FBI Whistleblowers Speak Out Against S. 372

Fred WhitehurstFBI whistleblower Dr. Frederic Whitehurst issued a letter today strongly opposing the repeal of FBI whistleblower rights contained in the current Senate version of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (S. 372). This bill is currently being “hotlined” in the Senate, a process by which legislation can be passed by unanimous consent, without any formal debate or vote.
 

In the 1990's Dr. Whitehurst blew the whistle on scientific abuses in the FBI crime lab.  He won his cases and as a result, President Clinton signed an order protecting FBI agents who blow the whistle.  The current Senate bill repeals the Clinton order and the law it was based on.  It will result in the dismissal of numerous pending whistleblower cases, including that of FBI Counterterrorism Unit Chief Bassem Youssef.
 
Dr. Whitehurst wrote:
 
"Like most Americans I was looking forward to seeing President Obama and Congress fulfill their promise to strengthen these whistleblower rights that protect Americans.  However, I was horrified to discover that the Senate whistleblower bill does not do this.  For national security whistleblowers it does the exact opposite.  S. 372 repeals the FBI whistleblower protections that I sacrificed my career for."

Dr. Whitehurst's letter comes shortly after two other FBI whistleblowers, Jane Turner and Sibel Edmonds, issued a similar plea to fix the Senate bill.

Although many provisions of the bill enhance whistleblower protections, there are many "poison pills" that must be corrected, including these (see links to Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs report accompanying S. 372):

 
S. 372 repeals the FBI whistleblower protection law! Originally passed in 1978, improved in 1989, and given strong teeth by President Clinton in 1997, the law has been instrumental in permitting FBI agents to expose abuses ranging from civil rights violations, agent misconduct, and threats to our nations security. (see p.46)

Agency heads of the Justice Department, Commerce Department and security agencies (Defense Department etc.), covering over half the federal workforce, are given the power to unilaterally fire a whistleblower with no administrative or judicial review. (see p.73)

National security whistleblowers are denied the right to have their retaliation cases reviewed by independent agencies, such as the Office of Special Counsel or the Inspector General and they are denied the right to court access. Instead, the very agency that fired the whistleblower is given exclusive power to conduct the "fact finding" investigation into whether that agency broke the law. (see p.70)
 
A new procedural roadblock impacting every federal employee was inserted into this 105-page bill. This provision gives all federal agencies the power to request the dismissal of a whistleblower case without giving the employee an opportunity to have a hearing and will prevent most employees from obtaining a jury trial. (see p.57)
 
"Hotlining" requires unanimous consent, which means that every Senator, regardless of committee assignment, has the opportunity to weigh in on this legislation. It only takes one Senator's demand that these issues be fixed in order to stop this Trojan horse from destroying existing whistleblower protections.

Please take the time to read both Dr. Whitehurst’s letter and Jane Turner and Sibel Edmonds’ letter. You can TAKE ACTION by requesting that your Senator place a hold on S. 372 until these national security provisions are fixed.

 

*Meryl Grenadier (NWC fellow) contributed to this posting.

Sibel Edmonds' testimony covered on The Brad Blog

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To get the latest news on today's deposition testimony by national security whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, I have been reading The Brad Blog.  Investigative journalist and commentator Brad Friedman reports that Edmonds was able to testify in response to all the questions.  No attorneys from the Department of Justice or the FBI showed up.  No court orders prevented the depostion from proceeding.  Of particular relevance to Rep. Jean Schmidt's complaint against challenger David Krikorian, Edmonds reportedly confirmed that Schmidt's donors were agents of the Turkish government intent on suppressing public awareness of the Armenian Genocide.  However, the Brad Blog reports that Edmonds' testimony went further in showing the extent to which Turkish agents will go.  According to The Brad Blog, in one incident, a female Turkish agent allegedly seduced a married female member of Congress who was going to support a resolution acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.  The Brad Blog reports that the agent recorded the seduction, and then allegedly used it to extort the congresswoman to oppose the resolution. 

 

Friedman shares a conversation he had with reporter Elizabeth Chouldjian, freelancing for Armenian Horizons TV.  Chouldjian says that Schmidt's attorney, Bruce Fein "was a Board member of the Turkish Coalition of America, Turkish American Legal Defense Fund and legal counsel for Assembly of Turkish American Associations."  Chouldjian adds that Fein has initiated other legal actions intended to suppress information about the Armenian Genocide. Fein did not stay long enough after the deposition to answer Chouldjian's follow-up questions.

In a "bombshell" revelation, The Brad Blog reports that Edmonds provided a new revelation about the demise of Brewster Jennigs & Associates, the CIA front company that employed outed CIA agent Valerie Plame. Edmonds said that the CIA shut down Brewster Jennings in the summer of 2001 (two years before Robert Novak outed Valerie Plame in retaliation for her husband's criticism of President Bush).  Friedman reports that the American Turkish Council was about to hire Brewster Jennings when the State Department's Marc Grossman found out.  He tipped off a suspect of an FBI counterintelligence investigation.  According to The Brad Blog's reporting, the FBI reported the disclosure to the CIA which then promptly shut down Brewster Jennings -- long before Robert Novak's article revealed Plame's identity as a CIA agent.

Edmonds' attorney, Michael D. Kohn (President of the National Whistleblowers Center) said that he was pleased government attorneys refrained from intervening in the legal case, and allowed the deposition to proceed.  He said he hopes that the video tape of the deposition can be released soon.  Also, The Brad Blog's reference to Rep. Dick Gephardt is in error to the extent it indicates that he was implicated in any wrongdoing.

This case well exemplifies the strategic risk of trying to use the legal system to sue or punish someone for what they say.  Schmidt, through her attorney Fein, sued Krikorian for saying that Schmidt accepted "blood money" from Turkish interests. With the hearing before the Ohio Elections Commission now looming, the facts are spilling out.  Schmidt and Fein have now ramped up the very information they sought to supress.

You can also find coverage of the Sibel Edmonds deposition on Talking Points Memo.
 

More News On National Security Whistleblowers

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The National Whistleblowers Legal Defense and Education Fund today fought efforts by the FBI and the Department of Justice to prevent FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds from testifying in a case of alleged election fraud.  The FBI has asserted that she, “does not have approval for any disclosure of any information” and the DOJ has claimed that Edmonds is under “no compulsion” to testify in the Schmidt v. Krikorian case.  Neither the FBI not the DOJ has stated why testimony in a case of alleged election fraud would involve State Secrets and/or involve national security.

Please read the NWC press release for links to the letters from the FBI and the DOJ and the response from Ms. Edmonds’ attorney Michael D. Kohn (President of the NWC).

For more detailed information on Ms. Edmonds’ case please read today’s posting on www.bradblog.com.

Click here to TAKE ACTION in support of strong whistleblower protections for national security employees.