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[audio http://peterbcollins.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/BF.vanBuren.highlight.mp3 ]
Peter van Buren, author of We Meant Well, defends other whistleblowers even as he is being forced out of his 20+ year career at the State Department in this Boiling Frogs interview, co-hosted with Sibel Edmonds.
Van Buren joins us to discuss the Obama administration’s unprecedented persecution and prosecution of government whistleblowers, and how they have already charged more people under the Espionage Act for alleged mishandling of classified information than all past presidencies combined. He talks about the retaliation he has experienced as the only Foreign Service Officer ever to have written a critical book about the State Department while still employed there, including the suspension of his security clearance, demotion, and being placed under surveillance at work.
Van Buren served with the Foreign Service for over two decades and worked as a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) leader in Iraq. In September 2011, he released a book about his experiences, titled: We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People. After the book’s publication, the State Department suspended Van Buren’s security clearance indefinitely and is proceeding to terminate his employment.