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

FBI whistleblower Jane Turner appeared on Fox Business last night to speak about her experience as a whistleblower. After twenty years as a FBI Special Agent, Jane Turner led efforts to force the FBI to provide protection for child sex crime victims on the North Dakota Indian Reservations.  In retaliation for exposing FBI failures within its child crime program, Turner was removed from her position.  Her whistleblower case is still pending. Turner also learned that FBI agents had stolen “souvenirs” from the 9/11 terrorist attack crime scene.  She was fired after reporting the thefts to the Inspector General  A federal jury vindicated her in a historic 2007 verdict in her Title VII discrimination case.

Ms. Turner explained that you have to be blowing the whistle for the right reasons because it places tremendous stress on you and your family. She recommended finding an attorney who specializes in whistleblower law.  If you are considering blowing the whistle on corruption and would like to consult an attorney the National Whistleblower Center Legal Defense and Education Fund may be able to help you.

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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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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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By: Jane Turner

I find that the most amazing part of being an FBI whistleblower is watching while FBI managers who are directly involved in misconduct, malfeasance, obstruction, or criminal activity--which whistleblowers bring to light--are rewarded, promoted, and/or given bonuses. The Director of the FBI did not even have the common courtesy to exile the guilty parties to Butte, Montana or Minot, North Dakota. He allows them to continue to be elevated into the highest ranks of the FBI, receiving all the benefits that those lofty positions bring.


For instance, the Zacarias Moussoui debacle, where managers in the FBI would not allow FBI agents to get a search warrant for Moussoui's personal possessions, even though evidence presented was compelling. It is a long and tortured story, one that might have ended in FBI agents possibly stopping the attacks of 9/11 if managers at FBI Headquarters had not been guilty of "obstructionism, criminal negligence and careerism" (SA Harry Samit, FBI, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division 3/9/2006).


Senator Charles Grassley (R) and others have pointed out that no one in the FBI management team has been fired or punished for 9/11, and in fact, several have been promoted. Later, I will name not only those individuals involved in 9/11 who were negligent, but also name those in my case who were involved in that obstructionism, criminal negligence and careerism, and were subsequently promoted. One of the FBI managers in my case who was involved in misconduct, was also involved in the Moussoui investigation.


It is indeed a small world when one is a FBI Whistleblower.

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