Famous Whistleblowers

Whether touted as martyrs for public good or derided as snitches, whistleblowers often make a name for themselves. The term "whistleblower" refers to someone who makes public allegations of illegal, dangerous or fraudulent activity by a company or government agency. The allegations may be made either internally, within the company or agency, or externally, to the public at large.

Most would agree that whistleblowers add greatly to the public trust and help to maintain an ethical society by exposing fraud and potentially dangerous activity. However, making allegations of wrongdoings may put the whistleblower in danger of retaliation from the agency they are exposing. To encourage whistleblowers to speak up, the United States has passed various laws to protect them, beginning with the 1863 False Claims Act. This law promised whistleblowers a share in damages collected against fraudulent suppliers to the United States government and provided them protection from wrongful dismissal.

Over the years, many whistleblowers have gained fame for their allegations. Here is a list of some of the more famous (and sometimes infamous) whistleblowers from the past few decades:

Daniel Ellsberg, a State Department officer, gave the “Pentagon Papers” to the New York Times in 1971. These papers gave a critical view of the United States involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967.

In 1974, Karen Silkwood, a blue-collar worker at the Kerr-McGee plutonium plant, began raising concerns about the safety of such plants. Silkwood died mysteriously after investigating wrongdoing at Kerr-McGee.

Lois Jenson brought public attention to her workplace, the "North Country" coal mine, with her allegations of sexual harassment. She filed the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit in the United States in 1988.

In 1996, Jeffrey Wigand introduced the term "impact boosting" to the American public when he was interviewed on CBS's 60 Minutes. A worker for Brown & Williamson, Wigand exposed his company's practice of intentionally strengthening the effect of nicotine in cigarettes.

In 2001, Roy Olofson alleged fraud at telecommunications company Global Crossing.

Also in 2001, Sherron Watkins, Vice President of Corporate Development at the Enron Corporation, helped to uncover accounting irregularities at the heart of the Enron scandal.

Cynthia Cooper, an auditor at WorldCom, exposed fraudulent accounting practices at her company which ultimately led to the demise of WorldCom.

Bunnatine Greenhouse, an official with the Army Corps of Engineers, openly criticized Haliburton and exposed waste, fraud, and the practice of giving no-bid contracts to Haliburton subsidiaries in Iraq.