Protecting a potentially vulnerable whistleblower versus the public's need to know: a US newspaper's publication of information on the man whose complaint led to an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump has sparked controversy and debate.
After the release of a complaint accusing Trump of having solicited "interference from a foreign country in the 2020 US election," The New York Times reported that the whistleblower is a CIA officer once posted to the White House who is an expert on European issues and the political situation in Ukraine.
Lawyers for the whistleblower have deemed those revelations to be dangerous for their client, both personally and professionally.
Calls to cancel subscriptions to the Times, circulated under the hashtag #CancelNYT, have proliferated on social media, where some have demanded the resignation of executive editor Dean Baquet.
Baquet defended the decision, saying that Trump and some of his supporters had attacked the whistleblower's credibility, and that the publication of the information was aimed at allowing readers to "make their own judgments about whether or not he is credible."
"The NYT was caught in a classical ethical dilemma news organisations face with two competing ethical standards to consider."
Like others, Marshall believes there are likely only a handful of people who would fit the description of the whistleblower, and that identifying him "could put him in harm's way."
Moreover, "he works for an organization that is devoted to security," and if it failed to protect him, "heads would roll, even in the current political climate."
"In the US intelligence community, whistleblowers have no meaningful protection from retaliation," she said. "If the president retaliates against the whistleblower, the whistleblower has no other remedy than to seek redress with the executive branch."