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

During this week's trip to Latin America, President Barack Obama has hit on a theme about the universal nature of human rights. Here is a paragraph from his speech on Sunday in Brazil:

But we also know that there’s certain aspirations shared by every human being: We all seek to be free. We all seek to be heard. We all yearn to live without fear or discrimination. We all yearn to choose how we are governed. And we all want to shape our own destiny. These are not American ideals or Brazilian ideals. These are not Western ideals. These are universal rights, and we must support them everywhere.

He said something similar yesterday in Chile:

And despite this region’s democratic progress, stark inequalities endure. In political and economic power that is too often concentrated in the hands of the few, instead of serving the many. In the corruption that too often still stifles economic growth and development, innovation and entrepreneurship. And in some leaders who cling to bankrupt ideologies to justify their own power and who seek to silence their opponents because those opponents have the audacity to demand their universal rights.

In July 2009, I blogged about President Obama's speech in Ghana: "We have a responsibility to support those who act responsibly and to isolate those who don't, and that is exactly what America will do."

I suggest that the best way to advance universal rights abroad is to live by them at home. Recall that in the previous Congress, President Obama put forward a version of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act that would actually take away the existing legal protections for federal employees that raise concerns deemed to be minor or inadvertent. As to living without fear of discrimination or corruption, his bill would have divided federal employees so that national security workers would be dependent for their protection on the agency heads in charge of the operations about which concerns might be raised.

We might also remember that 600,000 U.S. citizens do not have the power to choose how they are governed because they happen to live in the District of Columbia. They cannot change their local constitution because an act of Congress sets out how they are governed. They have no representation in that Congress which imposes taxes they must pay. They cannot impose taxes on out-of-staters who work in their District (including me), and any laws their Council passes might be overturned by Congress.

It is good that the international flow of ideas includes what rights should be "universal." This call would ring less hollow if we saw those espousing them doing more to accomplish them in their home jurisdictions. I submitted a report to the United National Universal Period Review about ways in which U.S. laws fall short of international treaty standards for whistleblower protections. The U.S. Department of State chose not to answer it.

Whistleblowers everywhere will benefit if we can call our leaders to account for their treatment of whistleblowers, here and abroad. Instead of trying to pick specks out of the eyes of other countries, I invite President Obama to join with me in looking for the logs in our own.

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An article published in the San Francisco Examiner by Barbara Hollingsworth explains why you should be concerned about the Senate Intelligence Committee's plan to include a provision in the Intelligence Authorization Bill that will "require federal employees working at intelligence agencies to sign a contract stipulating that they would forfeit their federal pensions if they were caught leaking even non-classified information to the press, outside groups like Wikileaks, or even Congress." The provision will give the "head of each intelligence agency broad discretionary power to decide what a 'leak' is - which could be defined as complaints about waste, fraud and abuse - or even risks to public safety."

Those familiar with whistleblowers know that federal employees who have the courage to speak out about misconduct and violations of law are often wrongfully accused of leaking information in retaliation for speaking the truth. This provision will now allow intelligence agencies to take it one step farther and strip an employee of his or her hard-earned pension if they are accused of leaking information. The chilling effect on federal employees will be immense. They already risk their careers to blow the whistle and have little, if any, legal remedies for getting their jobs back. Now they will be risking their pensions as well.

We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. Please TAKE ACTION and tell the Senate to remove this harmful language from the Intelligence Authorization Bill.

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TAKE ACTION!

Tomorrow, March 15th, in a "closed" mark-up at 2:30 pm EST, the members of the Senate Intelligence Committee plan to slip into an appropriations bill a provision that will give the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the heads of other intelligence agencies, such as the CIA and NSA, the power to strip whistleblowers of their pensions. The provision empowers intelligence agency bureaucrats to strip whistleblowers of their hard-earned pensions, simply by accusing them of leaking classified information.

This provision is so dangerous because intelligence agencies often retaliate against whistleblowers by accusing of them of leaking information. For example, prominent whistleblower Dr. Frederic Whitehurst, who blew the whistle on forensic fraud and misconduct at the FBI crime lab, was falsely accused of leaking information.

The government also retroactively classifies information as way of targeting whistleblowers. For example, in the case of FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, who blew the whistle on national security breaches in the FBI's translation division, the FBI retroactively marked as classified information about her allegations long after the same information had been publicly released by the FBI.

The Obama administration's recent announcement targeting whistleblowers as part of its campaign to prevent leaks to the news media and Wikileaks makes situations such as Dr. Whitehurst and Ms. Edmonds more likely to occur.

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On the Daily Show last night, following President Obama’s Oval Office speech, Jon Stewart delivered a monologue addressing the president’s record on civil liberties and executive power. Stewart plays a number of clips of President Obama from the campaign trail, where he states his positions on Guantanamo Bay, warrantless wiretapping, extraordinary rendition, covert military operations, habeas corpus rights for detainees, and whistleblowers.

The whistleblower clip quotes President Obama on the campaign trail saying that he “knows something about whistle blowing, and about getting those folks the proper protection.” Stewart responds by asking, “if by protection, did he mean sun block? …Because arresting them doesn’t seem like protection.”

It is true, as a presidential candidate, President Obama championed whistleblower rights and supported enacting best practice whistleblower legislation. However, his administration has presided over the prosecution of numerous whistleblowers, including UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld and NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake. The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, meant to be the centerpiece of the Obama Administration’s commitment to accountability, transparency and oversight has been watered down and filled with poison pills and roadblocks.

Watch the Daily Show clip below. When you finish watching, take action, and let President Obama and Congress know that the time to truly enhance whistleblower rights is now.  

 *Meryl Grenadier (NWC Fellow) drafted this post.

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Leading national and international anti-corruption groups have joined the National Whistleblowers Center (NWC) in a clemency campaign on behalf of UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld. In an open letter President Barack Obama, the groups request a presidential pardon for Mr. Birkenfeld, or commutation of his prison sentence to time served to “reverse the devastating impact Mr. Birkenfeld’s case will have on international law enforcement efforts.“

The National Whistleblowers Center, with support from public interest groups, is urging people to personally endorse the clemency campaign for Mr. Birkenfeld through their TAKE ACTION program.

Mr. Birkenfeld blew the whistle on UBS bank in Switzerland, exposing a $20 billion tax scheme involving illegal, offshore bank accounts. Despite the government's acknowledgement that the multi-billion dollar UBS tax fraud scheme would have continued undetected without Mr. Birkenfeld's voluntary disclosure, Mr. Birkenfeld commenced serving a 3-year, 4-month prison sentence on January 8, 2010.

The letter states points out that “in return for his extraordinary cooperation with the U.S. government, Mr. Birkenfeld remains the only banker involved the in the largest illegal tax scheme in history to receive a prison sentence,” and advises that “great importance must be placed on the public policy implications of Mr. Birkenfeld’s case, international bankers must be able to come forward to report illegal practices like those exposed by Mr. Birkenfeld.“

Lindsey M. Williams, Director of Advocacy and Development, National Whistleblowers Center, said, “Sadly, saving the American taxpayers billions of dollars was not enough to save Mr. Birkenfeld’s freedom. A presidential pardon is the only way to correct this injustice.”

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President Barack Obama called for "protecting whistle-blowers to advance transparency and accountability" during his speech in Ghana. He did so in the context of promising an increase in "assistance for responsible individuals and institutions, with a focus on supporting good governance."

"We have a responsibility to support those who act responsibly and to isolate those who don't, and that is exactly what America will do," Obama added.  From this corner, we can remind the President that  he can support those responsible whistleblowers right here at home by endorsing H.R. 1507, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA), and give all federal employees, including those working in national security, access to jury trials to prove their claims of unlawful retaliation.

For those interested in learning about whistleblower protection laws in other countries, the National Whistleblowers Center has an interactive world map with links to the laws of each nation.

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