I Am Bradley Manning…

I Am Bradley Manning…

If you don’t already know who I am, my name is Brian Penny. On Black Monday (March 15, 2011), I leaked confidential Bank of America emails to the media and public through Anonymous. The information I leaked has been utilized by various financial regulators to levy huge fines against the banks. The financial sector considers me a villain, while Main Street views me as a modern day Robin Hood-style vigilante hero.

I see myself only as Bradley Manning…

The methods I used as a civilian keep me on the right side of the law. The corruption I fought was in the private sector. By supporting Anonymous, my name reached the tables of the rich and powerful while I walk free, albeit monitored by the military, police, and various other entities. Bradley doesn’t share that blessing of freedom with me. As Manning committed the same “crime” I did as a human being, I’m obliged to question which of our fates is unusual.

Manning definitely trumps me on the cruel, but it’s not as simple of an answer as you’d think. Being left on the outside, cut off from the outside, my entire life was with the bank. Nearly everyone from my old life turned their back on me. I found what I loved in fighting for and promoting ethics. Finding a way to make a living off it was difficult. The life of a whistleblower is difficult.

In the three years since I leaked confidential bank information, I crossed a lot of obstacles the machine throw at you. I was targeted by the police, the government, the IRS, and in my personal life, all because of my war against the banks. I’ve done nothing wrong, yet I have a longer police record than many people in prison. I’ve seen a drone fly over my head on U.S. soil. I had my iPhone manipulated. I met special ops guys who were there for me. I have more attorneys than I care to talk about. I fought violence with non-violence, and I saw dozens of points where many have failed, and I luckily survived. My struggle is nothing compared to Manning’s though… I beat those odds because I have my freedom…

I may have been down… Many people assumed I was out… but at the end of the day, I post this story on the internet today standing up as a free man.

But I can never be truly free as long as my fate is so intertwined with another human being on this planet who did the exact same thing I did for a different employer. Bradley Manning wasn’t as lucky as me because I was fighting corruption in the finance and insurance industries. He fought corruption in the Army. Let’s not involve the government, but only the Army.

I grew up in a military family spanning generations. I know how all the systems work. At the age Bradley Manning was when he allegedly leaked information to Wikileaks, the Army and the government exist as two different entities. Bradley Manning never attacked the government. He attacked the Army on behalf of the United States government. This is why he is NOT a Benedict Arnold.

Bradley Manning is a soldier in a war much bigger than any of us, and he had no way of knowing how deep he was in. I was 30 when I leaked the Bank of America emails. I submitted testimony to every State Attorney General and was told by my lawyers that I couldn’t possibly understand what I’m involved in. I had a general idea, but to be frank, I didn’t. I didn’t learn exactly what I was involved in until I spent three years researching Wikileaks, working with Anonymous, and following my own story while becoming a professional financial writer at Jim Cramer’s MainStreet publication.

I couldn’t have accomplished that in prison. I especially couldn’t have accomplished that in a military prison… nor in my 20s. It would be impossible for Bradley Manning to have fully understood the legalities of what he was doing, but ignorance of the law is no excuse for violating it. This is why it’s important to understand Manning psychologically could not possibly understand the reality of what he was doing with the perspective he had when he leaked the documents he did.

So I again am left to ponder… why is he not in the same position I am?

We did the same thing. Attorneys saved me. Why are they making an example of Bradley Manning?

And what fate would you have us suffer together?

Because if we allow a human being to so publicly be killed in front of all of us on the media… and we’re all being watched… and bullets are scarce… how many of us are we willing to let die before you join Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, Anonymous, and myself using nonviolence to defend our human rights in a world gone mad?

Brian Penny is a former Business Analyst at Bank of America turned whistleblower, freelance consultant, and troll. He’s a frequent contributor to The Street, Cannabis Now, and Fast Company, Huffington Post, Mainstreet, Lifehack, and HardcoreDroid.

Snowden’s Perspective

Gary Webb is the journalist who blew the whistle on the CIA during the Iran Contra scandal in the 1980’s. In 2005, Webb reportedly “committed suicide” by shooting himself in the head twice. This all happened prior to Twitter and Livestream globalizing citizen journalism online. We live in a different world now.

Transparency Equality

The government monitors us, but they don’t want anyone monitoring them. This Iron Curtain mentality may seem great to those of you wearing American flags without a care in the world, but the reality of that situation is grim. I’ve never committed a crime that matters, yet I’ve met field agents from the Secret Service and Special Forces. I don’t carry weapons, yet have been surrounded by law enforcement specialists far and above your average patrol officer.

The reason I’m still alive and able to speak so publicly is because I’m the son of a retired NCO in military intelligence. I live with a police officer’s family. I grew up with border patrol agents. I know all the rules, and I not only follow them, I recognize inconsistencies. The skill set that made me so successful working in the mortgage and insurance industries translated quite well into activism. I also learned a trick from Wendy Day, who also inspired me to learn more about Webb’s story.

Advice to Stay Alive

Wendy is a veteran of the music industry. She played a role in creating a strong business foundation for some of hip-hop’s most iconic stars and brands, including Cash Money Records, No Limit Records, Eminem, David Banner, and so many more. Wendy’s business savvy and resourcefulness is one of the major reasons southern rap has remained on top of the Billboard charts for so long. She’s worked with many of my heroes, including the late Tupac Shakur.

The advice she gave me when I considered whether or not to go public against Bank of America was something Louis Farrakhan told her when she was considering the very same decision in going public about Cash Money ripping her off. He told her the US takes measures to keep him alive simply because he’s so vocal against them. It’s not that everyone will look at them if he’s killed, it’s that they KNOW everyone will look at them if he’s killed.

Snowden’s Strategy

Edward Snowden went public for a reason. From the skewed angle the general public gets through the various media perspectives, it appears he’s playing checkers. Snowden is playing chess though. There’s a reason he is in Hong Kong. He’s aware of their laws and legal system. The US would never strike Hong Kong with the military. It’s the most important trade route in Southeast Asia. We couldn’t block them economically. That would only hurt our global position. Hong Kong is more than capable of standing against the US. They can’t kill him in Hong Kong. He made a smart decision to do everything from outside the country.

Snowden also went to the media for a reason. He’s following the same strategy employed by Farrakhan, Day, and myself. Now that we all know he’s a government leaker, they can’t make him the victim of some random act of unrecorded violence. He’s not trying to be famous. He’s trying to survive, and he’s doing a brilliant job at it thus far. His next step needs to be to get contracts with as many lawyers as possible. Once he does that, he will be able to maintain his freedom and continue living for the time being.

After the Storm Passes

Once this story dies down is the difficult part. Snowden has an uphill battle ahead of him. He’s seen behind the curtain and now he’s cut off from it. People who were once close friends and family can’t be trusted anymore. You have to put your faith in strangers, which is difficult when you never know who is who. Being outside the US, he’ll see a lot more drones than he’s used to. China, the US, Russia, and many other nations would love to get a hold of him. I wouldn’t put it above North Korea to have him executed or taken hostage just to start a war. His life won’t be easy, and he may not have a home any longer. That’s a tough one to deal with.

Snowden did this at a peculiar time, as Bradley Manning‘s trial started. Glenn Greenwald is friendly to Anonymous, Wikileaks, etc., supporting the cases involving Julian Assange, Manning, and Barrett Brown, among others. This ties him to a very strong foundation. When I leaked the bank info, I went to Anonymous during the PayPal boycott because I had to find a powerful flag to carry against BofA’s. Snowden would know who Greenwald is and must be familiar with Anonymous, so he will have a lot of protection. The question is…what game is Snowden really playing?

Whose Side Is Snowden On?

Law enforcement has always had a fascination with the inner working of Anonymous. They continue forgetting that it’s only an idea…and an idea can never be killed or imprisoned. From everything I see, Snowden is following the right steps to survive as a whistleblower. Where is his heart though? What’s the angle we’re not seeing? Did he blow the whistle for the reasons he stated, or is he another government attempt of infiltrating Anonymous?

While we wait for an answer, we’re losing more and more freedoms. We now know the government is watching us. It’s not about whether you’re doing something right or wrong. It’s about having privacy in your own home. It’s about feeling safe within the walls of your home and whenever you leave it. Snowden showed us the government is watching us. Manning showed us what they’ll do if we disobey. Our only power right now is in numbers. We need to find nonviolent ways to fight for our own freedoms. We’re all carrying smartphones, tablets, e-readers, and laptops powerful enough to control the world. All it takes is a little knowledge…

Expect us…

Brian Penny is a former Business Analyst at Bank of America turned whistleblower, freelance consultant, and troll. He’s a frequent contributor to The Street, Cannabis Now, and Fast Company, Huffington Post, Mainstreet, Lifehack, and HardcoreDroid.

Chelsea Manning Verdict from a Bank Whistleblower

Bradley Manning spent this summer on trial for his part in the release of classified U.S. documents to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. As a whistleblower myself, I spent the summer watching his trial develop while Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations saturate our society’s consciousness. What happens to Bradley Manning is important to me because, as discussed previously, I Am Bradley Manning — we’re all Bradley Manning.

The Government vs The Bank

I leaked confidential information from my employer to the media, who then disseminated the information to the public. I even worked with the “terrorist/hacker” syndicate Anonymous to do it. The only difference between us is our employer — Manning worked for the government. Look very carefully at how the government treats this courageous whistleblower. That is exactly what happens to us in every industry. Rather than being discriminated against for our race, religion, sex, orientation, or any other involuntary trait, whistleblowers are discriminated against for choosing honesty.

Remove any rhetoric or bias, and Manning is on trial for nothing more than telling the truth. How or why he did it can be contested, but at the end of the day, he told the truth. When I told the truth, I was labeled a terrorist as well. I’ve done some drug experimentation and stole a few things here and there in life, but I never did anyone any harm. I never had a police record — I was an honor student who grew up to be a respectable analyst within the finance industry. Because I told the truth, I’m now considered a person of interest. I’ve been arrested, hospitalized, and monitored for telling the truth. Now I have to watch a young soldier face a more brutal life than even I can imagine. I can’t help but wonder…am I next?

Defining and Sentencing Espionage

If Bradley Manning is guilty of espionage, what does that mean for me as a bank whistleblower? Am I guilty of espionage against Bank of America, QBE, and Assurant? Are all whistleblowers spies? What’s the difference between a whistleblower and a spy? What could he have done better?

Now that a single judge (not a jury of his peers) has declared Bradley Manning guilty… what does that mean for justice? Our country is in dangerous territory, and I, for one, am terrified of how corrupt this system is…

Brian Penny is a former Business Analyst at Bank of America turned whistleblower, freelance consultant, and troll. He’s a frequent contributor to The Street, Cannabis Now, and Fast Company, Huffington Post, Mainstreet, Lifehack, and HardcoreDroid.

Just Laws vs Unjust Laws

“How does one determine when a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail“

On April 12, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sat in a jail cell in Birmingham, AL for coordinating nonviolent actions against segregation. In an attempt to stop the civil rights movement in Alabama, Circuit Judge W.A. Jenkins issued a blanket injunction against “parading, demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing, and picketing.” Dr. King marched anyway, and was arrested.

Four days later, after reading a newspaper article from local clergymen condemning him for hypocrisy in breaking the law, Dr. King wrote the now famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” in which he broke down the difference between a just and unjust law, stating we, as human beings, have “not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” Four months later, Dr. King led the March on Washington, delivering the epic “I Have a Dream” speech, calling for equal rights for all human beings of every shape, color, sex, age, size, and belief.

Dr. King’s speech echoed in my head fifty years later as I watched President Obama speak at his press conference on NSA monitoring, stating whistleblower Edward Snowden isn’t a patriot because he broke the law. With all due respect to POTUS, I disagree. Snowden is more than a patriot; per Dr. King’s definition, he’s a moral champion.

Freedom of Privacy

 

“An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.” – MLK

As Dr. King so eloquently points out, the difference between a just and an unjust law is in the equal application of said law. The unjust application he’s referencing is the basis of the American Civil Rights Movement — the white majority was not held to the same standards as non-white minorities. I wish I could say this situation has been resolved, but, as anyone who’s heard of Trayvon Martin is painfully aware, that isn’t always the case. In the internet age, we not only have to fight a lot of the same racial and gender inequalities as Dr. King, we also have an ever-widening financial equality gap and rampant abuses of power. No matter how complicated things get, however, the measuring stick with which we measure justice has never changed.

Nothing in President Obama’s speech gave the impression that the rampant NSA monitoring will stop — he didn’t even touch upon other government agencies using this overreaching digital spying technology on American citizens not involved in terrorism. He merely states that, while no laws will be implemented or changed, American taxpayers’ money will be spent on a PR campaign to convince these very same American citizens that it’s ok to give up all of our privacy to the government. Obama would have us believe it’s ok for the government to know everything about us (the people), while they (the government) operates in the shadows behind an iron curtain of secrecy. Not even a year after all the hoopla surrounding government debt, sequestration, and the debt ceiling, the White House wants to spend our own money on convincing us to be ok with giving up our basic human freedom of privacy. You’ll have to forgive the inherent sarcasm in my slow clap…

Middle Fingers for Patriotism

 

“We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ‘illegal.’ It was ‘illegal’ to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers.” – MLK

The fallacy in President Obama’s logic is saying that breaking the law is what makes Snowden unpatriotic. Apparently, our Commander-in-Chief is under the impression that George Washington obeyed the law when he led an armed revolution on the ruling government of the time. Much like Bradley Manning, terrorist Paul Revere aided and abetted the enemy when he leaked British troop movements to the American patriots. Centuries before Edward Snowden’s leak, Benjamin Franklin leaked confidential government letters. Why isn’t Snowden’s face on our currency?

With Lavabit and Secret Circle shutting down their secure email servers and tech giants Google, Apple, et al, bending to the will of the government and leaking our private and confidential emails to them, we had better figure that out very quickly. Drones are being produced on an almost-Terminator level. More and more power is finding its way into the hands of fewer and fewer people. We’re looking down the barrel of a dystopian future within a decade. If we don’t start speaking up now, it’s only a matter of time before we miss the bus.

I don’t know what it’s going to take to fix this situation. As much as I’d like to give you the answer — to tell you what to do — I can’t. I don’t know how to convince the powerful people in our world to step off their pedestals and join us. I don’t know how to ensure we have the same inherent human freedoms and unalienable human rights as those in power. All I know is I have to take control of my own privacy again.

If the government is going to monitor me without my permission, they’re going to see me throwing a middle finger in the air, just like they did earlier this year in Houston. I won’t resort to violence, nor will I be complacent in this travesty of justice and equality. I will simply continue living my life the way I want… with my middle finger in the face of every single government agency or representative who isn’t vehemently opposed to the mass surveillance without transparency.

I encourage you to stop twiddling your thumbs and join me in giving the government the finger…

Brian Penny is a former Business Analyst at Bank of America turned whistleblower, freelance consultant, and troll. He’s a frequent contributor to The Street, Cannabis Now, and Fast Company, Huffington Post, Mainstreet, Lifehack, and HardcoreDroid.

Leaving Fear and Loathing

January 5, 2011, 9:20pm – Chandler, AZ – http://thoughtforyourpenny.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-night-my-whole-life-changed.html

I sat at my desk, nervously chain-smoking cigarettes. I hadn’t smoked in nearly a year, but tonight may be my last night of freedom. A cascade of windows swallowed my monitor as I scanned my hard drives, cookies, and registry files to see what I have.

Twelve hours earlier, Bank of America’s corporate security called the police and said I made a bomb threat on the building. Now my neighbors are peering curiously toward my house as the police have it surrounded and are yelling for me to come outside.

March 13, 2011, 11:59pm – Chandler, AZ – https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2O-vRNN-ukw

The Wall Street Journal balked at my story, and I had to contact Anonymous. Fresh off their HB Gary leak and Julian Assange’s cryptic warning of a Bank of America leak, my quest for justice landed me in the center of an international shitstorm I wasn’t even aware of, much less prepared for.

Four months after facing my 30^th birthday by jumping out of an airplane, I’m suddenly the Bank of America leaker everyone’s talking about. Bradley Manning is sitting in a prison cell, and Julian Assange is under house arrest in the U.K. Thankfully I had their stories to follow, and an HB Gary Federal Powerpoint presentation outlining Bank of America’s Enterprise Risk Management campaign against Wikileaks.

I’m not going to jail – I already dodged that bullet months ago. I’m an honest American citizen, and, although I may have broken a few laws, I’ve committed no crimes. I just hope I leaked enough to prove the fraud without having to listen to the Anon and leak the reports (and the millions of American’s private banking info) it would take to prove what the media wanted. The regulators and activists and lawyers will get what they need though. They’ll understand…

In one minute, I’m facing the judgment of the entire world. If even a handful understand what I need them to, I’ll have the pieces in place to take the whole board. If they don’t, I fade away into the system, disappear, and die, just like everyone else before me. I crossed a point of no return. This is going on my permanent record in the real life Game of Thrones.

I’m a whistleblower now, and I only need to be an expert in myself.

May 18, 2012, 10:33am – Sierra Vista, AZ – http://thoughtforyourpenny.blogspot.com/2012/05/paraphrasing-bank-of-americas-testimony.html

I’ve been told to keep my head down, and you can’t get much more down than living in your old bedroom of your parents’ house at 31. I’ve waited over a year, and these force-placed insurance hearings are the culmination of everything I’ve done. I may have lost nearly everything and everyone I loved, but I’m not a complete loser. My parents only see their grown son smoking synthetic marijuana and playing on a laptop in a robe, but I’m transcribing an important piece of history.

Ben Lawsky and the New York Department of Financial Services have banking and insurance executives on the hot seat over the practices I spoke to them about. My leak encouraged regulators to look at me, and they listened to what I had to say – beneath all the smoke and mirrors of mortgage-backed securities is simple financial fraud hidden behind escrow accounts and foreclosures.

I already caught a lot of these guys lying on the stands, and I know they know I’m watching. I have the attention of a room full of very powerful people on Wall Street, and I’m high out my mind, and happy as shit. They need to hurry up and come back from lunch. I can’t wait to tear this Bank of America exec a new one…

September 26, 2012, 8:59pm – Clearwater, FL – http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/sound-off/505b78b6fe344425f500004e

Having been through the rounds with regulators, I gave up hope in the American justice system. St. Petersburg College in Florida was the perfect place to hide in plain sight. Miami and Florida are two entirely different places, and the only place that would accept someone as blacklisted as me is Clearwater, the Scientology mecca. I’m easy to find on Google, and my site has Guy Fawkes masks all over it. The Scientologists are the least of my worries for now.

My problem right now is I’m about to be a guest on HuffPost Live – the school library is about to close, and I’m about to be kicked out of here by a school security guard on a live broadcast. He’s already warned me twice, and I have to face the music sooner or later. They’re lucky they at least gave me Aloyna Minkovski as a host. She’s one of the only people who got my story right back then. I’m in good hands. I need to relax and not think about school or work or bills. Tonight, I’m Brian Penny the bank whistleblower.

I have no idea how to be a banking analyst or journalist. I’m no talking head, and why did the producer laugh at me when I asked to be identified as a whistleblower? I bet Aloyna doesn’t get this kind of pushback. The NY DFS may not have thrown everyone in jail like the Harvey Dent I hoped for, but at least Ben Lawsky and Joy Feigenbaum treated me with respect. These public access media monkeys seem to think I’m the joke.

I need to run – the segment’s starting, the security guard is screaming at me, and I’m about to be introduced on camera running across campus to the nearest building I can find where I can sit down and do my first live news broadcast…

April 14, 2014, 1:59pm – Denver, CO

I just walked out of a medicinal and recreational dispensary in American Amsterdam. After a weekend long drive from Arizona to Colorado, I finally felt the feeling of true freedom I’ve been seeking for over three years. I no longer had to talk about my lifelong love of marijuana – instead I can proudly stand on American streets and admit that I enjoy smoking blunts. No longer do I feel like the criminal I’ve felt like since the day Bank of America imprisoned me in my own mind.

When I walked in as a whistleblower, their executives embraced me, taking me behind the scenes and showed me their operations, allowing me to film it on my GoPro and ask any questions I wanted. The stigmas that follow me around in my life don’t matter here – this business has nothing to hide. I can instantly tell they’re honest people who are knowledgeable about their product and care about the surrounding community.

I spoke openly with the workers and found one of the front-end pros came from the banking industry as well. We both smiled as she proudly declared how much more she enjoys her career these days compared to back then. Everyone felt comfortable, natural, and real. This was no manufactured McFriendly environment – these people truly love what they do, and it shows in every facet.

I only drove 800 miles from Phoenix to Denver, but it’s an entire world away…

 Brian Penny is a former Business Analyst at Bank of America turned whistleblower, freelance consultant, and troll. He’s a frequent contributor to The Street, Huffington Post, Cannabis Now, and Fast Company.