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

One of the privileges of working for the National Whistleblowers Center is that I get to meet some truly remarkable people.  Last week, I could feel the electricity in the air as I introduced my client Bassem Youssef to Fred Whitehurst.  Fred was an earlier whistleblower from the FBI's Forensic Crime Lab. He is now an attorney leading our Forensic Justice Project.  Bassem is the FBI's highest ranking Arabic fluent Special Agent.  His career has been sidelined in recent years -- just when our country needed him the most.  After Fred and Bassem met, I could see the bond of familiarity that comes from surviving a shared suffering.  Let's see how well that bond photographs . . .

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Washington Post reporter Al Kamen writes in today's "In The Loop" column about an FBI diversity promotion.  Kamen looked at the FBI's web page to promote its American Indian/Alaskan Native Program.  The program seeks to "Eliminate discriminatory practices," increase representation in key occupational positions (including the Senior Executive Service, SES), and "to increase opportunities for all employees to advance to their highest potential."

Kamen notices that the photo on the FBI's web page is of Elizabeth Morris, a former FBI special agent who alleges that the FBI retaliated against her after she filed a complaint of workplace bias. "Morris," Kamen reports, "says she was fired in 2007 for filing a complaint against a supervisor for making racially insensitive remarks and for alleging that another agent sent subpoenas to dozens of businesses not under investigation with no intent of reviewing the records."  Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has asked the Justice Department to report back about this.

If the FBI really wants to promote diversity, it could be looking within its own ranks for minority employees who could qualify for promotion.  Bassem Youssef is another example.  He is the FBI's highest ranking Arabic-fluent special agent.  Yet, the FBI sidelined him for five years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.   In July 2006, the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility concluded that the FBI illegally retaliated against Mr. Youssef because Mr. Youssef had made whistleblower disclosures to the Director of the FBI and a Member of Congress.

The FBI failed to promote Mr. Youssef to appropriate operational positions where the FBI as well as the nation would benefit from his exceptional and unique counterterrorism experience, Middle Eastern cultural understanding and Arabic language capability.

If the FBI is really serious about building a more diverse workforce, it must first admit that there's a gap and a problem that needs to be addressed. The FBI must protect its minority employees from retaliation. The FBI needs to allow independent reviews of its pending claims of retaliation, restore the careers of the affected minorities and take effective action against officials who retaliate.  

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Back in 1993, world renowned FBI scientist Dr. Frederic Whitehurst (pictured right) brought to light astonishing deficiencies and scientific fraud at the FBI Crime Lab. These allegations would lead to a massive reform of forensic science at the FBI. The FBI labs were just the beginning, and since that time, Dr. Whitehurst, as director of the National Whistleblowers Center's Forensic Justice Project, has been a vocal advocate for reforms nationwide. In 2007, his work was highlighted in a 60 Minutes/Washington Post Special Investigation, and Congress took action to force the review of the cases of thousands of criminal defendants who had been convicted on potentially tainted bullet-lead evidence.

A new study by the National Academy of Sciences has put forensic science and crime laboratories back in the news, and not in a good way. The two-year congressionally funded report, issued February 18th, details the need for reform in our nation's forensic science programs. Specifically, it calls for an independent oversight organization called the National Institute of Forensic Science. Among other deficiencies, the report finds:

• hundreds of thousands of backlogged an delayed requests for analysis
• understaffing at 80% of the nation's crime labs.
• a lack of certification and accreditation standards leading to inconsistencies between federal, state, local governments.
• hundreds of convictions have been based on flawed science

These findings are extremely troubling, and we are happy that Congress took the initiative to fund this study. Now the New York Times is reporting that the Senate Judiciary Committee is planning to hold hearings on this report, and we believe that there would be no one better to testify on these issues than Dr. Whitehurst.

 

Digg This Story Here

 

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I am happy to say that we have received another significant endorsement for federal employee whistleblower protections. The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association has issued a statement in support of the Whistleblower provisions passed by the House of Representatives in the Economic Stimulus package last week, and is urging the Senate to pass the bill with the whistleblower provisions intact. Further, FLEOA is calling on President Obama to enact an executive order which would restore the careers of Law Enforcement Officers (including counterterrorism agents) who have had their careers destroyed after blowing the whistle.

Jon Adler, the National President of FLEOA had this to say about the retroactive protections:

"After abiding by their oath to uphold the laws of the Constitution, this small select group of federal law enforcement and counter-terrorism agents suffered unwarranted retaliation due to the ineffective and outdated federal Whistleblower Protection Act currently in effect."

 

 

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The Washington Independent published an article addressing the lack of protection offered to whistleblowers in the stimulus bill.  The article quoted Stephen Kohn, who states: "The biggest defect in the current language in the House and Senate versions, is about blowing the whistle internally." The bill protects only employees that report wrongdoings to Congress or an Inspector General, but does not provide protection to those that make internal reports to their own employers. Protecting taxpayer money with strong oversight and accountability safeguards is of extreme importance, therefore Congress must provide adequate protection for all whistleblowers. 

"Whistleblowers Vulnerable in Stimulus" by Daphne Eviatar

 

*Thelma Lizama (a NWC intern) contributed to this posting

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On September 8^th,  181 public interest organizations, including the National Whistleblower Center, sent a letter to Congress urging  it to pass much needed amendments to the Whistleblower Protection Act  (WPA). The crucial amendments would grant employees the right to jury trials, protect scientists who report fraud in federal research, protect whistleblowers in the FBI and other intelligence agency, and extend coverage to Transportation Security Officers (airport screeners).   The House and Senate have both passed versions of the WPA (H.R. 985 and S. 274).  However, the House version is a much more comprehensive reform of the WPA and includes many of the revisions that we deem essential to the protection of whistleblowers.   We are asking Congress to act quickly to reconcile these bills before the end of this session.

 

Click here to read the letter. 

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In March 2007 the House of Representatives passed HR.985, strong legislation to protect federal employee whistleblowers. The measure passed  by a margin of 331-94. 

In December 2007 the Senate unanimously passed S.274, its version of the law.

It is now August 2008, and Congress has not taken a single action to pass these reforms. Conference members have not been selected. The bills are just sitting on the desks of the party leaders, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid, and they have made no indication as to when or if they plan to push them forward. Until now.

Maybe it is just lip service, but in an interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal, Sen. Reid (who was discussing an egregious case of retaliation against TSA whistleblowers in Nevada) says that he is committed to seeing the legislation pass, but doesn't say when. Even though the bills passed with the required two-thirds supermajority, Democrats could be worried about their ability to override a presidential veto (which has been promised). But on the other hand, maybe they are a little concerned about protecting whistleblowers when there is a good possibility they will be in power in a few months... 

The bottom line is that these laws need to be passed. Whistleblowers are getting hammered left and right. The new law (at least the House version) would guarantee, among other things, jury trials in federal court and protection for national security whistleblowers (employees of the FBI, CIA, etc.). Congress recently passed strong private sector coverage for 20 million manufacturing employees who blow the whistle on unsafe consumer goods, why shouldn't government employees have the same protection when they report waste, fraud, abuse, and national security concerns?  

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We just found this --

back on May 22, Keith Olbermann covered FBI Whistleblower Bassem Youssef's congressional testimony. The Youssef story starts at 1:30 of the video, which is found on the MSNBC site here

For more information on Agent Youssef and his courageous testimony, see our previous blog posts.

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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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