Truth Be Told Speaking Program

Visit our Events page to learn about upcoming Truth Be Told meetings near you!

GAP offers on a limited basis a customized program entitled “Truth Be Told: Reflections from Whistleblowers.” This program evolved from our successful American Whistleblower Tour, where GAP visited more than 30 colleges and universities to educate and inspire the next generation of workers and leaders about the important role whistleblowers play in holding institutions accountable and protecting the public interest.

This program features a GAP expert moderator along with one or more notable whistleblowers who share their experiences of deciding to speak up rather than stay silent in the face of serious misconduct.  We have tailored programs for journalism, business, law, ethics and general audiences, with speakers who have shared stories about their efforts to blow the whistle on issues such as:

• The NSA’s unlawful and sweeping surveillance of domestic phone and email data;

• A multi-billion dollar cover-up of securities violations at Deutsche Bank;

• Health risks posed by the USDA’s pilot high-speed poultry inspection program which gives inspectors just a 1/3 of a second to check each carcass for fecal and other contamination;

• Human trafficking and forced prostitution of girls by private contractors in who were working for the United Nations during the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, and also the cover up of this abuse by the U.N.;

• Technical and design flaws at the Hanford nuclear facility’s Waste Treatment Plant that could result in a criticality explosion comparable to Fukushima.

“Truth Be Told” features GAP experts who facilitate a discussion with whistleblowers describing their decision to speak out about the problem they discovered, and what they experienced after blowing the whistle. Some whistleblowers share stories of suffering shocking forms of reprisal; some share stories of powerful vindication of their concerns. All share how the experience of putting ethics into practice promotes the public interest.

Reactions to this program have been overwhelmingly positive, with many universities hosting events annually due to the popularity and educational value of the program. National media coverage about the Tour (see C-SPAN; Columbia Journalism Review) confirms the ever-increasing importance of exploring the role whistleblowers play in today’s society.

This inspiring program can be tailored for undergraduate and graduate school students as well as for citizen Town Halls and speaker series, professional ethics events and other audiences. To inquire about organizing a “Truth Be Told” event for your audience, please contact Dana Gold, GAP’s Director of Education and Strategic Partnerships, at danag@whistleblower.org or 202.457.0034 x160.