NATIONAL SECURITY WHISTLEBLOWERS COALITION

www.nswbc.org

NSWBC Petition for Congressional Oversight & Accountability

Without whistleblowers our country would be much different - much worse, and much less safe. Congress would be in the dark about serious violations of law, disastrous policies, and waste of the public weal. Without whistleblowers Congress is far less able to perform its oversight function and much more vulnerable to lying and manipulation by executive branch agencies. The fact is, whistleblowers make the country safer, save us money, expose negligent or malicious bureaucrats, and help preserve the Constitution.

Congress has provided whistleblower rights to protect shareholders in corporations, but refused to provide protection to those federal employees directly tasked with protecting the life of every American. Federal employees who do the right thing and report dangerous and incompetent policies and practices concerning homeland security are fired, harassed, defamed, bankrupted, isolated, and blacklisted from careers.

After three decades of half-hearted attempts to provide general protection to whistleblowers it is time to do the job right. Existing “protections” are more dangerous than no protections at all, since they often beguile people into believing that they will be safe if they report illegal activity, fraud, abuse, and dangerous policies. And national security whistleblowers are excluded from even this illusory protection. The “system of protection” is a catastrophic failure. The Office of Special Counsel, agency offices of Inspectors General, and internal reporting processes are widely viewed, correctly, as mechanisms for identifying, isolating, and managing retaliation against those who dare to criticize the organization or report illegal acts by bureaucrats. It is time to take out the old system root and branch. This ineffective kludge of processes and departments should be replaced with a single, enforceable, and comprehensive approach to protecting whistleblowers:

THEREFORE: We, the undersigned whistleblowers, organizations, and citizens, petition Congress that new legislation:

• Should cover all federal employees, including those in intelligence and law enforcement agencies, federal contractors or subcontractors, and corporate employees who are retaliated against for reporting a national security concern, threat to public health and safety, or fraud, waste or mismanagement to their employer, the Government Accountability Office, or Congress.

• Should limit the effect in civil cases of the State Secrets Privilege, similar gag orders, and excessive classification. If the government asserts the State Secrets Privilege, then the factual matters at issue covered by the privilege should be resolved in favor of the whistleblower.

• Should criminalize acts that knowingly initiate, further, facilitate, or cause to be carried out retaliatory acts against employees seeking to report violations of law or for contacting or attempting to contact members of Congress.

• Should guarantee the right of any employee to report violations of law, policies that endanger national security, waste, fraud, and abuse to members of Congress.

• Should provide that appeals from whistleblower decisions in cases at law should be all courts review rather than being limited to the Federal circuit; and should provide jury trial for all government whistleblowers.

Congress has never taken the opportunity to discover the full panoply of problems confronting the nation in the context of retaliation against whistleblowers. We request a series of hearings designed to supply an integrative and comprehensive picture of retaliation against whistleblowers, the damage done to national security by allowing such retaliation to take place, the cost to taxpayers for ineffective restraints on the treatment of whistleblowers, the chilling effects of retaliation on other employees who might otherwise have been emboldened to come forward, and the costs to Congress’ duty of oversight for not having yet enacted comprehensive protection for whistleblowers.

In this regard we, NSWBC, stand ready, with a legion of whistleblowers, to coordinate hearings about specific, compelling cases in the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Agency, Transportation Security Administration, Department of Defense, Department of State, and the Veterans Administration. These cases, when taken together, will demonstrate common patterns of abuse, violations of law, methods of cover-up, fraud, document destruction, managerial abuse, and a myriad of other wrongs that cost all of us dearly. In the past, much testimony has been taken up by organizations that talk about policy and theoretical matters. It is time to become pragmatic; to listen to the whistleblowers themselves and see the very common and consistent means of retaliation that are used and leverage their collective experience to develop solutions that are comprehensive and effective.

National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC) - Sibel Edmonds, Executive Director, www.nswbc.org

Signatories-Organizations:

MoveOn.Org- Eli Pariser, Executive Director; www.moveon.org

National Whistleblower Center- Stephen Kohn, Chair; www.whistleblowers.org

Liberty Coalition- Michael Ostrolenk, Executive Director; www.libertycoalition.net

Bill of Rights Defense Committee- Nancy Talanian, Executive Director; www.bordc.org

Electronic Freedom Foundation- Cindy Cohn, Legal Director; www.eff.org

American Policy Center- Tom DeWeese, President; www.Americanpolicy.org

Backbone Campaign Action- Bill Moyer, Executive Director; www.backbonecampaign.org

Federal Hispanic Law Enforcement Officers Association- Sandy Gonzalez, Vice President; www.fhleoa.org

Veterans Affairs Whistleblowers Coalition- Dr. Jeffrey Fudin, Executive Director; www.vawbc.org

Concerned Foreign Service Officers- Daniel Hirsch, Executive Committee Member; www.worldcrafters.com

National Air Disaster Alliance-Foundation- Gail Dunham, President; www.planesafe.org

National Lawyers Guild- C. William Michaels, Representative; www.nlg.org

Feminists For Free Expression- Marilyn Fitterman, Vice President; www.ffeusa.org

AfterDowningStreet.Org- David Swanson, Co-Founder; www.afterdowningstreet.org

US Bill of Rights Foundation- Dane Von Breichenruchardt, President

The Semmelweis Society International- Dr. James Murtagh, President; www.semmelweis.org

Military Vaccine Resources Directory- Kathy Hubbell, Director; www.mvrd.org

Ethics in Government Group- George Anderson, Director

Defending Dissent Foundation- Kit Gage, Director; www.defendingdissent.org

Citizen Outreach Project- Doug Bandow, Vice President of Policy;

Anthrax-No Support Group- Gretchen Whitney, Group Director

Downsize DC- Jim Babka, President; www.downsizedc.org

Military & Bioterrorism Vaccines Project- Barbara Loe Fisher, Director; http://www.military-biodefensevaccines.org/