrey Alexander Sterling
First publication: State of War, James Risen, 2006-01-03, published by Free Print under Simon & Schuster. State of War, Anna’s Archive book download. James Risen was a journalist at the New York Times.
Publication does not contain original documents, hence they’re not published.
James Risen knew identity of the source. Court record (US v Sterling) confirms James’ wife Holly also knew identity of the source. Multiple intelligence community members also suspected the identity of the source. Public record is not clear on who all were informed by Sterling that he was the source.
Law
Category C, lawyers they directly worked with
Henry Kyle Frese
lawyers for: Stuart Sears
lawyers against: Jennifer Kennedy Gellie, Danya E. Atiyeh, Neil Hammerstrom
John Chris Kiriakou
lawyers for: Robert Trout, Plato Cacheris, John F. Hundley, Jesse Isaac Winograd, Jesselyn Radack (advisory)
lawyers against: Neil H. MacBride, Mark Schneider, Iris Lan, Patrick Fitzgerald (absent), Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Ryan Fayhee, William N. Hammerstrom Jr., Lisa Owings
Stephen Jin-Woo Kim
lawyers for: Abbe D. Lowell, Paul M. Thompson, James M. Commons, Ruth Wedgwood
lawyers against: Michael Harvey, Jonathan M. Malis, Thomas A. Bednar, Deborah A. Curtis, Julie A. Edelstein, Ronald C. Machen Jr. (supervisory)
Jeffrey Alexander Sterling
lawyers for: Edward MacMahon, Barry Pollack, William James Trunk, J. Richard Supple Jr., Mia Haessly, Lawrence S. Robbins
lawyers against: James L. Trump, Eric G. Olshan, Dennis Fitzpatrick, William M. Welch II (withdrawn), Timothy Kelly, Neil H. MacBride, Dana J. Boente (supervisory), Robert A. Parker (supervisory), Leslie R. Caldwell (supervisory), Sung-Hee Suh (supervisory)
Category C, public fundraising for legal defence
Henry Kyle Frese—Could not find
John Chris Kiriakou—Yes
Stephen Jin-Woo Kim—Could not find
Jeffrey Alexander Sterling—Yes
Misc
empty
Category D: US govt whistleblowers/leakers who did not leak classified documents but may have leaked classified information, and were not imprisoned
Category D (sorted by date)
Thomas Andrews Drake
Mark Lee Klein
Russell D Tice
Thomas M Tamm
Sibel Deniz Edmonds
Edward Loomis
William Edward Binney
John Kirk Wiebe
Perry Douglas Fellwock
Classification status
Category D, classification status of leaked info (sorted by date)
Thomas Andrew Drake
not classified
govt alleged classified documents leak, judge declared those documents were not classified
Mark Lee Klein
leaked existence of program that may have been classified, but no classified documents
Russell D Tice
leaked existence of classified program, but no classified documents
Thomas M Tamm
leaked existence of classified program, but no classified documents
Sibel Deniz Edmonds
leaked details that were retroactively classified after the leak, did not leak classified documents
Edward Loomis
leaked details of classified program, but no classified documents
William Edward Binney
leaked existence and details of classified program, but no classified documents (as per court record)
John Kirk Wiebe
leaked existence and details of classified program, but no classified documents (as per court record)
Perry Douglas Fellwock
leaked existence and extensive amount of details of classified program, likely did not leak classified documents (as per court record)
Key dates
Category D, key dates (sorted by date)
Thomas Andrews Drake—first transmission to journalist 2005-11 to 2006-02 (??? exact date unclear), first publication 2006-01-29, house raid 2007-11-28, trial sentencing date 2011-07-15, no arrest
Mark Lee Klein—first transmission to EFF (for sealed legal hearing) 2006-01-20, first transmission to journalist 2006-01 to 2006-02 (??? exact date unclear), first publication 2006-04-06, no house raid / indictment / arrest
Russell D Tice—first transmission to journalist 2004 (??? exact date unclear), first internal complaint to DoD IG 2004 or 2005 (??? exact date unclear), security clearance revoked 2005-05 (??? exact date unclear), first publication 2005-12-16, no house raid / indictment / arrest
Thomas M Tamm—first transmission 2006-03 to 2006-06 (??? exact date unclear), first publication 2005-12-16, house raid 2007-08-01, public identity 2008-12-13, no indictment, investigation formally closed 2011-04
Sibel Deniz Edmonds—first internal complaint 2001-12-02, fired 2002-03-22, first transmission 2002 (??? exact date unclear), first publication (TV interview) 2002-10-27
Edward Loomis—first internal complaint 2002-11-09, no transmission of secret info to outside sources (??? seems unclear), house raid 2007-07-26, no indictment
William Edward Binney—binney resigned 2001-10-31, first internal complaint (with wiebe) 2002-11-09, first transmission—exact date unclear, first publication 2011-05-23 (seems unclear if previous publication existed), house raid (with wiebe) 2007-07-26, no indictment, public identity 2011-05-23 (seems unclear if previous publication existed)
John Kirk Wiebe—first internal complaint (with binney) 2002-11-09, first transmission—exact date unclear, first publication (with binney) 2011-05-23 (seems unclear if previous publication existed), house raid (with binney) 2007-07-26, no indictment, public identity 2011-05-23 (seems unclear if previous publication existed)
Perry Douglas Fellwock—first transmission 1972 (exact date not clear), first publication 1972-08, public identity 1972-07-18, no house raid, no indictment
Social circle
Category D, consequences on social circle
Thomas Andrews Drake
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, siblings unknown, wife, five sons
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, cut off by extended circle, significant legal expenses, in-person and online verbal harassment
Misc: lost pension worth over $1M
Mark Lee Klein
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, 1 older brother, ex-wife, wife, no children
Documented consequences for social circle: in-person verbal harassment
Russell D Tice
Documented social circle at the time of leak: todo
Documented consequences for social circle: todo
Misc: todo
Thomas M Tamm
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, brother, another late brother, wife, three children
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, significant legal expenses, online verbal harassment
Misc: Thomas Tamm suffered depression after the leak. Lost employment and went into debt due to legal expenses, later received funding.
Sibel Deniz Edmonds
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Late father, mother, two younger sisters, husband, no children
Documented consequences for social circle: interrogation, wiretap, significant legal expenses, cut off by extended circle, online and in-person verbal harassment
Misc: Computers were searched, but no house raid
Edward Loomis
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, siblings unknown, wife, atleast two children, children unknown (???)
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, cut off by extended circle and immediate family members (as per Ed Loomis’ own decision)
Misc: Kirk Wiebe claims Edward Loomis’ divorce with his wife was a result of the leak. Edward Loomis isolated from immediate family for multiple years to prevent them finding out that he was the source.
William Edward Binney
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, elder brother, wife, three children
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, in-person and verbal harassment, cut off by extended circle
Misc: ??? consequences on family relationships not clear. More verbal harassment due to recent political opinions shared by Bill Binney
John Kirk Wiebe
Documented social circle at the time of leak: Father, mother, siblings unknown, wife, multiple children, children unknown (???)
Documented consequences for social circle: house raid, interrogation, wiretap, faced significant legal expenses
Perry Douglas Fellwock
Documented social circle at the time of leak: unknown. (As of 2013 interview, Fellwock continues to successfully deflect journalist’s questions about who his family memmbers are.)
Documented consequences for social circle: unknown
Opsec mistakes
Category D, opsec mistakes
todo
Journalism
Category D, journalists they directly worked with
Thomas Andrews Drake
First publication: Biggest boondogle going on now, Baltimore Sun, 2006-01-29
No original documents published
Siobhan Gorman, Timothy A Franklin (editor) - Baltimore Sun
Diane S Roark knew identity of the source. No public record confirming anyone at Baltimore Sun (including Siobhan Gorman or the editor) knew identity of the source. Anonymous encrypted email used for communication.
Mark Lee Klein
First publication: Wiretap whistleblower’s account, Wired, 2006-04-06
No original documents published in this media publication. Three documents were provided to sealed legal hearing.
Ryan Singel, Evan Hansen (editor) - Wired
Source declared identity publicly in this publication.
Russell D Tice
First publication: Same as Thomas Tamm, listed below. All details similar.
No public record confirming anyone knew identity of the source. Speculation (as per Samuel): James Risen, Eric Lichtblau, Bill Keller, and Arthur Sulzberger Jr likely knew the identity of the source.
Thomas M Tamm
First publication: Bush lets US spy on callers without courts, The New York Times, 2005-12-16
No original documents published
James Risen, Eric Lichtblau, Bill Keller (editor) - The New York Times
No public record confirming anyone knew identity of the source. Speculation (as per Samuel): James Risen, Eric Lichtblau, Bill Keller, and Arthur Sulzberger Jr likely knew the identity of the source.
Sibel Deniz Edmonds
First publication: FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds interview, CBS News, 2002-10-27
No original documents published
Ed Bradley (correspondent i.e. main reporter on TV), David Kohn (writer), Don Hewitt (producer), Philip Scheffler (editor)
Source declared identity publicly in same interview.
Edward Loomis
As per public record, no media publication directly used sensitive info from him. (He gave TV interview in 2013 but all details mentioned were public record by then.)
William Edward Binney
First publication: The Secret Sharer, The New Yorker, 2011-05-23
No original documents published
Jane Mayer, David Remnick (editor-in-chief). Also, likely editors: Pamela McCarthy, Dorothy Wickenden, Henry Finder, Daniel Zalewski
Source declared identity publicly in the article.
John Kirk Wiebe
First publication same as William Binney, see above.
Source declared identity publicly in the article.
Perry Douglas Fellwock
First publication: U.S. Electronic Espionage: A Memoir, Ramparts Magazine, 1972-08
David Horowitz, Peter Collier
No original documents published
Both editors knew the identity of the source. Source declared identity publicly immediately after the publication.
Law
Category D, lawyers they directly worked with
Thomas Andrews Drake
lawyers for: James Wyda, Deborah Boardman, Jesselyn Radack, Meghan A. Skelton, James Bamford (advisory)
lawyers against: William M. Welch II, John P. Pearson, Lanny A. Breuer, Steven Tyrrell
Mark Lee Klein
Note: No trial against Mark Lee Klein directly, trials were fought by EFF against AT&T and US govt. Landmark case: Jewel v NSA.
lawyers for: EFF legal team (Kurt Opsahl, Kevin S. Bankston, Cindy Cohn, Lee Tien, James S. Tyre, Corynne McSherry, Mark Rumold, Jamie L. Williams, Andrew Crocker, James S. Tyre), Bert Voorhees, Theresa M. Traber, Keker and Van Nest LLP (Rachael E. Meny, Benjamin W. Berkowitz , Michael S. Kwun, Audrey Walton-Hadlock, Philip J. Tassin), Richard R. Wiebe, Aram Antaramian, Thomas E. Moore III
lawyers against: Representing AT&T/telecoms: Michael Kellogg, Brian Matthew Boynton, Sidley Austin LLP (Bradford Allan Berenson, Eric Dean McArthur, Eric Shumsky), Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP (Bruce A. Ericson, Kevin M. Fong) ; Representing US govt: Peter Keisler, Michael Mukasey (supervisory), Anthony Joseph Coppolino, Thomas Mark Bondy, Kevin V. Ryan, Carl J. Nichols, Joseph H. Hunt, Andrew H. Tannenbaum
Russell D Tice
Note: No trial against Russell D Tice directly.
lawyers for: Mark Zaid, Tom Devine, Jesselyn Radack, Roy W. Krieger
lawyers against: Alberto R. Gonzales, David Kris, Paul J. McNulty (related hearing), Robert L. Deitz (related hearing)
Thomas M Tamm
Note: No trial against Thomas M Tamm for whistleblowing, trial was for revoking bar license. He won the trial and kept his license.
lawyers for: Paul Kemp, Michael Frisch, Cary Feldman, Asa Hutchinson
lawyers against: Hamilton P. Fox III, Gene Shipp
Sibel Deniz Edmonds
lawyers for: Mark S. Zaid, Michael D. Kohn, ACLU legal team (Benjamin Wizner, Ann Beeson, Art Spitzer, Melissa Goodman), Eric Seiff, Roy W. Krieger
lawyers against: John Ashcroft (supervisory), Paul D. Clement, Peter D. Keisler, Douglas Letter, H. Thomas Byron III, Vesper Mei, Valerie Caproni, Kimberly Dawn Ziropoulos, Bruce Fein, Dan Marino
Edward Loomis
Note: No trial against Edward Loomis
lawyers for: Jesselyn Radack (advisory)
lawyers against: none
William Edward Binney, John Kirk Wiebe
Note: No important trial involving William Edward Binney or John Kirk Wiebe. Main trials were against Thomas Andrews Drake, and the landmark case Jewel v NSA. William Edward Binney had to sue only to retrieve his personal belongings taken from him during house raid.
lawyers for: John K. Wiebe, William Edward Binney
lawyers against: Rod J. Rosenstein (supervisory)
Perry Douglas Fellwock
Note: No trial involving Perry Douglas Fellwock
lawyers for: no public info (??? seems unclear)
lawyers against: none
Category D, public fundraising for legal defence
Thomas Andrews Drake—Yes
Mark Lee Klein—Could not find
Russell D Tice—Could not find
Thomas M Tamm—Yes
Sibel Deniz Edmonds—todo
Edward Loomis—Could not find
William Edward Binney—Could not find
John Kirk Wiebe—Could not find
Perry Douglas Fellwock—Could not find
Misc
empty
Category E: Details of US govt whistleblowers/leakers who did not leak classified documents or information, and were not imprisoned
Category E (sorted by date, incomplete list)
John R Crane
James Robertson
Robert J. MacLean—leaked SSI, which is unclassified but restricted
Diane Roark
todo
more info
todo
Special case: Julian Assange
Assange is rare example of a media publisher not a whistleblower, who went to prison. I’m yet to find another example of a publisher or journalist who spent significant amount of time in prison for working with whistleblowers.
more info
todo
Details of spies against US govt
todo
Misc
Robert Birchum - ??? - TO DO—more research
Petraus - ??? - TO DO—more research