National Security Whistleblowers

On January 15, 2013 U.S. District Court Judge Robert H. Cleland issued a key ruling in support of Justice Department whistleblower Richard G. Convertino in his longstanding Privacy Act lawsuit against the DOJ. The Court ordered the Detroit Free Press to produce all documents related to how the Justice Department smeared its former star prosecutor, Richard Convertino, after Convertino exposed serous flaws in the government’s “war on terror.”
Continue Reading Whistleblower Scores Victory Over Justice Department Privacy Violations

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As part of a House/Senate Conference approved Tuesday, Congress passed an “Enhancement Act” for Department of Defense contractors.  These contractors already had a right to go to federal court and obtain a jury trial. 

However, this new “Enhancement Act” creates a “National Security Exception” that does not exist in the current law.

A recent White House directive on national security whistleblowers has sparked a major dialog in the whistleblower community. You can read the National Whistleblowers Center’s press release on the directive here.

Below is a full-text analysis from the Whistleblower Support Fund’s Linda Lewis (originally published here).

On Wednesday, President Obama signed a new Presidential Policy Directive (PPD-19) entitled, “Protecting Whistleblowers with Access to Classified Information.”

The presidential policy directive aims to ensure intelligence and national security employees are able to legally report agency wrongdoing and be protected from retaliation for doing so. (Federal News Radio).

When I first heard about the directive, I was hopeful that whistleblowers with security clearances might finally get needed protections. But, as I pored over the directive’s details, I became disappointed. I am not a lawyer, so perhaps I missed something of potential benefit. I am quite familiar, though, with the federal bureaucracy’s past responses to whistleblowers with security clearances.

Continue Reading Presidential Policy Directive on Whistleblowers Draws Criticism

We may be much closer to living in an Orwellian state than many think, suggests William Binney, a National Security Agency whistleblower. In his first interview since he quit his job because of the domestic surveillance program, he sat down with Democracy Now! to discuss the NSA’s colossal power to spy on Americans.
Continue Reading The Growing Power of the NSA

The Department of Justice’s policy of distorting privacy laws to pursue and discredit whistleblowers continues. The Associated Press reported yesterday that a former CIA officer, John Kiriakou, is being charged with leaking classified information after publicly expressing concerns over the use of torture during interrogations.

The National Whistleblowers Center obtained a copy of the indictment

By Guest Blogger: Jane Turner
Member of NWC’s Board of Directors and Director of NWC’s FBI Oversight Program

Recently, an article appeared in Wired magazine reporting that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was teaching that being a devout Muslim is in itself a sign of terrorist activity. The article exposed teaching techniques used at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Teaching materials for FBI counterterrorism agents were replete with portrayals of American Muslims in a negative light. The article noted “…FBI whistleblowers provided Danger Room with these materials.”

My immediate attention went to the FBI employees who are still brave enough to put their careers on the line to speak the truth. The Director of the FBI, Robert S. Mueller III, has positioned himself in public and private as a leader who will not retaliate against FBI whistleblowers.

The reality, however, has been that Director Mueller and his senior managers have done their best to discredit, retaliate, humiliate, threaten, and launch reprisals against FBI personnel who try to bring misconduct or criminal behavior to light. Previously, two of Mueller’s closest senior management team, Assistant Director Robert Jordan and Executive Assistant Director W. Wilson Lowry took retaliatory action against Unit Chief John Roberts. They advised Roberts that they considered his whistle blowing activities a personal insult. They invoked the well worn screed about the “FBI family” which is code for keeping everything in house, and noted Director Mueller agreed with their assessment. This is the modern version of the “code of silence” that has long kept the public in the dark about police misconduct.Continue Reading FBI training scandals raises concern for whistleblowers

On July 25, 2011, one of the nation’s leading whistleblower attorneys, Stephen M. Kohn, will share compelling insights from his newly-released book, The Whistleblower’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Doing What’s Right and Protecting Yourself at the Mid-Manhattan New York Public Library. The author talk and book signing will be hosted by “Author @ the Library,” from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm.
Continue Reading Whistleblowers: From the American Revolution to WikiLeaks