Don’t Kill the Messenger by Donald Ray Soeken
Nine tales of treachery inside the federal bureaucracy make this book hard to swallow. It pounds home with disturbing truth that honest is not the best policy within the civil service. Too much candor ruins careers of the conscientious, sacrifices their marriages, and usually wrecks the lives of the righteous. Yet the safety of this nation depends upend such principled dissenters. America’s morally bravest people are found in this book. —Ern Reynolds, former United States Justice Department Attorney |
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What happens when a courageous whistleblower decides to risk everything by “going public” with information about waste, fraud or abuse in American business or government? Don’t Kill the Messenger! provides a starkly compelling answer to that question…by describing in vivid, unforgettable detail how America’s truth-tellers are often violently attacked (and sometimes even destroyed) by powerful interests that will stop at nothing to silence them. Whether Dr. Soeken is telling the story of an NSA intelligence officer who dared to speak out against illegal wiretapping of American citizens…or of a daring FBI special agent who blew the whistle on illegal “doctoring of evidence” in an FBI laboratory (and was nearly destroyed int he process), the result is a highly suspenseful book that often reads like a contemporary political thriller. Along with its chilling narratives, however, Don’t Shoot the Messenger! contains a vitally important warning for all of us: We must protect our truth-tellers if we hope to preserve our constitutional freedoms and the rule of law. Written by a nationally recognized Ph.D. social worker who’s spent the past 30 years assisting high-profile whistleblowers, this book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand what it’s like to put your life on the line by blowing the whistle.” —Jeffrey Wigand, MA, Ph.D., MAT, Sc.D., aka “The Insider” |
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Pioneer federal government whistleblower Donald Soeken has chronicled his own experiences while sharing his observations about the progress our society has made recognizing truth tellers as vital to democracy. The arc of his own story began before Congress reformed the civil service system to recognize whistleblower rights and through this invaluable memoir extends to a new era in which “whistleblower” is no longer a dirty word to the general public. Decribing events along that journey toward acceptance, Dr. Soeken laments that far too many whistleblowers have continued to drown in the wake of the waves they have created. —Louis Clark, President Government Accountability Project |