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

Last week, Stephen M. Kohn was invited by Sibel Edmonds’ Boiling Frogs Post to debate Norman L. Eisen, Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform on the controversial “Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act” (S. 372). In Mr. Eisen’s absence (he declined the invitation to participate), Stephen M. Kohn appeared on Boiling Frogs with Sibel Edmonds and independent moderator Peter B. Collins to discuss his opposition to provisions in the bill that roll back existing whistleblower protections for FBI agents. Follow this link to join Steve Kohn on opposing the poison pills in S. 372. Now, Thom Hartmann has posted a blog entry about Sibel Edmonds' interview of Steve.

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Fred Whitehurst is the whistleblower who revealed that the crime lab at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) failed to live up to its reputation for scientific integrity, and sometimes even resorted to falsifying results. Today Jeff Stein of the Washington Post's Spy Talk blog calls Whitehurst a "hero" and chats with him about his legacy.

Earlier this month, the Post's Keith Alexander wrote about a report of the U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia finding over 100 cases that were tainted by FBI crime lab results that must be reviewed. That report is in response to the exoneration of Donald Gates who spent 28 years in prison for a rape and murder he did not commit.

Stein elicited from Whitehurst how he continues to review FBI records released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to find people who might still be suffering from unreliable crime lab results. Stein does not cover Whitehurst's recent activism to get the U.S. Senate to improve the federal Whistleblower Protection Act. Whitehurst has called on Senators to fix the poison pills in the Senate's current version of S. 372, the supposed Whistleblower Proection Enhancement Act (WPEA). One of those "enhancements" is to repeal the special law that protects whistleblowers at the FBI. Whitehurst has written an open letter to Senators calling on them to fix all the poison pills before they pass S. 372. Follow this link to join him in that call.

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Another Reason FBI Whistleblower Protections Should Not Be Weakened
 

The Washington Post and Associated Press are reporting that the Department of Justice failed to properly review more than 100 criminal cases that were prosecuted in the District of Columbia and which were suspected of being tainted by false forensic evidence from the FBI crime lab. These cases were ordered reviewed because in 1997 the DOJ Inspector General verified whistleblower allegations by Dr. Frederic Whitehurst about serious misconduct at the FBI lab.

Photo: Dr. Whitehurst

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FBI whistleblower Dr. Frederic Whitehurst issued a letter today strongly opposing the repeal of FBI whistleblower rights contained in the current Senate version of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (S. 372). This bill is currently being “hotlined” in the Senate, a process by which legislation can be passed by unanimous consent, without any formal debate or vote.

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