Kevin Shipp
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Kevin Shipp is a former CIA officer who, in John Kiriakou's account, blew the whistle on agency malfeasance and paid for it in the way Kiriakou considers characteristic: the agency went after his family for it. 

'You're not alone'

What Kiriakou emphasises about the case is not the disclosure but the isolation that followed it. It was funny, he said, Kevin believed that he was alone. Kiriakou reached out to him after reading his story in the Washington Post, and told him, in his own words: listen buddy, you're not alone, you've got some friends here, you probably have never even met, but you shouldn't be going through this alone.  Shipp was then pulled into the wider circle of national security whistleblowers described in the whistleblower support network, and, Kiriakou notes, into Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, the group that issues policy recommendations to the president which are, he says drily, usually ignored, though at least they get themselves on paper. 

Why the outreach mattered

Kiriakou's reason for making the call was drawn from his own experience. There is nothing in the world, he has said, that makes you feel more alone and more isolated and more endangered than blowing the whistle on something relating to national security, and without a support network you literally could not get through it.  He added that he is frankly surprised more people charged with national security crimes do not take their own lives than the handful already seen. 

See also

- Whistleblower Support Network
- Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
- Bill Binney
- Thomas Drake
- Jesselyn Radack
- John Kiriakou
