Barriers to Transparency: Rhetorical and Nonrhetorical Constraints on the Efforts of Government Intelligence Whistleblowers

Barak Bullock

Barak Bullock University of Texas - Austin

Keywords: rhetoric, Edward Snowden, National Security Agency, leak, whistleblowing, national security, transparency, government, rhetorical situation, topoi

Abstract

Edward Snowden's disclosure of secret National Security Agency documents in 2013 was the most monumental leak of classified intelligence files in history. In the process of leaking the documents and sustaining their relevance in the public's eyes, Snowden was faced with constraints on his ability to maximize the reformative power of the leak. These constraints were rhetorical and nonrhetorical, meaning they could be changed through discourse, or could not. Concepts from rhetorical scholarship, such as the rhetorical situation and topoi, can help define these various constraints. The main analysis of this essay is an application of these concepts to editorials and news articles related to Snowden and other whistleblowers, such as Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange, Daniel Ellsberg, William Binney and Thomas Drake. Snowden encountered the same constraints as these previous whistleblowers, suggesting they are persistent barriers that future whistleblowers will also have to confront.

Author Biography

Barak Bullock, University of Texas - Austin

Barak Bullock graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in May 2015 with a BA in Rhetoric & Writing Honors. As a student, Barak was a reporter for The Daily Texan and a consultant at UT's Undergraduate Writing Center. He hopes to continue writing about whistleblowing, surveillance, encryption, and national security as a professional journalist.