Dark History - 83: Dirty Water, Wikileaks, and Anthrax?! Would You Die For Your Country? | Dark History with Bailey Sarian

Episode Date: April 19, 2023

Welcome to the Dark History podcast, the show where we talk about that hot history goss. And today we’re talking about a new kind of gossip: the kind that could both save and ruin lives, should you blow the whistle. That’s right, today’s episode is on whistleblowers—people that saw something and said something, despite the risk to themselves. Because those in power don’t like it when you pull down their ivory tower. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it. Episode Advertisers Include: Earth Breeze, Hello Fresh, Rocket Money & Apostrophe. Learn more during the podcast about special offers!

Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my study and my podcast, Dark History. This is a chance to tell a story like it is and to share the history of stuff we would never think about. So all you have to do is sit back, relax, and let's talk about that hot juicy history guss. Okay, so my friend told me this story and it was, oh, wild juicy, so my ups and downs. And but like I don't want to start any drama, but of course, I was like, I have to share.

Because it's kind of like, you know, related to the topic I want to start any drama, but of course, I was like, I have to share. Because it's kind of like, you know, related to the topic I want to discuss today. So my friend, let's call her Barbara. She was working at the small company and she was super tight with her team, including her boss. I mean, everyone knew everyone's friends and everyone knew everyone's partners.

Well, one day, Barbara was just going out and about just going to grab some food on her lunch break and she saw, get this. Her boss's husband, making out with another woman. I mean, a little tongue and everything, okay? I mean, it was like they were being sloppy because they were out just in public, like they didn't even care.

So my friend, the one who was seeing this all go down, she said she wasn't shocked, because I don't know, she's always got a bad vibe from her boss's husband. Anyway, Barbara was like, oh my God, don't even look at me. Like, she's trying to hide her face, and then she got the hell out of there

before her boss's husband saw her. So in her mind, she's trying to hide her face and then she got the hell out of there before her boss's husband saw her. So in her mind, she's trying to justify it. Like, oh, you know, maybe that her boss actually knows, maybe it was his grandma, like, I don't really know the whole details, you know? But what she did know was that they were not in an open relationship. The boss and her husband were definitely together.

So Barbara, I don't know, she marched her ass back into the office and spent the rest of her lunch break eating like six bags of sun chips. And she was trying to figure out like, what the hell do I do now? She wanted to tell her boss, but at the same time she was worried. I mean, her boss made potentially take it as a power play. I mean, is that something you would want to even hear from an employee? And of course, on top of all of that, she was worried she'd lose her job or even just create tension at the workplace. But

she ends up telling her boss. Ooh, bold! And I guess her boss in return was like, which is a very straight face, was like, thank you for telling me, Barbara. And then that was it. I mean, her boss didn't fire her, but she said that things were definitely weird between them afterwards. And it just kind of made the relationship with the rest of the team a little weird as well. It also ruined that very relaxed work environment

that Barbara liked at the office. It ruined it so much that she actually eventually quit. And then in return, she was like, I wish I never even told my boss. Very mixed opinions on this one, right? I mean, I don't know. What's the right thing to do here? But in the end, should Barbara even be punished for telling the truth? I don't know. Well, this got me thinking about people who do this, but on a way more serious level.

Like, no disrespect to Barbara. What she found was very juicy and interesting. But this is like serious where I'm talking about actual like whistle blowers. In my experience, the word whistleblower gets people like all hot and bothered. And on a good way, I mean, everyone's got like all types of different opinions on them. So naturally, I was like, why? What's the deal? Well, the definition of whistle-blit wing is essentially sounding the alarm when you think a person or people in power are doing shady stuff, especially if it's criminal. Simply put, if you see something, say something. I mean, sounds pretty simple, right?

Well, today, we're talking about more recent and shocking whistleblower stories that may have changed the course of history. From secret wars to chemical attacks on Americans, to a housewife who probably saved hundreds if not thousands of lives, whistleblowers, are they American heroes or American traitors? It's a hot debate. Joan here is dressed up as our whistleblower. You look so good, Joan. She got a new costume designer. She, that's just, that's where all her budget's going. Her outfits. Anyways, we love a theme. We love a theme. There are some definitely more famous or maybe let's say more successful whistleblowers. There is one man named Mark Felt, but he is better known to the world as Deepthroat.

Now this has nothing to do with that famous mooleum mentioned in the porn episode. Deepthroat was the codename of the guy who blew the whistle on all the shady stuff President Nixon was doing. Yeah, him. Which side note, but could you imagine getting that codename? They couldn't pick anything else. Deepthroat? Anyway, there's no watergate without deepthroat.

Then we have Linda Tripp, you know, the woman who snitched on Monica Lewin's scheme, President Clinton. Oh yeah, and then Harry Mark Godblas. He blew the whistle on that illegal stuff the Ponzi scheme guy Bernie made off was doing. But blowing that whistle in America goes all the way back to the start of our country. The first American whistleblower was actually from 1777, but it wasn't until the 1800s that whistleblowing became like the good American thing to do. Now America, she was, you know, she was struggling a little bit during the Civil War and she could not afford to hire enough people to help out. So the military needed tons of stuff and that means it also needed a ton of people

to manage where they were getting that stuff from. So I'm talking about like food, weapons, and even military uniforms. But during the Civil War, I mean, something wild happened. These soldiers, they get their new uniform, ship to them. So they put them on, like, yeah, new uniforms. Yeah, they're high-fiving. And then they head out to battle.

And then it's like time to go. So they're racing towards the enemy. But it actually starts to rain that day, which is not a big deal, except that the rain actually started to dissolve their uniforms. Yes, they were falling apart. They were like melting.

They were not Hugo Boss quality. That's for sure. So yes, very big problem. Companies at this time had no quality control. So things were just really like flying under the radar. There were even fake contractors who sold bullets that were made of sawdust to soldiers. So the government decides, um, maybe they need some watch dogs like that are on their side and people aren't getting scammed. The year 1863 rolls around and in the government they passed something known as the Lincoln Law.

So the government wanted more people to get involved in keeping these military contractors in check. People were encouraged to do it because it was the good American thing to do, but also because, and more importantly, they could get a really nice little payday from doing it. So how it worked was like, okay, let's say someone blows the whistle, saying a company is selling the government cantaloupes that were painted like cannonballs, you know, great scheme. The government would sue them, and if they won a million dollars in damages, you, the

whistleblower, would get to take home half of that. That's a good deal. So you would get like a great $500,000 for calling out a company who was doing something shady. Hello, people are like, where do I sign up? So early on, the United States government was very supportive of whistleblowers. I mean, they were important. And they saw it as like a way to protect the nation. And it's so like sweet and wholesome.

Unlike today though, being a whistleblower is like having a scarlet letter just, maybe a W instead just sewn right onto your shirt. And it's definitely like not as straightforward as it was back in the 1800s. We always tend to overcomplicate things, don't we? Not every whistleblower needs to be some like Washington DC insider

with high level classified intel. I mean, we'll get that in today's story, but what I'm saying is that whistleblowers can come in all different shapes and sizes. And yeah, sometimes the most effective examples are the ones that people empower totally overlook. Someone who was simply caught up in a scandal saw something and then said something.

Like our first example of a whistleblower, Leanne History. So once upon a time in a city called Flint, Michigan, things were fantastic. In the mid-1900s, it was like a place where people worked, building cards for general motors. So families raised their kids there and the quality of life was just overall great. What over the years, as more car factories moved overseas,

the town started to go downhill. The population was cut in half, homes were abandoned, and crime was spreading fast. By 2011, the city was looking at the numbers and they realized that they were $25 million in debt. So Flint's like, do we need to fix our budget? Because we're in a law debt. All right. So the governor ends up stepping in. And he knew that Flint was getting their water from another city nearby, Detroit. But they could save a lot of money if they just got their water from another city nearby, Detroit. But they could save a lot of money if they just got their water from their own river instead.

So in 2014, Flint switched their water supply to save money. It was like, oh yeah, problem solved, we did it. But in the end, it was actually really bad move. Almost right away, Flint residents started complaining that all the water from their taps were just a little weird. It had a funky taste. Some of their people's water, the legit just looked brown. Others said that the water looked like dark cooking grease, kind of like bacon grease. It smelled bad. Everyone living in this town was like, hello, people should probably fix this, but nobody was.

That's when Leanne Walters steps up and decides to sound the alarm. Leanne, who lived in Flint for decades, was a medical assistant before coming a stay-at-home mom with four kids. She had always been known by friends as being a very curious, persistent, and smart woman. I mean, if it was

a 1700s, they probably would have called her a witch, but we're not in the 1700s. So in her waters first started to turn brown. I mean, she believed the Flint government when they said like, hey, you guys, don't freak out. It's a filtration problem. I'll be fixing a few dates. You know, but a few days came and went, and the water just got worse. Leanne started to notice an unusual rash that was like forming on her kids. Then, Leanne's own hair started falling out in the shower, and not only that, her eyelashes started to fall out. Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.

Now on top of all of that, everybody in the house had horrible stomach pains constantly, and it wasn't just Leanne's family. After going door to door, she found out that other people had fever over 104 degrees and even scarier things were happening. Some people were straight up going blind for what seemed to be no reason.

And on top of that, people were starting to get diagnosed with cancer. So, Lana, starting to realize something they all have in common. The weird water, low, and no matter how many people complained about the water, again, nobody was doing anything about it. The city officials continued to ignore it and said the brown water was fine to drink. Yeah. Sometimes they would even say that it was just a problem with Leanne's pipes in her own house. You know, great. Well, by January 2015, they were protested outside of City Hall. And at this point, Leanne activates her powers as an educated medical assistant to get to the bottom of, you know, what was going on on her own. She's like, she's like, no one else is going to do it. I'll do it.

She'd. So she would spend the next few months going through a bunch of different documents about the Flint water system. This is when she found out that Flint was in major debt, and the government decided to cut corners and save money by serving their residents' cancer water. Hmm. What? Huh? Yeah. So I know, like, why are their cancer chemicals in the Flint water in the first place?

Well, the whole problem with the Flint water was that it was where all of Flint's car companies dumped their chemical waste. It was essentially the city's trash can. Unfortunately, very sadly, yeah. And then it was discovered that there was lead in the water. Yeah, so there's a bit of a problem. And like, look, little fun fact that less than a grain of sand worth of lead is enough to kill a person. Yeah. It's even poisonous to touch.

Too much lead can lead to heart and brain diseases, mental health issues, hearing loss, behavioral problems, high blood pressure, and reduced fertility. And then, of course, death. So they found out that the lead in the flint water was 800 times the legal limit, which officially classified the water as toxic waste. So they're legit drinking toxic waste. You understand you got that. So this news comes out and everyone in flames like, what the? What? Like, what would you do?

I don't know. I would be pissed. Now this didn't just apply to the water that was coming out of the faucets. It wasn't just like the drinking water. I mean, you couldn't shower, you couldn't do laundry, makes spaghetti, one night, I'm spaghetti night. You couldn't go out to eat because most like and they're using the same water you are,

coffee, baby formula, ice. Oh, no, you know, like everything was bad. But the residents in Flint, I mean, they were like, hello, we still have to live. So they had to figure out how to deal with all this. People started literally bathing their children with bottled water. Because of how many water bottles were being used just to bath, residents would line up by the hundreds outside of churches for bottled water deliveries. This was the new reality for the residents of Flint, I mean it was just getting ridiculous and it wasn't long before it started to get national attention.

Now after Leanne sounded the alarm, it wasn't like yay the water's fixed, yay, yay, you know, there was still a lot more work that needed to be done, but she did get the ball rolling and made a ton of noise, and soon the name of Flint Michigan was all over the news. And then the whole issue got a big ass boost from some big names like Sharon, Snoop Dogg. Alistair started tweeting about it and soon the entire country was talking about this crisis. And everybody wanted to know like how the hell could something like this happen and who was responsible? Well, it didn't take long for them to realize there was one person to blame. It was literally the governor of Michigan. That shithead. Apparently, the governor was warned about the dangers of

using the toxic Flint River as a water source, and he was warned a whole year before the switch even happened. He would try to ignore the crisis for like as long as possible. He and his cronies even tried to pay off sick people and whistleblowers and flint to keep their mouth shut. But I mean, just an idea to throw out here, hey, why don't you use that mind to fix the water instead? I know, but nobody comes to me to solve these mysteries. But in late 2015, the governor caved and switched flints water

back to its original Detroit water source. I mean, look, it was too late. I mean, the damage at this point had already been done. So what happened? By 2020, after thousands of kids were exposed to lead-filled water. And a dozen people had already died. Some good news, I guess, came to the residents of Flint. Court's order, the state to replace thousands of bad pipes and ensure Flint had a clean water source with a solid filtration system. On top of this, the state had to pay $650 million to people affected by the crisis. Now I hope they actually get or see some of the money down. But you know, money is great, but it also does any race how the freaking scary experiences

these people went through after drinking toxic water for years. Not to mention all the psychological damage that was done. Leanne Walters, you know, the whistleblower who led a citizen's movement, she was given multiple awards for her role in exposing the Flint water crisis, including something called the Goldman Environmental Prize. Today she considers herself a clean water advocate, a citizen scientist, and a kick-ass mom, according to her Twitter. You wanna hear like a happy ending, but as always, this is dark history. Look, in January of this year, 2023,

public officials in Flint told residents to go back to using filters on their sinks because the pipe replacements haven't been finished yet and some of the water is still not safe to drink. It was supposed to be done in 2019. I mean, there could be a possibility that they gave her all those awards to distract everyone from, you know, not totally fixing the problem. I mean, they could have sent out an email to everyone's shit. So, that's a pretty clear cut example of someone in power of using

that very power and then getting called out. It's almost like a classic David versus Goliath story where after years of pushing and fighting, David comes out on top. But this next story is so black and white because what they leaked had to do with what some would say is evidence of the United States military committing legal murder. Marca's number one meal kit. committing legal murder. Marikas number one meal kit. May I introduce to you one of the most infamous whistleblowers in American history, Chelsea Manning. Chelsea was born in 1987 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

She was always a very smart kid, just, you know, doing the best in school, getting great grades. She was definitely someone he'd wanna sit next to and cheat off of. No, I'm saying. And if that wasn't enough, Chelsea was also very smart when it came to computers. She taught herself how to code and program computers and was really just one of those kids

you knew how to gift with tech. Anyway, even though Chelsea shined in school, she had trouble at home. Her parents had struggled with alcoholism for as long as she's known them. Chelsea even recalled one night that she'd the rest of her life. So one evening in the manning house, it seemed like everything was pretty normal, where it's normal as it could be. According to a feature on Chelsea in the New York Times, on this night, everything changed.

Chelsea's sister found their mother unconscious. Next to her was an empty bottle of valium, and on top of that, all of the pills were swallowed. So they rushed to call 911 to get help, but the dispatcher said the nearest ambulance was 30 minutes away. So Chelsea and her sister realized that they need to get to the hospital fast. And their dad couldn't drive because he was drunk. So Chelsea's sister is the one having to drive the car just as best as she could. And Chelsea is in the back seat with their unconscious mother. They're just making sure that she's still breathing. So Chelsea

at this time was only 12 years old. And when you're 12 years old, that's an experience that'll make you grow up real fast, which is what happened with Chelsea. With Chelsea, she turned to an online community for support in how to handle all this. As the years go on, her life at home only gets more chaotic. So by the time she is 17 years old, Chelsea is kicked out of the house and is now completely on her own.

Her dad, who was once in the Navy, suggested that Chelsea go, I don't know, maybe she should get a uniform, and go serve Uncle Sam. So in 2007, she's like, you know what, fine, I will. And she enlisted in the military. And eventually, Chelsea became something called an intelligence analyst. Now it's worth mentioning that this is just a few years after 9-11 and the US was at war in the Middle East so like there's a lot going on. As the war is heating up in 2009, Chelsea finds herself deployed to a military base in the middle of Iraq. Now her job every day was to go through files about like what was going on during the war. And then within these documents it's like stuff where the troops were located, what big

targets they were going after, and like what the other side is up to. But just because she wasn't firing a gun on the front lines, it doesn't mean her days were cushy. The New York Times feature also explained that Chelsea's work setting was anything but normal. The day for her started at 9 p.m. I mean, after she climbed out of her bonk and got dressed, she would eat something as fast as possible

so she could go do her job. Her quote unquote office was essentially a large wooden box in the middle of a basketball court, like on base. Inside the box, there was a simple chair and computers with like three monitors. The way it was described was kind of like a gaming setup. You know, the gamer chair, the headphones, and while she was working, her job was to analyze mountains of data coming in from the field. So even though she wasn't on the front lines, she had a front row seat to how horrible the war was. Not only did the car bombs rattle the windows of the base, soldiers would

return from the field just covered in dust and blood, just having lived through hell. And as the days went on, Chelsea was getting a very sick feeling in her stomach because a lot of the gruesome things she was seeing seemed to be buried by the military. She said, quote, at a certain point, I stopped seeing records and started seeing people." End quote. Chelsea was talking about bloody American soldiers in Iraqis and civilians laying dead in the street. She started seeing the cost of all of this war. And on TV, it like a almost like a big budget movie. But in real life, it was like she was living in this horrific documentary, and it seemed

like to her innocent people were getting killed every single day. When she was seeing things from Iraq and Afghanistan, she knew would never make it into the Nightly News reports or into newspapers. And she felt like American people had a right to know what was actually going on. This was Chelsea's turning point when she realized like something had to change. So welcome to Chelsea Manning's revenge era. So she started to sort and organize, but also understand the files she was looking at every single day. Chelsea would work behind the scenes, like creating the maps for soldiers who were going on the attack on the front lines.

She realized many of the attacks she helped put together would just create a domino effect of war violence. She felt disturbed by what the American government wanted her to do, and even worse, the fact that they were doing it in secret. So she did what many of us older millennials have done in times of trouble. Burned a CD. Yeah. Remember burning a CD illegally? Well, she did that illegally. And secretly, she transferred all the juicy war reports onto CDs. She even labeled one of the CDs Lady Gaga. Smart! That's really fun, I like that. So Chelsea went on to leave from service in Iraq, armed with her case of fake Lady Gaga CDs, and also she uploaded a ton of secret documents

onto her personal computer. Now what happened next was Risky as Hell and violated every oath she took when she joined the military. So Chelsea has all this information and she knows it's just a work with someone to get the info out to the people. So she head up some big name newspapers, like the New York Times and the Washington Post. But for some reason, each one of them were passing.

They were like, no, we're good. And it must have been extremely infrasherating for Chelsea because she was like the direct source. She had some serious receipts. But the claims that she was making was nothing like anyone had ever seen before. So no one seemed to believe her. She decided to turn to a new source that can only be described as controversial. Honestly, not the best look, I mean it was making her look a little bit questionable too, but Chelsea wanted to get the truth out there. So she sent over the documents to WikiLeaks. Before all this, WikiLeaks was a quiet website that wanted to air the world's dirty laundry,

but once Chelsea gave them all their data, WikiLeaks became a household name overnight, and its founder, Julian Assange, became a global celebrity. I mean, loved by many, but hated by even more. So this was definitely the perfect platform for Chelsea, because they would just broadcast all of her receipts. And they sure did, okay, they broadcasted all of the documents and it set the world on fire. Now I know you're dying to know like what did Chelsea have to say? What did she leak?

Well, it wasn't just one thing. It was a truckload of damning information against the American military. I mean, she leaked documents about the US not investigating hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, and rape by the Iraqi police. And then there were secret missions about hunting down terrorists

that the Pentagon wanted to flight under the radar. So all of it already pretty bad, but the leak that really sealed the deal had to do with something called collateral murder. What? That sounds juicy. On February 3, 2010, Wiki Leaks published Chelsea's Proceeds. And one specific video left viewers completely shook. The video was uploaded under the title Collateral Murder. And it showed secret footage filmed from an American military helicopter.

At first, it looks like a normal mission, but then it takes a dark turn. The soldiers on the helicopter, they start by asking for permission to shoot at some targets. After sunny targets, it was like human targets. And the helicopter gun begins spraying bullets towards the ground, killing everyone they can. During all of this, the pilots of the helicopter are heard laughing and treating this as like a fun game. But when the bullets stopped flying about a dozen people were dead. Among the dead, there were several civilians

and two journalists. And unfortunately, that was just the tip of the iceberg. Chelsea shared over 750,000 documents to WikiLeaks. And it wasn't just about American troops and drones. And also had a bunch of confidential information about secret alliances between countries, secret wars happening, and the names of many spies all around the world. And not everyone's name was protected. I mean, some people's full names did get published, putting their jobs and their lives in the line of danger. Now, some people came out clapping for Chelsea, being so transparent like, wow! Yeah! On the other hand,

she was now not just a threat to the US Army, but a threat to national security. She was target number one around the world because she didn't just leak secrets about the United States. She leaked stuff about things happening all around the world, and people wanted to silence that now let's get back to the story. In the wake of all this, people were like, what the hell is going on with the government? And what is really going on with the war? The documents and especially the video made people really doubt authority and caught some chaos. On top of that, the soldiers featured in the drone video or being accused of trying to cover up shady stuff that they had done. Chelsea shared a lot of international documents that showed upper-level corruption in other country's governments. Her leaks indirectly led to a bunch of uprisings against dictatorships called the Arab Spring,

which led to the death of tens of thousands of people. Pretty soon after the leak, someone ratted on Chelsea to the army. She was arrested and charged with over two dozen charges, but the worst charge of all, aiding the enemy. She spent several years in prison under rough conditions. I mean, they weren't going to be nice to her after everything she exposed about them. She also spent almost a year in solitary confinement, where she was regularly stripped naked and forced into sleep deprivation. For what, you know, even some of the higher-up officials in the government called her treatment in prison cruel and humane

and degrading. But nobody did anything about it. On top of that, Chelsea's personal life was being ripped to shreds by the media as if her personal life had anything to do with her time in the military. Almost like they were trying to create one big distraction from what everything Chelsea exposed. I mean, if you think about it and make your personal life is aired nationally, this is probably, you know, distraction because you might be onto something. Eventually, Chelsea was not charged with more serious convictions like aiding the enemy, but she did plead guilty to a few of the lesser charges, like leaking secret information.

After spending years in prison, she was pardoned, and now she could live life as a free woman. Today, she spends her time as a political activist, a security consultant in the tech industry, and she even put out a memoir. Go for you, girl. Life after whistleblowing has been challenging for Chelsea. Being a whistle blower now seems totally different than it did in the beginning. She did not get any reward money. She spent seven long-ass years in prison. And even though a lot of people treated her like a hero, a lot of people really hated her.

I mean, it's still today, really hate her. But because of her actions, more whistleblower protections were put into place. Now, if you want to leak documents, many newspapers like the New York Times have these things called secure drop. So you can anonymously, you know, do so. Ever since Chelsea dropped all those documents, there has never been a leak that big.

But Chelsea changed the way people exposed bombshell reports about the government forever, and I think even inspired a few others to blow the whistle themselves. Now this next story is controversial, but I don't know, kind of interesting to discuss, and if you've seen that documentary, enemies of the state, like I did, which actually inspired me to do the story because I was like, what, you'll know why. So this story isn't as clear a cut as the other ones we've mentioned. Leanne for example was an everyday citizen who saw something and said something. She reported to her representatives, she followed a direct chain of command, and there was a tangible upside to her work, having clean water. Chelsea's story was a little bit more complicated because

she stole government property, but she was keeping those receipts and she reported what she found to the news. But for this next story, this can only be described as the dark side of whistle blowing. I mean, I was all in when I heard this story, but then as you get deeper, you realize that not all whistleblowers are blowing the same whistle. This next story is all about how whistle blowing can go very wrong. Now along with that documentary I mentioned, reports from Newsweek and Mother Jones were very helpful in piecing together Matt DeHart's shocking story. So this Matt guy, he was born in 1984 in Maryland,

and Matt came from like a very conservative Christian family, and his family was very involved in the military. I mean, his grandparents, and even his own parents had all been in the military. Matt did not do very well in school. I mean, he didn't really fit in, he didn't get the best grades, and he even made comments once

about bombing his middle school, and then he had to go to court for that. Matt's parents took him to the doctor, where he would then be diagnosed with depression and ADHD. During his senior year, Matt got in trouble once again, so his parents decided to move him to homeschooling. The family then moved states, and even after Matt graduated, he couldn't keep a job and would eventually drop out of college. It was said during this time that he struggled big time with depression.

So these years, he's just sitting alone at his computer and that's where Matt became more and more involved in the online community. A community called HACTIVists. Now HACTIVists are computer computer hackers who called themselves activists, and they leaked like Chelsea, they leaked documents for the sake of doing what they consider to be the right thing. Matt spent his early 20s at home just really getting into the whole hacker scene.

He decided that it was enough, and in 2008, he followed in his daddy's footsteps to join the military, more specifically the US Air National Guard. Once Matt was stationed in Indiana, he became an intelligence analyst. He said one of his jobs was to study video footage of different drone strikes, and he was in charge of detailing the damage and counting the jebodies. It seemed like every day there were more and more civilians being killed and Matt was feeling guilty about his part in the war. So Matt wanted to share the horrors of what was happening.

He knew that he had to be careful and cover his tracks because yeah, everything he was sharing was super classified. He first started on Forchand, which some of you may have heard of, but this is an online community of people that always seem, let's say very upset, very upset. Lots of angry people were on there. But yeah, Matt started to build a community on Forchan and decided they needed somewhere more private to talk.

So he creates a secret server on the dark web. Ooh, spooky. And Matt encourages everyone on the dark web. Ooh, spooky! And Matt encourages everyone on the server to use it as a dumping ground for any interesting information, especially if it's about the government trying to cover something up. Around this time, Matt is actually discharged

from the army because of his depression, which is interesting timing, but we don't know exactly whether this was because Matt reported his depression or if they had like to submit him to have an exam. But what we do know is that he was honorably discharged, which probably wouldn't have been the case if his bosses knew about his secret online burnbook.

But when all this happens, I mean, he's pretty bummed. He comes home, I mean, he's feeling like a total disappointment. Matt ends up moving back in with his parents. And according to a report, he gets even deeper into his secret server, Rabbit Hole. And this is where he starts to get into some pretty wild claims. Do you guys remember after 9-11, there was that white powder stuff going around?

Someone apparently was sending it to senators and people in power. Your grandpa, I don't know. There was a big anthrax scare. And we talked about it in our postal service episode, but anthrax is essentially a powder poison. And these anonymous letters that were filled with anthrax scared the hell out of America. They thought the terrorists were at it once again, but according to Matt, he sees that someone

dropped some very interesting information on his server. Matt said he saw info that linked the CIA to anthrax, which was at this point responsible for killing five people in 2001, and Matt is like, oh shit, and he's connecting the docks, it's like, hmm, this actually kind of makes sense. So he digs deeper in hopes to understand better us to like what this is all about. Then one day, boom, his front door is kicked in. That's when Matt realizes that he's the center of an FBI investigation. So a whole bunch of FBI agents come storming into the house and raid the

DeHeart home. Matt sees his prize possession, his computer, with all of those secrets in it. Just snatched right up by the FBI and taking his evidence. For obvious reasons, Matt's like, oh, shit. In addition to whatever government secrets Matt did or did not have on his computer. What he did have was child pornography. Yeah, yeah. So it turns out that Matt had been soliciting dick pictures and naughty videos from teenagers before he even went to the army. So yeah, you can call that a bit of a major detail. And now this is the dot com slash dark history. That was a waiting trial in jail on his child pornography possession charges. He was actually in there for about 21 months. And Matt says while he was in there, he was drugged, tortured, and questioned by the FBI. And when

I heard this, I was like, hmm, I don't know of any stories where the FBI drugged and tortured someone accused of just like child pornography. I mean, yes, horrible crime. It seems kind of extreme, even for them. Almost as if Matt had something that made the government look bad. But what do I know? I don't know. It's just reading theories and stuff. Eventually, Matt does get out on bail. And the second he tastes freedom, I mean, he's like, I gotta get the hell out of America. So, Matt was convinced that the FBI was the one who planted the child pornography on his hard drive because they wanted to distract from the anthrax information he had.

Now nobody knows who came up with this plan exactly, but Matt and his parents decided to pack into the family car, hit the road and head for Canada. Now, they actually made it over the border into the country. And while in Canada, Matt went to the immigration authorities and requested asylum. He kept saying that he was drugged and tortured by the Americans because of the information he had. And he was really looking for protection. But the Canadians either weren't buying it or they just did not want to get involved. Either way, they ended up tossing Matt and Jail and he was then handed over to the FBI and

taken back to the States. Matt ended up pleading guilty and serving time for receiving child pornography and then he pled guilty for not showing up to court when he was supposed to. He never faced any charges for espionage or smuggling secret government documents because he was never able to produce any of the stuff he said he had. I mean, nothing on anthrax, nothing on anything, really. It was reported that they never found any record of it.

Now, a lot of people were like, well, two things can indeed be happening at the same time. I mean, yes, child porn, horrible, disgusting, awful, right? No, bad. He should be punished for that if it was definitely on his computer. But the secrets Matt shared on his computer could also have been on there. Like the documents about the CIA, you know, being responsible for anthrax, kind of went on his computer as well.

And maybe the FBI did erase, or they saw it. I mean, two things could be true at the same time, but neither to say the child porn of it all really threw a wrench in any credibility mat or his server had. Which is kind of a shame, because his receipts, if they did exist, never saw the light of day. Technically, Matt really isn't a whistleblower because he never actually blew the whistle on that anthrax theory or any other secrets that were posted on that secret server. And even if he had, there was no evidence because mysteriously that anthrax leak had vanished

from the server before Matt could bring it to the FBI. So if there's no whistle, I don't know, many people would think that the FBI just deleted it at all too. So I don't whistle, I don't know many people think that the FBI just deleted it all too So I don't know Matt maintains that the whole reason he was charged with child porn was because the FBI knew how much Incriminating information he had on them and they were like trying to silence him or Some people are like shut up Matt. You had child porn on your computer, you know Anyway, Matt's legacy is a little tainted, to say the least. Now here's something interesting though. Just one year after DeHart's arrest, the US Department of Justice came out with a public report of their anthrax investigation.

And they had uncovered some interesting stuff. The most scandalous part, the only people who had access to anthrax during the time of the attacks, were the people who worked in a government lab. One of the people who worked there who was raising some red flags was researcher Dr. Bruce Ivens. So he had been working on a cure for anthrax for years before the attacks, with little success. And since there was almost no funding being given to his lab, he had no success. Before the anthrax attacks, the work being done in Bruce's lab was seen as pointless, but of course, as soon as the anthrax attacks began, all of that changed. The Department

of Justice had a ton of circumstantial evidence against Dr. Bruce. First of all, he was one of the only people with access to anthrax. Medical professionals labeled him homicidal, and he was the only one really who stood to benefit from an anthrax scare. So all the signs were pointing to this guy who made it. The lab got more funding and the work Dr. Bruce was doing was finally taking off.

And in the release report, it said Dr. Bruce had some major psychological issues. He was obsessive, like he would stalk sorority girls. He had paranoid personality disorder and even his psychiatrist came out and labelled him homicidal and sociopathic. I feel like if your psychiatrist is saying that about you, I mean, you know, says a lot. An investigation about where the anthrex came from, came back with the answer, Dr. Bruce's lab. He was their number one suspect, which made it seem like Matt DeHart's sources were ultimately correct. But before Bruce could be arrested and publicly stand trial,

he killed himself. I hate when I do that. Maybe it was because of Bruce's mental illness. Maybe it was because of the storm he knew was coming his way, but in the end, like sadly, Dr. Bruce ended up killing himself. Not to be rude, but a trial was coming up and he knew there was no way out for him anymore.

So, you know, maybe he decided to end things on his own terms, I don't know. But it sucks because when they do that, they leave the victims with no closure. And that is, I think, just so... Ugh. There was so much circumstantial evidence that was pointing to Dr. Bruce. But like I said, Matt never officially blew the whistle on him, but he definitely blew some kind of whistle. It does seem a little extreme for the FBI to kick down your door and take your laptop if you aren't some kind of serious threat. I don't know. So where does everything stand today? We learned in our advertising episode that we're all being tracked. So I think it's only fair if we track people and power back,

right? And the Lincoln Law was created to empower everyday citizens, but it's very clear that whistleblowing isn't like it was in the 1800s. On one hand, you can have Chelsea Manning, whose life was destroyed for a very long time still kind of is, depending on who you ask. On the other hand, you have Leanne, who was giving these awards. So I guess it all depends on whose whistle you're blowing. Now a lot of people are like, hmm, whistle blowing bad. So is it the right thing to do? I mean, whistle blowing holds people in power accountable, but some secrets are secrets for a reason.

And if they get out, there are consequences. Sometimes it gets many people thinking, well, I was leaking all that classified information even worse it. Who's to say? But here's what I do know. When Barbara told her boss that her husband was cheating on her, she held it against her. And now they don't talk.

So it was being right and telling the truth worth the job for her, friendship, whatever, you know. Your guess is as good as mine. Well everyone, thank you for learning with me today. Remember, don't be afraid to ask questions to get the whole story because we deserve that. Now I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story, so make sure to use the hashtag darkhistory over on social media so I can follow along. And don't forget to join me over on my YouTube, where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs.

And while you're there, also catch murder, mystery, and makeup. I hope you have a good rest of your day. You make good choices, and I'll be talking to you next week. Goodbye. Tark History is an audio boom original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Junior McNeely from Three Arts, Kevin Grush, and Claire Turner from Made in Network. Writers, Katie Burriss, Alison Filoboz,

Joey Skluzo, and me, Bailey Sarian. Shot by Tafadzwa Nema Rundwey, Research provided by the dark history researcher, a special thank you to our expert, Michael Tushdin, and I'm your host, Bailey Sarri. Goodbye. you