© Getty Images

Julian Assange -

The Australian publisher and activist rose to international fame in 2010 when WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of classified documents provided by whistleblower Chelsea Manning. That same year, Sweden issued a European arrest warrant for Assange in relation to a sexual assault. He appealed the warrant while the US ramped up their investigation into his involvement with Manning. When his appeal was rejected in 2012, Assange stepped into the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he was granted asylum, to avoid arrest. He famously lived in the embassy for seven years without stepping foot outside the building, such was his fear that he would be extradited to the US and face charges of espionage.

© Getty Images

Julian Assange -

When the charges in Sweden were dropped in 2019, Ecuador's government also dropped his asylum status under pressure from the US, and he was arrested by British authorities for evading bail for so many years. That was also the year that the US officially indicted Assange for allegedly conspiring with Chelsea Manning. A month later, they added a further 17 espionage charges to his rap sheet. His lawyers argued that his extradition would only serve as a punishment for political opinions and freedom of speech, violating the European Convention on Human Rights. The British refused to approve extradition without reassurances from the US that he wouldn't face the death penalty or receive inhumane treatment. However, it seems that Biden has had a change of heart as he approaches the end of his presidential term, and Assange has been set free. 

© Getty Images

Reality Winner -

Reality Winner, the whistleblower who leaked a classified document about Russian interference in the 2016 US elections, has shared her side of the story and emphasized: "I am not a traitor." Winner, who was hit with the longest sentence ever imposed for unauthorized release of government information to the media, sat down for a '60 Minutes' interview after spending four years behind bars to clear things up. 

When interviewer Scott Pelley asked Winner about her decision to expose the National Security Agency's knowledge of Russia's interference in the 2016 election, she said, "I knew it was secret. But I also knew that I had pledged service to the American people. And at that point in time, it felt like they were being led astray."

© Getty Images

Edward Snowden -

The former CIA employee and government contractor leaked classified NSA information in 2013. The information revealed several global surveillance programs. Snowden fled to Russia after being charged with violating the Espionage Act.

© Getty Images

Chelsea Manning -

Born Bradley Manning, the former US Army analyst released the largest set of classified documents ever to WikiLeaks. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for violating the Espionage Act. However, she was only imprisoned from 2010 until 2017, when her sentence was commuted.

© Getty Images

Mark Felt (1913-2008) -

Associate director of the FBI, Mark Felt was also the secret informant who helped Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein reveal the Watergate scandal. Known as "Deep Throat," his real identity was only revealed in 2005.

© Getty Images

Linda Tripp (1949-2020) -

Linda Tripp was a former White House staff member who became a key figure in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. She secretly recorded Lewinsky confessing to her relationship with President Bill Clinton.

© Getty Images

Karen Silkwood (1946-1974) -

Karen Silkwood was the first prominent nuclear power whistleblower. She worked as a chemical technician at a Kerr-McGee nuclear plant when she started to protest its health and safety issues. She died mysteriously in 1974 in the midst of a campaign to challenge the nuclear plant. Her story was told in the 1983 film 'Silkwood.'

© Getty Images

Frank Serpico -

This former New York City police officer reported several of his fellow officers for bribery and related charges. Serpico was the first police officer in the history of the NYPD to openly report police corruption. He was portrayed by Al Pacino in the 1973 film 'Serpico.'

© Getty Images

Mordechai Vanunu -

The Israeli former nuclear technician exposed Israel's clandestine nuclear program to the British press in 1986. At the time, he said the state had between 100 and 200 nuclear weapons. He spent 17 and a half years in prison as a result.

© Getty Images

Daniel Ellsberg -

Daniel Ellsberg is a former employee of the State Department, who in 1971 leaked the Pentagon Papers. The secret documents revealed how the US came to fight the Vietnam War.

© Getty Images

Mona Hanna-Attisha -

Mona Hanna-Attisha is a pediatrician and professor, whose research exposed the Flint water crisis. Her research showed that children's blood lead levels in Flint had doubled after the city’s water source was switched to the Flint River.

© Getty Images

Jeffrey Wigand -

A former tobacco company executive, Jeffrey Wigand revealed in 1996 on '60 Minutes' that cigarette companies knew that they were packing their products with high levels of nicotine. He was portrayed by Russell Crowe in the 1999 movie 'The Insider.'

© Getty Images

Frances Haugen -

Frances Haugen is a former product manager in the civic integrity department at Facebook. She exposed thousands of internal documents related to user research, special policy exceptions for high-profile users, and hate speech.

© Getty Images

Mark Whitacre -

Portrayed by Matt Damon in 'The Informant!' (2009), Mark Whitacre is the former Divisional President with Archer Daniels Midland. He worked with the FBI to expose price-fixing in agriculture by his own company.

© Getty Images

Li Wenliang (1986-2020) -

Li Wenliang was a Chinese ophthalmologist who warned of COVID-19 infections in Wuhan on December 30, 2019. The police summoned him for making false comments. He later returned to work, where he was infected by a patient. Wenliang died from the virus in February 2020.

© Getty Images

David Graham -

David Graham is an epistemologist, who in 2004 revealed in his research that the painkiller Vioxx had caused 88,000 to 139,000 heart attacks. Graham went to Congress after the FDA attempted to suppress his findings.

© Getty Images

David Shayler and Annie Machon -

The couple are both former intelligence officers for the MI5, who after resigning exposed alleged criminal acts by the UK Secret Services in 1997.

© Getty Images

Katharine Gun -

Katharine Gun is a British translator who worked for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). In 2003, she leaked top-secret information concerning illegal activities by the US and the UK in their invasion of Iraq.

© Getty Images

Harry Markopolos -

Harry Markopolos is an independent financial fraud analyst who uncovered evidence that Bernie Madoff's wealth management business was a huge fraud.

© Getty Images

Coleen Rowley -

In 2002, FBI special agent Coleen Rowley outlined how the agency had failed to act on information provided by agents about the September 11, 2001 attacks.

© Getty Images

Thomas Drake -

Thomas Drake is a former NSA analyst who revealed the organization's Trailblazer Project was violating the Fourth Amendment, as well as several other laws and regulations.

© Getty Images

Sherron Watkins -

A former executive for the energy company Enron, Sherron Watkins helped expose its enormous financial lies and acts of fraud back in 2001.

© Getty Images

Vladimir Bukovsky (1942-2019) -

In 1971, Russian dissident Vladimir Bukovsky smuggled to the West a file of 150 pages documenting the political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union. A human rights activist, he was vocal against the regime.

© Getty Images

Hervé Falciani -

Hervé Falciani is a French-Italian systems engineer who is credited for collaborating with numerous European nations by providing information about suspected tax evaders with Swiss bank accounts. Falciani was indicted by the Swiss government for violating the country's bank secrecy laws and for espionage.

© Getty Images

Howard Wilkinson -

Howard Wilkinson is a British whistleblower who helped reveal the 2018 Danske Bank money laundering scandal. An Estonian branch of the Danish bank had been laundering up to US$235 billion dollars.

© Getty Images

John Kiriakou -

In 2012, the former CIA officer disclosed that the agency waterboarded detainees, which constituted torture. He was convicted of passing classified information to a reporter and was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

© Getty Images

Viktor Suvorov -

Viktor Suvorov is a former Soviet military intelligence officer, who, after leaving the Soviet Union, exposed various secrets relating to the military and foreign intelligence.

© Getty Images

Sibel Edmonds -

Sibel Edmonds is a former FBI translator who was fired in 2002 for attempting to report cover-ups of security issues, potential espionage, and incompetence.

Sources: (Politico) (Insider) 

See also: The biggest government secrets that were accidentally made public

© Getty Images