I'm not sure what argument you think I was making other than 'yes, whistleblower programs exist' in response to the parent's question of

> Has there been any sort of "ethical" system designed to show a person how they are supposed to whistle blow?

As you helpfully exemplified, many people dismiss the IG's programs due to the potential for (or reality of) retaliation (which I mentioned), but I specifically wanted to avoid that whole set of arguments because there's only so many times I can read through all that.

Also, the first line in the DNI whistleblower program mentions "An IC employee, assignee, detailee, or contractor" so unless that means something other than the plain reading, it would apply to someone today who is similarly situated.

I read your post as saying they should have followed the chain of command rather than leaking data. I apologize for not catching the nuance in your response.

The WaPo covered Snowden's claims in great detail. Reading it, I certainly would not have felt protected against retaliation myself.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2014/03/...