Whistleblower Lawyer & Attorney : National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund : Whistleblower Protection, Fraud Claims : Washington DC

Yesterday, January 30, 2008, in a Senate Judiciary Committee DOJ Oversight hearing, Senator Charles Grassley (above, right) had some tough questions for Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Notably, Senator Grassley, a longtime critic of FBI policies and actions against whistleblowers, asked the AG about Special Agent Bassem Youssef, who has exposed serious misconduct in the war on terror.


In his full written questions, Senator Grassley, citing an October 2007 letter to Mukasey sent by Mr. Youssef's attorney, Stephen Kohn, says:

"Special Agent Youssef, through his counsel, provided my office with a
copy of a ten page letter (dated October 11, 2007) filed with your
office detailing threats to our nation's security caused by the failure
of the FBI to hire and promote subject matter experts within the FBI's
counterterrorism division. The examples set forth in that letter are
extremely troubling.  [Mr. Chairman, I ask that the letter be placed in
the record.]

What action has your office taken to investigate the issues and concerns
raised in Mr. Youssef's October 11, 2007 letter?

Do you plan to seek an independent review of Youssef's allegations about how lack of expertise among FBI managers is hindering its
counterterrorism efforts?  Why or why not?"

He goes on to ask Mr. Mukasey about the abuses related to National Security Letters program, of which Mr. Youssef has firsthand knowledge, and has been a vocal critic.


You can read all of Senator's Grassley's tough questions for Attorney General Mukasey after the jump...


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This week, President Bush signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (HR. 4986). Section 846 of this bill is a provision designed to protect employees of defense contractors when they report fraud to Congress, an Inspector General, the Government Accountability Office, or a Department of Defense employee charged with overseeing contracts.


The Bush administration has consistently opposed whistleblower rights for employees of the federal government and its contractors. Veto threats have been issued against the whistleblower protection legislation that has been proposed by the Congress (click here for the latest on those bills). The administration claims that protecting whistleblowers could harm national security, but the truth is the exact opposite: strong whistleblower laws can help keep this country safe and secure, as well as save us billions of dollars in wasted revenue.


In this case, the President had no choice but to sign the Defense Authorization bill into law, but then he went out of his way to express sharp disapproval of the whistleblower provisions in his signing statement. This statement (below), goes against the spirit of the law, and gives the president justification to ignore a congressional mandate.

“Provisions of the Act, including sections 841, 846, 1079, and 1222, purport to impose requirements that could inhibit the President's ability to carry out his constitutional obligations to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, to protect national security, to supervise the executive branch, and to execute his authority as Commander in Chief. The executive branch shall construe such provisions in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President.”

In short, the new law is a victory worthy of great praise, but the President’s brash treatment of legislation designed to protect honest employees is deplorable.


See the full text of HR. 4986, sec. 846 after the jump...


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Early this morning, Stephen Kohn gave a 10 minute interview which provided some insight into the case of FBI counterterrorism whistleblower Bassem Youssef. For those of you who don't live in the DC area or who (like me) were not awake early enough to catch this interview, you can listen to it by clicking here.

Click here for more information and media coverage on the continuing retaliation against Mr. Youssef.

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Here are links to some of the blog posts and websites that covered FBI Whistleblower Bassem Youssef's discussion at the American Library Association conference, where he discussed the Bureau's counterterrorism shortcomings.

Here is a look at some blog posts:

Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/14/fbi-agent-criticizes-coun_n_81355.html

Wonkette:
http://wonkette.com/344491/the-fbi-agent-and-the-naughty-librarians

The Raw Story
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Whistleblower_effectively_gagged_by_FBI_0110.html

Some others:

• http://blog.americancongressfortruth.com/2008/01/13/arab-american-fbi-agent-faults-counterterrorism-work/
• http://www.atlargely.com/2008/01/bassem-youssef.html
• http://prairieweather.typepad.com/big_blue_stem/2008/01/fbi-warrantless.html
• http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/archives/cat_coverupdeceptions.html#076481
• http://freegovinfo.info/node/1564
• http://womenslens.blogspot.com/2008/01/egyptian-fbi-agent-speaks-out.html
• http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6522302.html?desc=topstory

And some traditional media sources:

• http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=1&docID=hsnews-000002654526
• http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-01-12-fbi-whistleblower_N.htm
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/11/AR2008011103665.html
• http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18028499
• http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hyFyyiD5i9Yl4A0-s47omtQcMCcAD8U4L3T00
• http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=48127&sid=6&fid=1
• http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120018357493386451.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
• http://www.timesleader.com/news/ap?articleID=336347

 

UPDATE: HERE IS THE SPEECH

 

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On December 28th, I blogged about FBI Counterterrorism whistleblower Bassem Youssef, and his intention to speak at the American Library Association conference this Saturday, January 12. Since that time, Mr. Youssef has been informed by his managers that he should be very careful about what he says regarding the Bureau's deficiencies and missteps in the War on Terror.

According to a letter sent to the Executive Director of the ALA's Washington Office by Mr. Youssef's attorney Stephen Kohn, The FBI has sent a "clear warning" to Mr. Youssef regarding the content of his speech, and further, has instructed Mr. Youssef to follow strict censorship rules -- rules which he is not allowed to share with anyone outside of the Bureau. Due to threats from FBI managers and these secret censorship requirements, he is now unable to give a speech at the conference. Rather than give a prepared speech, Mr. Youssef will only be available to answer questions from the audience.

The National Whistleblower Center has issued an action alert, calling for supporters to email the Attorney General and demand that he end the senseless retalition and censorship of Mr. Youssef.

Mr. Youssef is scheduled to discuss this issue in an interview with NPR, airing tonight. Check back, I will post more information as it becomes available.

UPDATE: NPR is airing the Youssef story tonight on "All Things Considered." It will be available online at 7pm. (listen here) 

**This issue was also covered in today's Wall Street Journal and on the Raw Story blog.
    (To view the entire WSJ piece, access it through a Google News search)

 

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