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

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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By: Jane Turner

The world of federal whistleblowers is a very small one. I have met Sibel Edmonds, and others who qualified for the whistleblower title. Colleen Rowley was in two of the same FBI offices that I was assigned. Fred Whitehurst (of the FBI Laboratory fame) spent hours on the phone helping me through the emotional tornado that hits each and every whistleblower. There were whistleblowers I have met in other federal agencies. What amazes me is that there are any whistleblowers at all. Every whistleblower counsels almost anyone who reaches out to them for advice, that the road of a whistleblower is exceedingly difficult, and filled with terrible events. Intimidation, reprisal, being ostracised, loss of friends, and the destruction of a career are typical. Loved ones leave you, and friends are tired of hearing over and over again of the misjustice that was perpetrated against you. The low number of federal whistleblowers demonstrates the world in which we live. A world that is terribly hostile to those who speak truth to those in power.

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By: Jane Turner

It is interesting that people think the whistleblowing ordeal is over once a whistleblower has been exonerated. It is never over. A whistleblower’s career is shattered, and the tag of "troublemaker", "unpatriotic", "snitch" or "whistleblower" follows you forever. Why? Because the organization that you blow the whistle on (in my case, the FBI), never forgets what they see as a betrayal. It is never about what is wrong or right, justice or injustice, but simply that the whistleblower is not following the party line. The organization itself cannot feel anger and betrayal, but those leading the bureaucratic department certainly can, and they do. A whistleblower threatens the internal machinery of an organization, which many times have been set up to benefit the individuals who are running the organization. That was certainly the case at the Minneapolis FBI Office. Managers collected big bonuses and big salaries by inflating the number and quality of cases in Indian Country (The Native American tribal lands, which I worked for years). They also used false and misleading data from Indian Country so they could get bigger titles, and more money. I loved the FBI, and tried to make it better. I wish I could have said the same about the managers I blew the whistle on. More on that later.

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The Whistleblower Protection Blog is proud to present an ongoing series of blog posts by FBI whistleblower Jane Turner. Ms. Turner was a highly respected FBI Agent for 25 years. She worked the "indian country" of South Dakota and specialized in child-crimes, investigating the most heinous offenses imaginable. Despite near-impossible circumstances, Ms. Turner obtained confessions and convictions from countless criminal sociopaths. She was forced from the position she loved after reporting widespread discrimination and mismanagement in these cases. Then, she was forced from the FBI after reporting that some of her fellow agents had, during the 9/11 investigation, stolen items from Ground Zero - items belonging to the victims and their families.

After a decade of fighting, Ms. Turner was finally vindicated when a Minnesota jury returned a verdict in her favor, determining that, yes, she had been the subject of retaliation by her FBI managers after she raised concerns of discrimination and mismanagement in her office.  

These blog posts, which are accessible by clicking "Jane Turner's Blog" on the left column, will be about Ms. Turner's experiences as a whistleblower.

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Blog Post #1:

By: Jane Turner

Ever since I was a little kid growing up in Rapid City, South Dakota, I wanted to be an FBI Agent. Not once in those early days, up to and including now (as a fifty six year old), did I ever aspire to be an FBI Whistleblower. I really do not think that anyone grows up desiring to be a Whistleblower. The path is too difficult, too dangerous, and not rewarding (either financially or spiritually). People become whistleblowers because the critical truth they speak is being denied, covered up, or trivialized by those with power and/or authority. In my case, the truth I revealed, that sex abuse cases in Indian Country were being dismissed as car accidents by FBI Agents who did not want to work them, was seen by FBI managers as questioning the legitimacy of all FBI investigations. Having the FBI training that qualified me as an Advanced Police Instructor, and Psychological Profiler; and certified to teach local, state, and federal law enforcement officials nationwide about the psychology of sexual offenders; and how to work crimes against children investigations, forced me to remain in the battle and try to speak truth to those in FBI power.   

As I write this blog, I will provide information regarding my struggle, hoping to help others. I will also speak for those still on the job at the FBI, who have been muzzled, smeared, and threatened with termination if they do not stop their battle to bring injustice, or truth to light. The path of a whistleblower is a lonely one, and a journey that no one else can take for you. This blog will address my journey.

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Yesterday, Minneapolis Chief U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum ordered the FBI to pay over $1 million to former FBI Agent Jane Turner and her attorneys. Combine that amount with the $360,000 that Turner was awarded by a jury in February 2007, it brings her total court award, to nearly $1.4 Million. The judge's ruling yesterday dealt yet another solid blow to the FBI, which had filed an objection to Ms. Turner's request for reimbursement of her attorneys fees.

Special Agent Turner was a highly regarded child crime agent working in the "Indian Country" of North Dakota for thirteen years. She experienced harsh retaliation from her managers after blowing the whistle on sex discrimination within the FBI, as well as negligence in child abuse investigations. In January 2007, a Minneapolis jury awarded Turner over $500,000 for retaliation and backpay - which by law was reduced to $360,000.

**Tad Vezner of the Pioneer Press has a good article on this issue linked here**

The FBI initially appealed the jury verdict, but the Solicitor General of the United States intervened and forced the FBI to drop their appeal.  

Stephen Kohn, Ms. Turner's attorney and President of the National Whistleblower Center, called the Turner decision "vindication for an irrational attempt by the FBI to destroy one of its highly decorated veteran agents after she exposed highly discriminatory practices by her management."

In addition to disclosing discrimination, Ms. Turner also reported widespread theft by FBI agents at the 9/11 crimescene. A subsequent DOJ investigation found that scores of employees had stolen items belonging to the victims, including a crystal Tiffany globe and bloodstained clothing.

"FBI management at the highest levels must be held accountable for their crude attempt to cover up official misconduct. What the Bureau did to Jane Turner is unnaceptable in modern law enforcement." Added Kohn.

**North Dakota TV station KFYR has video on the Turner issue here

**Dan Browning of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has written numerous articles on the Turner case, and has more on the Judge's decision here (Free Subscription Required)

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