Avaaz
Who did John Tye (whistleblower) work for from 2014 to 2017?
John Tye ( whistleblower ) John Napier Tye ( born c . 1976 ) is a former official of the U.S . State Department who came forward in 2014 as a whistleblower seeking to publicize certain electronic surveillance practices of the U.S . government under Executive Order 12333 . He later co-founded a non-profit law firm , Whistleblower Aid , intended to help federal government whistleblowers forward their concerns without incurring legal liability . Biography . John Tye was raised in a suburb of Boston . He attended Duke University , where he earned a B.S . in Adaptive and Intelligent Systems , a major of his own creation . Said Tye of his undergraduate career , I thought I was going to be a scientist . But when I was graduating , I decided I wanted to do things that have more of an impact on real people . Tye then attended Lincoln College , Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar . There , he studied philosophy , politics , and economics . After studying at Oxford , he did research on hate groups for the Southern Poverty Law Center . He then earned a J.D . at Yale Law , where he joined a civil liberties litigation clinic . After graduating Yale in 2006 , Tye moved to New Orleans , where he worked on housing issues for low-income families . He co-authored a May 2010 study on reform of the U.S . housing finance system , described as essential reading by real estate blogger Jonathan Miller , and co-authored the introductory chapter of the 2011 book The American Mortgage System : Crisis and Reform . In January 2011 , Tye was recruited to the State Department by his former Yale instructor Michael Posner , then Assistant Secretary of State . He served in the State Department until April 2014 , as section chief for Internet freedom in the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy , Human Rights , and Labor , where he was cleared to access Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information . In his official role , Tye sometimes traveled abroad and advocated for an open Internet , free of government surveillance . From 2014 to 2015 , Tye was legal director and campaign director of Avaaz , a global civic activist organization . Whistleblowing . Internal channels . In Fall 2013 and February 2014 , Tye attended two classified National Security Agency briefings on Executive Order 12333 , which was signed by President Ronald Reagan and amended by President George W . Bush . Tye attended these briefings so that he could help prepare the State Departments response to the high-profile leaks disclosed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden . Following a January 17 , 2014 speech by President Barack Obama on NSA surveillance reforms that failed to mention changes to activities under E.O . 12333 , Tye began to use internal channels at the State Department to press his concerns over the order . Prior to leaving the State Department in April 2014 , Tye filed a complaint with the Departments inspector general , asserting that the intelligence collection and retention policies being carried out under E.O . 12333 violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution . Tye also met with staffers of the House and Senate Intelligence committees , and communicated his complaint to the inspector general of the NSA . The House Intelligence committee responded in a letter to Tye that it reviewed your allegations and has taken the action it deems appropriate in this matter . Public disclosure . On July 18 , 2014 , The Washington Post published an editorial written by Tye highlighting his concerns over U.S . signals intelligence activities performed under E.O . 12333 . Comparing this executive order to the much-discussed Section 215 of the Patriot Act , Tye wrote , I believe that Americans should be even more concerned about the collection and storage of their communications under Executive Order 12333 than under Section 215 . E.O . 12333 , Tye wrote , allows for the collection of both metadata and communication contents of U.S . persons , so long as the collection takes place outside the U.S . However , Tye argued , many communications between U.S . persons may transit or be stored on servers outside the U.S. , making them vulnerable to collection under E.O . 12333 . Although U.S . persons cannot be directly targeted under the order , their communications can be gathered incidentally in the course of investigating a foreign target . Tye argued that under the governments interpretation of Order 12333 , incidental collection could include the data of every person using popular internet services—including Gmail , Yahoo , and Dropbox—amounting to , in theory , billions of people . As an executive order rather than a statute , Tye noted , E.O . 12333 had never been subject to congressional or judicial oversight . Collection under the order does not require a warrant and need not be reported to Congress . The presidents Review Group on Intelligence and Communication Technologies had recommended reform to collection policies under Order 12333 , yet the White House had indicated it would not enact this recommendation . On July 23 , 2014 , Tye spoke at a public meeting of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board , an independent agency within the executive branch tasked with advising the president on matters of privacy and civil liberties . In November 2014 , Tye spoke about his experience at the TEDx Charlottesville conference . Tye maintains that he has not , and will not , release any classified information . Prior to publication , he submitted his Post editorial for approval by the State Department and the NSA , which both deemed that no changes were necessary . In addition , Tye has insisted on having a third party present when speaking to reporters to counter any later claim that he revealed classified information . Reactions . On August 19 , Alexander Joel , Civil Liberties Protection Officer of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence , responded directly to Tyes Post editorial . Joel emphasized that Americans cannot be directly targeted under Executive Order 12333 , and that use and retention of the collected data is limited by policies approved by the U.S . Attorney General . Notably , under these policies , data cannot be retained for more than five years . Tye responded that arguments about targeting and limits on use ignored more important questions of whose data is actually collected , and how that data is retained . In responding to Tyes allegations , NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines said , Whether NSAs activities are conducted under EO 12333 or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act , NSA applies Attorney General-approved processes to protect the privacy of U.S . persons in the collection , retention , and use of foreign intelligence . Ben Wizner , lead attorney for NSA leaker Edward Snowden , called Tyes actions entirely admirable , noting that not every whistleblower could be expected to take on the personal risks that Snowden did by revealing classified information . Tyes own attorney , Mark Zaid , a critic of Snowden , acknowledged that Snowdens disclosures had likely made it easier for Tye to come forward with his own revelation . Legal experts debated the potential impact of Tyes disclosure on the possibility of reform of practices under E.O . 12333 , with Indiana University law professor Fred Cate arguing that such a disclosure within the rules of the governments classification system may not have the impact of a leak of classified documents . Mark Jaycox of the Electronic Frontier Foundation argued that Tyes disclosure would help to push forward the reform process . Tye was named one of 2014s National Security Law Heroes by Steve Vladeck of the blog Just Security . Whistleblower Aid . In September 2017 , Tye and lawyer Mark Zaid cofounded Whistleblower Aid , a nonprofit law firm . Initially focused on employees and contractors of the U.S . federal government , Whistleblower Aid emphasizes it is different from WikiLeaks : No one should ever send classified information to Whistleblower Aid , the firm states . Whistleblower Aid will never assist clients or prospective clients with leaking classified information . Instead , would-be whistleblowers with classified information will be directed to investigators with security clearances to help expose wrongdoing without breaking the law or incurring criminal liability . We are trying to hold the U.S . government accountable , Zaid explained , and provide free legal services to whistleblowers so they dont ruin their careers in the process or be prosecuted . Clients will not be charged . To cover expenses , the firm solicits donations from foundations and crowdsourced funding .