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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.
Today, a remarkable conversation with Reality Winner, the NSA whistleblower who leaked proof of Russian interference in the 2016 election and paid for it with the harshest sentence ever imposed under the Espionage Act.
Reality Winner’s new memoir, I Am Not Your Enemy, tells the story of what led her to leak the document, the fallout from her arrest, and what her arrest tells us about our military-industrial complex — and our eroding democracy.
“Depending on where you are on the totem pole will determine how you fare once charged with a crime — or if you’re even charged with a crime in the first place.”
She speaks about how her punishment compared with the leniency shown to elites like Donald Trump and David Petraeus, and why the Espionage Act is uniquely unjust. Plus — an explosive revelation about why Winner believes The Intercept deliberately exposed her as their source.
“Everything that happened to me following the sending of the document to The Intercept was by design.”
We spend the hour with Reality Winner in a deeply revealing conversation you don’t want to miss.
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Key Words: Reality Winner, I Am Not Your Enemy, NSA whistleblower, The Intercept, Espionage Act, Russian election interference, whistleblower prosecution, Donald Trump classified documents, national security leaks, government secrecy
You Might Also Like: Daniel Ellsberg, THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE, James Risen, PAY ANY PRICE
Episode Summary
Reality Winner opens up about her motivations for joining the Air Force, her moral struggle with U.S. military policy, and the trauma of watching war unfold from the inside. She explains how, in a moment of fear and outrage, she leaked an NSA report proving Russian interference in the 2016 election.
In this interview, she delivers three explosive insights:
- The Intercept’s betrayal: Winner claims the outlet didn’t just make mistakes, but deliberately exposed her to boost their own profile: “Everything that happened to me following the sending of the document to The Intercept was by design.”
- Double standards in justice: She contrasts her four-year sentence with the impunity of elites like Donald Trump, Biden, or Petraeus for far graver breaches: “Depending on where you are on the totem pole will determine how you fare once charged with a crime — or if you’re even charged with a crime in the first place.”
- The Espionage Act’s injustice: Winner highlights how the Act uniquely ignores both intent and impact: “It is one of the only laws in the entire United States judicial history that intent, criminal intent, does not need to be proven.”
She also describes her arrest, the FBI’s tactics, her harrowing time in prison, and her continuing journey of healing.
Key Topics
- NSA whistleblowing & Russian election interference
- The Intercept’s handling of leaks
- Double standards in national security prosecutions
- The Espionage Act and its lack of intent requirement
- Military culture and disillusionment from within
- Prison, resilience, and healing after incarceration