Pentagon officials tasked with protecting whistleblowers have lied under oath, illegally destroyed documents, and gone out of their way to ruin people’s careers and lives for attempting to raise concerns about government abuses of power, according to a high-ranking Department of Defense (DoD) official, John Crane, who went public with his story on Sunday.

Crane’s explosive revelations are being released in coordination by the Guardian, Der Spiegel, and Newsweek Japan.

“We need iron-clad, enforceable protections for whistleblowers, and we need a public record of success stories,” whistleblower Edward Snowden responded to Crane’s revelations in the Guardian. “Protect the people who go to members of Congress with oversight roles, and if their efforts lead to a positive change in policy—recognize them for their efforts. There are no incentives for people to stand up against an agency on the wrong side of the law today, and that’s got to change.”

When Snowden revealed the NSA’s extensive illegal surveillance of American citizens in 2013, government officials were united in their condemnation of his actions—he should have followed the rule book and gone through government channels instead of releasing documents to the public, many argued.

Indeed, both President Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton have continued to make this same critique.