X-Lab announces cybersecurity and surveillance expert Marcy Wheeler as Fellow

X-Lab is pleased to announce cybersecurity policy and surveillance expert, Marcy Wheeler, as the program’s newest Fellow. Wheeler’s analyses have been instrumental in forwarding public understanding of the far-reaching US spying programs and practices. Wheeler is also an independent journalist whose work has focused on national security and civil liberties, with her critiques garnering wide-spread support in the aftermath of the 2013 Snowden revelations. Her work has been featured in the Guardian, Salon, The Intercept, Vice News, Al Jazeera America, and countless other print, radio, and television outlets. Wheeler is the winner of the 2009 Hillman Award for blog journalism, a 2008 Project Censored award for reporting on the Bush Administration’s surveillance under Executive Order 12333, and author of the book, "Anatomy of Deceit" on the CIA leak scandal.

Her blog, EmptyWheel, has proven remarkably prescient -- being amongst the first outlets to raise questions about back door searches under Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments (FISA) Act in 2008, and to sound the alarm about bulk collection under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act in 2009. Her work has often proven to be years ahead of the curve, with critiques that have been avidly attacked and denied by DC-insiders, only to be confirmed by Edward Snowden and other leaks. Wheeler has a PhD from University of Michigan.