Which orders did Vindman follow and later was punished for, exactly? I would actually put Snowden as an example of a regime punishing the whistleblower.
If we are talking about whistleblower protection, it should be same whether the delivered news is favorable to you/us or not
The question is usually "is it favorable to the CIA/NSA or not?".
Favorable (Vindman/Cia<mare>lla) -> whistleblower
Unfavorable (Snowden) -> leaker
second is a guy who stole secrets he wasn't even supposed to have access to, ran with it and leaked to a russian mob controlled outlet.
whatever
“Former” cia analyst that was directly involved in the events being investigated by the administration is reporting through his friends to an associate in Congress about an “illegal” conduct. Sounds a bit more like covering up former shady deals for his political friends.
Was he "fired" or just reassigned? As far as I understand he is still an officer in the armed forces.
FWIW, his brother was turfed out, too.