Jesselyn Radack Biography

Fast Facts

• Won the Feminist Majority Foundation Feminist of the Year Award in 1991
• Won the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence in 2011 and the Hugh M․ Hefner First Amendment Award in 2012
• Graduated Magna Cum Laude from Brown University with degrees in American Civilization, Women's Studies, and Political Science in 1992 and earned her law degree from Yale University
• Served as a constitutional lawyer and legal ethics advisor for the Department of Justice for seven years, where she worked on the case against "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh that would lead her to become a whistleblower
• Quote: "Few paths are more treacherous than the one that challenges abuse of power and tries to make a meaningful difference․․․Whistleblowers should not have to choose their conscience over their careers․"
• Best known as a whistleblower and as the director of National Security & Human Rights at the Government Accountability Project
• Is the representative of John Doe in the Doe v․ Rumsfeld court case, where in a rare move the court has allowed a personal liability action against a cabinet-level official for the torture of American contractors
• Represented whistleblower Thomas Drake during his prosecution by the government under the Espionage Act