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

Tune in today at 1:00pm EDT to Honesty Without Fear on Progressive Radio Network.

In the first half, Michael Kohn interviews Army Corps of Engineer whistleblower Tommie Savage. Ms. Savage is a former contract specialist who dared to question massive government contract fraud. She was fired for bringing the fraud to light and, her case is still ongoing. Tune in to hear her story.

In the second half hour, Lindsey Williams and attorney Sharon Eubanks discuss her new book Bad Acts: The Racketeering Case Against the Tobacco Industry. Ms. Eubanks spent the last six years of her 22 years as an attorney with the Department of Justice taking on the tobacco industry. They discuss the case and the difficulties of going up against corporations with almost limitless resources.

Submit Your Question to be asked on air during the show or call in to 1-888-874-4888.

Missed last week's episode?? You can listen to the podcast.

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NWC Executive Director Stephen Kohn spoke to CBS Evening News tonight about the chilling effect the FDA's illegal whistleblower surveillance program has on employees' willingness to report serious health and safety issues. You can TAKE ACTION to stop the government's highly intrusive and harmful surveillance program by sending an email to your elected officials.

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Today, the New York Times released a groundbreaking story on the government's secret spying program on a group of whistleblowers employed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

Stephen M. Kohn, the Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center and the lead attorney for the FDA whistleblowers, issued the following statement:

We hope that the revelations in today's New York Times will mark a turning point in the battle to stop the retaliatory surveillance of whistleblowers who risk their careers to report misconduct.

The spying program revealed in today's New York Times article was illegal. The story demonstrated how government mangers used a covert spying program to interfere with the ability of federal employees to lawfully report significant threats to the public safety to Congress, law enforcement officials and the American people. We hope that these public disclosures will mark the beginning of the end of government spying on employees who report misconduct to the appropriate authorities.

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Tune in today at 1:00pm EDT to Honesty Without Fear on Progressive Radio Network.

In the first half hour, whistleblower Robert Whitmore speaks with Richard Renner about the landmark decision in his case last week. Mr. Whitmore's 37-year career with the Department of Labor came to an end after he disclosed how OSHA accepted impossibly low industry reports of worker injuries and illnesses. Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that Mr. Whitmore did not get a fair hearing from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).

In the second half hour, Richard interviews Mr. Whitmore's attorney, Paula Dinerstein of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Ms. Dinerstein shares her experience in pursuing Mr. Whitmore's case when so few whistleblowers were winning cases at either the MSPB or the Federal Circuit. She also shares her analysis of the Mr. Whitmore's Federal Circuit decision, including what means for whistleblowers, their advocates, federal managers, and the MSPB.

 
Submit Your Question to be asked on air during the show or call in to 1-888-874-4888.

Missed last week's episode?? You can listen to the podcast.

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Last week, the National Whistleblowers Center filed a motion for preliminary injunction under the Freedom of Information Act in U.S. District Court in DC. The motion has been filed in order to get the FDA to release all documents pertaining to their illegal surveillance of employees’ private email correspondence. NWC has a limited number of documents that show the FDA conducted special targeted monitoring of employees who blew the whistle on misconduct and inappropriate approvals of unsafe medical devices. The FDA activated spyware on whistleblowers’ work computers to spy on their password protected Gmail-to-Gmail correspondences to Congress, the Office of Special Counsel and other oversight authorities.

According to Lindsey Williams, Director of Advocacy and Development for the National Whistleblowers centre, “It is critical that the FDA immediately release the documents related to their illegal spying program. The program has created a chilling effect throughout the federal government. Federal employees must feel free to report their concerns to Congress and OSC.”

As per preliminary injunction rules, the judge must hold a hearing within the next 20 days and rule shortly there after.

*Abisola Ojikutu (a NWC intern) drafted this posting

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TAKE ACTION!

FDA Spy Program Documents Linked Here

As reported in today's Washington Post, six current and former employees of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have filed a complaint against the FDA in U.S. District Court. The employees are seeking an injunction to stop the agency from illegally spying on employees' private communications to Congress and other oversight agencies.

Linked here are key documents related to this lawsuit and the FDA's spying program.

The complaint details how the FDA targeted its employees with a covert spying campaign that lasted for two years. The FDA began the program after learning that the employees wrote a letter to President-Elect Obama and his transition team in early 2009 detailing government misconduct in approving unsafe medical devices.  The Agency installed (or activated) spyware on their workplace computers and used other technology that to monitor their password-protected Gmail-to-Gmail communications.

In addition to reading the whistleblowers' emails, the FDA took contemporaneous screen shots of the employees’ computer screens. Managers used the collected information to learn the identities of confidential whistleblowers and to obtain the details of the public health and safety concerns the whistleblowers intended to disclose to the Office of Special Counsel, Congress and the Agency's own Inspector General.

The FDA also intercepted email communications to and from staff members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee.  These Congressional intercepts are linked here.

The FDA’s prolonged covert monitoring of the whistleblowers continued even after the HHS Office of Inspector General denied the FDA’s request to take any criminal and/or administrative action against the whistleblowers. In their letter of refusal, the OIG explicitly informed the FDA that the whistleblowers' communications to Congress were protected under law.

The managers who spearheaded the surveillance efforts were the same managers involved with the wrongdoing and corruption that the whistleblowers were seeking to report. Lawyers at the FDA and HHS Offices of General Counsel, who should have understood that the program breached the employees’ confidentiality, helped FDA managers with their obstruction and retaliation.

In their lawsuit, six FDA whistleblowers who were fired by the agency (including two highly respected medical doctors, a Branch Chief, a former Health and Safety Officer employed by the Public Health Service and a 23-year FDA career M.D./Ph.D Scientist) are requesting a nationwide injunction prohibiting the federal government from targeting whistleblowers with selected surveillance and monitoring.

The lawsuit alleges that such targeted monitoring of whistleblowers violates their First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and association.

Stephen M. Kohn, NWC Executive Director and attorney for six FDA whistleblowers, issued the following statement:

The FDA declared war on employees who were trying to warn Americans about threats to public health and safety.

Today, the NWC issued an Action Alert seeking public support for the FDA whistleblowers and demanding an end to the federal government's targeted and selective surveillance of whistleblowers.

The NWC obtained the intercepted emails as a result of a lawsuit filed under the Freedom of Information Act and from documents produced by the FDA as a result of administrative actions taken against three of the whistleblowers.

Links:  

FDA Whistleblower Complaint

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In January 2011, scandal broke out over “Project Gunrunner,” a program of the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives agency (ATF). The intended goal of “Project Gunrunner” was to limit the flow of firearms into Mexico through close surveillance of undercover gun purchases. ATF agents encouraged gun shops to sell machinery to “straw buyers”—people who buy weapons in the US with the known intent of trafficking them into Mexico. The ATF was then supposed to trace these guns in order to gain intelligence, dangerously letting the weapons “walk” in hopes of making bigger arrests within the cartels themselves. Whistleblowers say that the tracing never happened. Ultimately, the ATF allowed more than 1,800 weapons to enter Mexico and fall into drug hands.

It was later discovered that ATF employee John Dodson blew the whistle on the problems with “Project Gunrunner.” At least 6 other ATF agents and executives have come forward exposing how the ATF encouraged the illegal sale of firearms to known criminals. In the wake of these mishaps, ATF has been accused of retaliating against fellow agent Vince Cefalu who came forward with information on ATF’s illegal operations in December 2010. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa sent a letter to the ATF that warned officials not to retaliate against whistleblowers. Yet two days later, Cefalu—an employee of ATF for 24 years—was served with termination papers. Agent Cefalu stated, “Simply put, we knowingly let hundreds of guns and dozens of identified bad guys go across the border.” However, Agent Cefalu’s dismissal is not the ATF’s first case of retaliation against whistleblowers. Earlier this year, another agent was accused of misconduct for talking with Senator Grassley’s (Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee) staffers after the scandal first broke.

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Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, a member of the National Whistleblowers Center’s Board of Directors and founder and leader of the No FEAR Coalition, will be appearing before the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) tomorrow, February 9, 2011, objecting to her removal from the Environmental Protection Agency in January of 2009.

This is another case against the agency by Dr. Coleman-Adebayo, who is now defending herself from retaliation and the failure of the agency to provide her with reasonable accommodation as a disabled person.  Dr. Coleman-Adebayo alleges that the continuous harassment and discriminatory management culture inside the EPA that has continued unabated against her since she first won a court victory in 2000 for retaliation based on race, sex, and color discrimination.

Dr. Coleman-Adebayo stated in her press release issued today, February 8, 2011,

"What's the difference between threatening phone calls, threats of rape, name calling, being assigned responsibilities outside one's expertise, being denied requests for reasonable accommodation, and being fired for reasons of disability? They're all from different chapters of a playbook that will stop at nothing to punish, shun, impugn and marginalize whistleblowers."

The press release is available below:

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The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) mission is to protect and promote the health and safety of all Americans. Scientists at the FDA have the critical role of ensuring that the FDA fulfills this mission. Unfortunately, when scientists and researchers put the said health and safety of Americans before corporate interests, they are met with brutal retaliation. 

Over the past two years, distinguished FDA scientists and physicians have disclosed to Congress that managers have used intimidating and coercive tactics to push the approval of unsafe and defective medical devices. These approvals, based on illegitimate procedures and data, have led to unnecessary risks, cancers, and even death. The health and safety of millions is on the line. 

In the forefront of this, a 23-year veteran medical doctor and Ph.D scientist at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is on the verge of losing her job. She blew the whistle to Congress in order to protect our health and safety, threatening her whole career. 

FDA employees should not be afraid to speak up about misconduct. The National Whistleblowers Center encourages everyone to TAKE ACTION now! 

Please visit this Action Alert to send messages to a panel of recipients at the FDA. The culture at the FDA needs to undergo drastic changes and it is up to US to make this happen. 

This American hero should not be fired.

*Sabeen Khanmohamed (a NWC intern) contributed to this posting

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On July 29, 2009 the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs unanimously reported out of committee S. 372, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2009.  Unfortunately, this bill contains many significant differences from the House Bill (H.R. 1507), which the National Whistleblowers Center (NWC) fully supports.  

This post is the twelfth in a series of twelve, examining specific weaknesses in the Senate Bill. Each installment examines a crucial issue of whistleblower rights compromised by the Senate’s version of the bill.

XII: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WHITE HOUSE?

I had the “honor” of being involved in the initial discussion process with the White House and reviewing the proposals circulated by the White House.  I could spend the rest of this blog venting my frustration over what did and did not happen as a result of that process, but I won’t.

The bottom line is that President Obama did promise, on numerous occasions, to support whistleblowers.  He did specifically endorse the framework for protection set forth in the House bill.
 

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