If they were after the causes of whistleblowing, they certainly were on the right track:
“The NSA has some of the brightest minds in the country,” I began. “They’re honestly there to make a difference. Yet there’s no outlet for people who no longer feel like they’re on the right side. You’re requesting blind loyalty from some of the most nuanced and analytical individuals—individuals, not soldiers—to process your intelligence and make predictions. Furthermore, in 2017, and likely until 2021—you know more than I do about those four years—you had a unique situation in which the NSA was completely ignored. So now these individuals who already wondered if they were doing any good were left wondering if they were doing anything at all. The culture of the NSA doesn’t allow for anyone to question that aloud, or at least not without FBI agents showing up at their house. Your analysts need an outlet, and the director owes it to the agency to address historically unprecedented times, like those four years in which the NSA was completely disparaged publicly. We felt like we were alone in 2017, and it left me trying to single-handedly fix something far above my pay grade.”
https://www.texasobserver.org/reality-winner-memoir-excerpt/