Sam Adams Award
Encyclopedia
The Sam Adams Award is given annually by the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence, a group of retired CIA
officers, to an intelligence
professional who has taken a stand for integrity
and ethics
. It is named after Samuel A. Adams
, a CIA whistleblower
during the Vietnam War
, and takes the physical form of a "corner-brightener candlestick
". Many recipients have been whistleblowers.
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
officers, to an intelligence
Intelligence agency
An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...
professional who has taken a stand for integrity
Integrity
Integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions...
and ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
. It is named after Samuel A. Adams
Samuel A. Adams
Samuel A. Adams was an analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency who is best known for discovering underestimated Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army troop numbers during the Vietnam War. He eventually retired from the CIA after claiming there was a conspiracy among officials within U.S....
, a CIA whistleblower
Whistleblower
A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, and takes the physical form of a "corner-brightener candlestick
Candlestick
A candlestick, chamberstick, or candelabrum is a holder for one or more candles, used for illumination, rituals, or decorative purposes. The name 'candlestick' derives from the fact that it is usually tall and stick-shaped.Candlesticks are also called candle holders...
". Many recipients have been whistleblowers.
Recipients
- 2002: Coleen RowleyColeen RowleyColeen Rowley is a former FBI agent and whistleblower, and was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidate for Congress in Minnesota's 2nd congressional district, one of eight congressional districts in Minnesota in 2006...
- 2003: Katharine GunKatharine GunKatharine Teresa Gun is a former translator for Government Communications Headquarters , a British intelligence agency...
- 2004: Sibel EdmondsSibel EdmondsSibel Deniz Edmonds is a Turkish-American former FBI translator and founder of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition...
- 2005: Craig MurrayCraig MurrayCraig John Murray is a British political activist, former ambassador to Uzbekistan and former Rector of the University of Dundee....
- 2006: Samuel ProvanceSamuel ProvanceSamuel Provance was a U.S. Army military intelligence sergeant who disobeyed an order from his commanders in the 302nd Military Intelligence Battalion, by explaining what he experienced at the Abu Ghraib Prison, where he was assigned from September 2003 to February 2004, to the media...
- 2007: Andrew WilkieAndrew WilkieAndrew Damien Wilkie is an Australian politician and independent federal member for Denison...
- 2008: Frank GrevilFrank GrevilFrank Søholm Grevil had the rank of major in Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste [FE] .On February 22, 2004 he acted as a whistle blower leaking classified information about the FE's assessment of the possibility of weapons of mass destruction [WMD] in Iraq...
- 2009: Larry Wilkerson
- 2010: Julian AssangeJulian AssangeJulian Paul Assange is an Australian publisher, journalist, writer, computer programmer and Internet activist. He is the editor in chief of WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website and conduit for worldwide news leaks with the stated purpose of creating open governments.WikiLeaks has published material...