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

Last week Supervisory Special Agent Bassem Youssef testified before members of the House Judiciary Committee, telling them that two of every three positions in the FBI's critical counterterrorism units have remained unstaffed since 9/11.  He also explained that, of the agents who are currently working counterterrorism, few have the expertise or the training required to do the job correctly.

In a extraordinarily positive step, House and Senate leaders have taken notice of Mr. Youssef's forthright testimony, and a bi-partisan group of lawmakers is now calling for the GAO to conduct an independent "review of the FBI’s human capital management strategy."  For further information, see this article in Congressional Quarterly

The National Whistleblower Center has issued an Action Alert on this issue , urging supporters to help protect Mr. Youssef from retaliation by emailing the Attorney General.

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The hearing has now concluded. I expect that Special Agent Youssef's powerful testimony will garner some attention in the mainstream media and the blogosphere. It looks like ABC News is the first to get a story filed -- see it below and check back as I will update this with more stories over the next few days.


Press Coverage of Congressional FBI Whistleblower Hearing / Bassem Youssef:

• ABC News
• Fox News
• Reuters
• CNN
• Washington Times
• LA Times
• USA Today
• Think Progress
• American Library Association
• CNN Wire
• Salon.com
• AFP
• GovExec.com
  

 

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UPDATE: THE HEARING VIDEO IS NOW HOUSED AT THIS WEBSITE: http://judiciary.house.gov/oversight.aspx?ID=445


Bassem Youssef will be testifying at a 1:30pm hearing today before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security. Mr. Youssef is expected to discuss shocking shortfalls in the FBI's Counterterrorism Division since 9/11.

To watch this hearing online, click here to go to the Committee Website, and then click on "View Live Webcast"

If you don't have time to watch (or if you just can't wait to hear the testimony), I urge you to read the testimony -- submitted by Attorney Stephen Kohn on Mr. Youssef's behalf. Just click the link below.

WRITTEN STATEMENT FILED ON BEHALF OF FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT and UNIT CHIEF BASSEM YOUSSEF

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Bassem Youssef, an FBI Supervisory Special Agent and Middle Eastern counterterrorism expert, is scheduled to testify tomorrow (May 21, 2008) before the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security in the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2141


You may recall from previous posts that SSA Youssef has been the victim of ongoing retaliation from upper-level FBI managers ever since he began reporting serious mismanagement and misconduct in terrorism related investigations. Earlier this year, Mr. Youssef was gagged by the FBI when he was invited to speak before the American Library Association regarding the misuse of NSL letters to obtain phone records without a warrant.


SSA Youssef is expected to give shocking testimony about potentially catastrophic mismanagement the FBI's Middle Eastern counterterrorism programs. I encourage everyone to attend the hearing and show your support for this brave whistleblower. See the National Whistleblower Center press release below for more information.

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FBI WHISTLEBLOWER TO TESTIFY ON MISTAKES
INSIDE COUNTERTERRORISM PROGRAM

Unit Chief to disclose shortfalls in war on terror

WHAT:           FBI Whistleblower and Supervisory Special Agent Bassem Youssef testifying before Congress

WHEN:           Wednesday, May 21, 1:30 p.m. EDT

WHERE:         Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2141

Washington, D.C. -- FBI Counterterrorism Whistleblower Bassem Youssef will testify before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.

During the oversight hearing, titled On The FBI Whistleblowers: Exposing Corruption and Retaliation Inside the Bureau, Supervisory Special Agent Bassem Youssef will for the first time alert Congress and the American people to the grave deficiencies within the FBI's Counterterrorism Division since 9/11.

It is expected that Youssef's testimony will include previously undisclosed information.

Youssef is the Unit Chief of the FBI's Communications Analysis Unit. He is the highest-ranking Arab-American agent in the Counterterrorism Division, and the highest-ranking fluent Arabic speaker. In 1994, he earned the Intelligence Community's prestigious and coveted award, the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, awarded by the Director of Central Intelligence. The award was for outstanding accomplishments in a terrorism case involving an al-Qaeda-related investigation.

Youssef has also been instrumental in reporting and rectifying problems with the FBI's National Security Letter program.

For more information about Youssef, please visit the National Whistleblower Center's website at http://www.whistleblowers.org/html/bassem_youssef.html

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This Monday, May 12, the Democratic Policy Committee is scheduled to hold hearings  to  "examine  the impact  of  American  reconstruction  and  anti-corruption failures on the U.S. mission in Iraq." Several former government employees will be offering testimony.

This hearing is a continuation of the admirable work that this committee has done in shedding light on problems in Iraq. In September 2007, Army Corps whistleblower Bunnatine "Bunny" Greenhouse testified before the committee regarding her opposition to the multi-billion dollar "no bid" contract awarded to Halliburton/KBR in the run-up to the Iraq war.

Detailed information about the May 12, 2008 hearing can be found here.

Here are the links for the September 2007 testimony of Bunnatine Greenhouse and Stephen M. Kohn.

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Many MSM sources (such as the New York Times and CNN)and blogs (like Talk Left) are now reporting that the Office of Special Counsel was raided by the FBI today, along with the home of agency head Scott Bloch. Bloch and his agency are under investigation for obstruction of justice stemming from an ongoing probe in which Bloch and other managers at the OSC -- the agency responsible for investigating federal whistleblower complaints -- are suspected of retaliating against whistleblowers in that agency.


Mr. Bloch has been under investigation since 2005, and today's events are in no doubt related to the fact that he used a private computer service company (Geeks on Call) to erase his personal and office computers during the time of the investigation.

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Recently I wrote a blog post on the need for whistleblower protection in the South Carolina State Police and how their upper eschelon was retaliating against troopers who blew the whistle on a fellow officer who intentionally hit a suspect with his car.


Although there has been no news of reform out of South Carolina, at least one state is getting the message. Connecticut's state senate has passed expanded whistleblower protection in the wake of its own state police corruption and retaliation scandal.


Since the U.S. Congress has yet to pass meaningful whistleblower reforms for Government employees, it is important that states act to sure up protections for honest employees who report waste, fraud and abuse.

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