“If he was truly concerned he could have run it up the chain, taken it to the IG, and if that didn’t work, to his Senator or Congressman (probably the best avenue).”
He would have been killed or indefinitely imprisoned the moment anyone of importance learned his intentions. He had to go public right away or government abuses would have remained secret.
His only option to stay alive and hold his narrative was to go to a hostile nation where we are unlikely to send a team to get him.
The only other possible option would have been to dump the data online for everyone and surrender publicly to the blackboots. But then the US government would have gagged him and controlled the narrative once they got him.
Anyone who watched the Frontline programs can learn first hand what happens to whistle blowers that go through the system. What surprised me is that they were only ruined and not killed. Kinda surprised me.
“He would have been killed or indefinitely imprisoned the moment anyone of importance learned his intentions.”
Not a fact. Speculation only.
“He had to go public right away or government abuses would have remained secret.”
Not if he went to Congress or US media.
“His only option to stay alive and hold his narrative was to go to a hostile nation where we are unlikely to send a team to get him.”
Not his only option.
“The only other possible option”
Another ‘only’ option?
“would have been to dump the data online for everyone and surrender publicly to the blackboots.”
The honorable course of action if congressional route failed.
“But then the US government would have gagged him and controlled the narrative once they got him.”
Speculation. Prosecution likely and govt spinning just as likely, but media has a life of its own that cannot be controlled.