Dual Identity and Whistleblowing Essay Example

In the United States of America, most organizations, including the government have had many cases of unethical conduct. Following the increased awareness of moral conflict, "whistleblowing" has become a term to refer to those employees who within an organization give an alarm of unethical proceedings (Bok 1). The largest leakage in American intelligence is the leakage revealed by Edward Snowden in the Frontline documentary, "The United States of Secrets". In the documentary, Snowden leaks information to various journalists on the PRISM Program which allowed the National Security Service (NSA) has access to all communications made worldwide. Snowden becomes one of the whistleblowers towards the unethical conduct of the government. In the leakage, Snowden is faced by a moral conflict as an employer and as a citizen.

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Edward Snowden was a private contractor who was contracted to work with the National Security Service to work on the PRISM program. His work was to make sure that the data on the program was obtained and stored in a way that could allow for analysis using sophisticated tools. On realization that the government administration at that time, under president Barrack Obama intended to maintain the program as developed in the president Bush administration, Snowden decided to leak information ("United States of Secrets"). However, his leakage was more serious than the previous leakages in the past as he had greater access to data storage. He went ahead and obtained accurate data to ensure that what he shared was not heresy. As a matter of fact, he captured more than 1.7 million classified documents which he prepared to share with various journalists in the country ("United States of Secrets"). This ensured that what he shared was accurate.

In the documentary, Snowden's identity as an employee conflict with his identity as a citizen. This scenario forms an identity conflict. Identity conflict faces an individual when one has to choose which position to stand in. In the case of Snowden, the identity conflict is whether he should stand as an employee of the National Security Service or as a loyal citizen. If he chose to remain loyal to his identity as a private contractor on the program, then he would have neglected the ethical call to speak out in government misconduct. Furthermore, Snowden was faced with moral conflict. When one is experiencing a moral conflict, the question of whether or not to speak out on an ethical incidence or a serious neglect is dominant (Bok 1). In this case, some of the moral values in the conflict were honesty and integrity on one side and trustworthiness and loyalty on the other. By choosing to keep the secret, Snowden would have shown loyalty to the employer and also trustworthiness (Duska 4). In contrast, the choice to sound the alarm is a show of integrity and honesty. However, he chose to be the one "blowing the whistle" and acted as a loyal citizen.

Edward Snowden is a hero in the incidence depicted in The United States of Secrets of Secrets documentary. There has been a debate on the issue of whistleblowing on whether or not the act is permissible. In this debate, whistleblowing is in one sense seen as a disloyal act, and on the other sense, it is seen as loyalty (Duska 2). However, whistleblowing is not disloyalty. As a matter of fact, it is a show of loyalty. The exposure of the NSA top secrets opened a probe on the security of communication among people. The integrity of information exchanged worldwide was highly abused as the NSA accessed all data on the internet. Additionally, personal liberty is seen as a myth in the PRISM program ("United States of Secrets"). The exchange of information is closely monitored by the United States Security which is an abuse of liberty and lack of privacy. In a nutshell, the leakage was a milestone in challenging the government proceedings that abuses the human rights as freedoms as expressed the constitution.

The Snowden case offers great lessons on how to resolve the conflicts resulting from our multiple identities. More often than not, most employees are faced with the dilemma of whether or not they should expose some unethical practices in their workplace. This is mostly the case as most whistleblowers are likely to be subordinated (Bok 2). One of the lessons learned from Snowmen's case is that when faced by an identity conflict, the guiding principle should be the morals values in question ("United States of Secrets"). The choice made be that which guarantees that one upholds the values. Furthermore, the other lesson learned is that wisdom should be applied before sounding the alarm. In most cases, it is a high risk and a question of life and death. Snowden collected enough information that was varied to make sure that what he exposed was accurate ("United States of Secrets"). Therefore, validation of information before sharing is necessary, failure to which, strict measures could be taken, including prosecution. Finally, proper networking and finding the right channel to share the information is also vital.

Conclusion

In conclusion, moral and identity conflict often face most employees in their daily endeavors. One of the guiding principles to ensure that the rights of individuals, the rule of law and fairness is ensured is by observing the moral values in our workplaces. Therefore, whistleblowing should be embraced as a means of exposing incidences of violation of various values. The case of Snowden offers great lessons to whistleblowers. Snowden`s case teaches that moral values should always superintend, that wisdom on whom to share the information with and the validity of information shared should be the primary concern of each and every person willing to sound the alarm.

Works Cited

Bok, Sissela. "Personal, Professional, and Institutional Obligations WHISTLEBLOWING I."

Duska, R. "Whistle-Blowing and Employee Loyalty."

"United States of Secrets." FRONTLINE, 13 May 2014, www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/united-states-of-secrets/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2018.