Whistleblower Edward Snowden made sure to identify himself as the person who was responsible for the release of NSA documents, and he publicly explained his reasons. Drake was also careful to identify himself and his sources and also explain why he released classified information. In contrast, WikiLeaks publishes material that has been submitted anonymously, so neither the source of the material nor the motivation for releasing it is known.

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Consider these two approaches to whistleblowing, and suppose that you are employed by the Internal Revenue Service IT department in Washington, D.C. Congress is investigating the possibility that the commissioner of the IRS conspired with the White House to audit organizations that were likely to make significant donations to the presidents opponents during the next election. You have been asked to delete all of the commissioners email messages from servers and backups. Would you consider becoming a whistleblower? If so, would you use a public or an anonymous venue? Explain your answer.