Ex-Special Counsel Scott Bloch* is due to be sentenced on May 13, 2013. The court can accept victim impact statements, but they must not contain information about third parties (this is likely what caused many statements to be taken off the docket two years ago). One statement is already on the docket. As you can see, it can take the form of a letter.
You have less than two months. If you don’t speak up now, you can’t complain if he walks away with a slap on the wrist. Tell the court how you feel, in your own voice. No NGO can do it for you.
*This wikipedia page details the many scandals plaguing Bloch’s tenure as the federal protector of whistleblowers. He pled guilty last December to destruction of government property by ordering three computers wiped clean. Previously, he pled guilty to contempt of Congress for essentially lying to Congress about ordering the computers wiped, but he since withdrew that guilty plea with the cooperation of the Justice Department. Emptywheel has more about the DOJ collusion angle.
Dissenters’ Digest takes a look at last month’s top stories covering whistleblowers, watchdogs, and government accountability.
Clear Conscience: U.S. Army whistleblower Bradley Manning pled guilty to 10 of 22 charges against him, offering a 35-page testimonial explaining why he released hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and other evidence of government misconduct to Wikileaks in January 2010.
Guilty of Purging Evidence: Former Special Counsel Scott Bloch pled guilty to erasing 3 government computers that may have contained whistleblower disclosures, retaliation complaints, and other sensitive memos. The charge may involve up to six months in jail.
30 Months in Prison: Ex-CIA spy John Kiriakou reported to prison to begin a 30-month sentence for disclosing the identity of an undercover CIA agent. Kiriakou came to prominence in 2007 for publicly reporting about the CIA’s torture program.
The whistleblower film SILENCED is in post-production, but questions loom whether the film will address certain inconvenient facts about its subjects.
A White House memo directing national security agencies to identify civil service jobs that should be stripped of civil service protections is worrying good government advocates.
The Office of Special Counsel urged the Merit Systems Protection Board to apply the newly-enacted Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act to a case that arose before the bill passed, citing the WPEA’s remedial purpose in protecting whistleblowers.
Could a contributing factor to the 28 percent rise in FOIA litigation during President Barack Obama’s first term in office be that a little-known provision in the Freedom of Information Act has not been utilized?
That provision, found at 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(F), calls for three actors to hold FOIA abusers accountable:
the courts, which may issue a finding that the circumstances surrounding an improper withholding “raise questions whether agency personnel acted arbitrarily or capriciously with respect to the withholding”;
the Special Counsel, which “shall promptly initiate a proceeding to determine whether disciplinary action is warranted against the officer or employee who was primarily responsible for the withholding”; and
the Attorney General, which has the responsibility of notifying the Special Counsel each time a court makes the determination above.
The Attorney General also has the responsibility of submitting an annual report to Congress on the number of times this has happened in the past year (this is a new provision, added by the OPEN Government Act of 2007).
I recently made a FOIA request to the Justice Department for these reports. Here is its response:
Please be advised that the Department of Justice annually submits to Congress a FOIA Litigation and Compliance Report, in compliance with 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(F)(ii)(II). These reports are made available online at http://www.justice.gov/oip/reports.html#s3. For your information, once the calendar year 2012 report is submitted to Congress, it will be posted on this same website. Additionally, please note that information regarding notifications from the Attorney General to the Office of Special Counsel is provided on the final page of the report.
If you follow that link, and track the reports for 2008-2011, here’s what you will find:
2008: “During 2008, the United States courts made no written findings pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(F)(i). Accordingly, no notification of the Special Counsel was necessary.”
2009: “During 2009, the United States courts made no written findings pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(F)(i). Accordingly, no notification to the Special Counsel was necessary.”
2010: “During 2010, the United States courts made no written findings pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(F)(i). Accordingly, no notification of the Special Counsel was necessary.”
2011: “During 2011, the United States courts made no written findings pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(F)(i). Accordingly, no notification to the Special Counsel was necessary.”
So there you have it. No judicial findings since the OPEN Government Act was passed. No Special Counsel investigations. No discipline. And no deterrence. Is it any wonder we’re witnessing a 28% increase in FOIA lawsuits?
Dissenters’ Digest takes a look back at news stories covering whistleblowers, watchdogs, and government accountability. Look for it every other Saturday evening at www.dissentersdigest.com.
Is the tide turning on whistleblower rights? There are signs of hope. First, ATF director B. Todd Jones clarified his remarks on what seemed to be a threat to his employees not to blow the whistle outside the chain of command. Now, Jones is reaffirming ATF employees’ rights under the Whistleblower Protection Act.
Second, a psychologist who blew the whistle about child abuse on an Indian reservation and was harassed for it is no longer under duress. Congressional and media pressure has resulted in a full reversal of several adverse actions taken against him by the Indian Health Service.
Not so fast: The Food and Drug Administration is apparently engaging in a classic character assassination campaign against the ringleader of the FDA 9, a group of scientist/whistleblowers who have been targeted for spying and harassment. The New York Times served up what has been received as a biased, personality-focused hit piece, but not before the editorial board criticized the FDA for engaging in spying. In some ways, this ambiguity completely reflects how people feel about whistleblowers. Still, NYTimes, wtf?
–Open government groups, led by the Government Accountability Project, issued rules for prior restraint of whistleblowers’ speech. I have called for the lead lobbyist’s resignation after the end of this congressional session.
–UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld, who helped the IRS uncover the biggest tax fraud in U.S. history, has been released from prison after 30 months.
Dissenters’ Digest takes a look back at news stories covering whistleblowers, watchdogs, and government accountability. Look for it every other Saturday evening at www.dissentersdigest.com.
The FDA reportedly has developed an “enemies list” to push back against negative coverage of its oft-criticized review of drugs and medical devices. The list includes not only scientists employed within the FDA, but also congressmen, journalists, and outside medical researchers. These efforts have resulted in the collection of some 80,000 pages of documents that include private emails to Congress, draft whistleblower retaliation complaints, and communications with journalists and attorneys.
What’s In Your Wallet?: The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau announced its first enforcement action: a $210 million settlement with Capital One for deceptive marketing practices.
The allegations include misleading consumers about the benefits of Capital One products, which were not always depicted as optional. Some consumers were knowingly sold products they could not utilize, and others succumbed to “high-pressure tactics” to buy add-ons like payment protection and credit monitoring. In some instances, Capital One enrolled consumers in products without their consent, or led them to believe there was no additional cost.
Capital One will fully refund its customers at a cost of $140 million and pay another $25 million to the CFPB and another $35 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, totaling $210 million.
–24 percent of Wall Street executives believe they need to break the law to succeed; 16 percent would commit insider trading if they could get away with it, according to a survey done by the whistleblower law firm Labaton Sucharow.
–A federal district court judge blew the whistle, in a way, about coercive plea bargain tactics that demand waiver of appeal rights in lieu of going to prison on unreasonably heavier charges.
–The American Federation of Government Employees reached an agreement with the TSA to provide TSA officers personnel appeal rights at the Merit Systems Protection Board.
Dissenters’ Digest takes a look back at news stories covering whistleblowers, watchdogs, and government accountability. Look for it every other Saturday evening at www.dissentersdigest.com.
Dissenters’ Digest takes a look back at news stories covering whistleblowers, watchdogs, and government accountability. Look for it every other Saturday evening at www.dissentersdigest.com.
Contempt: A House committee voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt for refusing to submit documents in connection with the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal. President Obama invoked executive privilege, for the first time, to shield the documents from Congress. The measure may soon be presented to the House for a final vote. Meanwhile, Democrats are decrying the move as a political “witch hunt.”
Stonewalled: Senator Chuck Grassley is getting stonewalled by the Food and Drug Administration over an inquiry that it’s been spying on federal whistleblowers. The Senate and related House investigations were sparked by a lawsuit filed by six FDA whistleblowers who were allegedly targeted for surveillance. The National Whistleblowers Center is representing them in court. Relatedly, the Office of Special Counsel, which is also investigating the FDA over the same matter, released a memo this week to the federal government, urging agencies not to spy on whistleblowers. Doing so, the memo said, might lead OSC to conclude that retaliation is afoot.
Dissenters’ Digest takes a look back at the week’s stories covering whistleblowers, watchdogs, and government accountability. Look for it every other Saturday evening at www.mspbwatch.net/digest.
Beyond Reproach: Efforts to pass the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act came under scrutiny this week after it was disclosed by the lead lobbyists that the bill will not contain any jury trial provisions, a long-sought reform. The admission came after the Make It Safe Campaign Steering Committee objected to an open letter to Congress which highlighted flaws in the current bill. However, grassroots efforts, led by this author, pointed out that the Steering Committee has failed to engage the whistleblower community and the public in its lobbying activities, as well as practice transparency and accountability, the values it publicly champions. It remains to be seen whether the Steering Committee will take heed of suggested reforms, the rejection of which may well cost it considerable influence and credibility with the lowest common denominator that truly matters: federal whistleblowers.
Dissenters’ Digest takes a look back at the week’s stories covering whistleblowers, watchdogs, and government accountability. Look for it every Saturday evening at www.mspbwatch.net/digest.
Senate Passes the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012: In a rare show of unanimity, the Senate passed S. 743, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, this week, the latest attempt to update the Whistleblower Protection Act in 13 years. The last attempt, in December 2010, was defeated by a secret hold in the Senate, according to the Government Accountability Project. Not all are enthused with the bill’s protections, which “fall[] short of the comprehensive whistleblower law reforms promised in the 2008 political campaign,” notes Stephen Kohn of the National Whistleblowers Center. Now it’s up to the House to pass their version, H.R. 3289, before the two bills can be reconciled and sent to the President’s desk.
OSC Reports the FAA is Slow in Correcting Whistleblower Complaints: In a rare move, the Office of Special Counsel combined seven whistleblower disclosures from FAA employees into one report to the President and the Congress, citing “an ongoing series of troubling safety disclosures by air traffic controllers and other FAA employees” which have not been rectified by the Department of Transportation. The Special Counsel stated that the “FAA has one of the highest rates of whistleblower filings per employee of any executive branch agency: OSC received 178 whistleblower disclosures from FAA employees since FY 2007, 89 of which related to aviation safety. OSC referred 44 of those to DOT for investigation. DOT ultimately substantiated all but five of those referrals — 89 percent – in whole or in part. In four of the seven cases presented today, the whistleblower had to make repeat disclosures with OSC because the FAA took inadequate steps to correct the concern or failed to implement any corrective action.” The Washington Post has additional coverage.
–The FBI is the most effective lobbyist against whistleblower protections, according to a radio interview with National Whistleblowers Center Executive Director Stephen Kohn.
–Former Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary will file a whistleblower suit against the university over its handling of the Jerry Sandusky abuse scandal.
–The Fourth Circuit revives claims by former Iraqi detainees against contractors who are alleged to have tortured them.
Dissenters’ Digest takes a look back at the week’s stories covering whistleblowers, watchdogs, and government accountability. Look for it every Saturday evening at www.mspbwatch.net/digest.
Congress Troubled by Suspicious Death of Russian Whistleblower: Congress seeks to use legislative authority to punish Russian officials allegedly involved in the suspicious 2009 death of Russian whistle-blower and lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, according to the The Hill. NPR reports that the bill in question could complicate US-Russian relations, jeopardizing Hillary Clinton’s 2009 “reset” with the Russian government. However, a person interviewed by NPR said a “reset … with Russian society” is required instead. The story of Magnitsky’s death has been chronicled in an award-winning documentary. Elsewhere, Firedoglake takes on the Congress for selective concern about civil and human rights.
–A recently-unearthed FAA powerpoint presentation says the FAA “must evolve our safety oversight system and embrace the view that industry — not the regulator — is responsible for ensuring safety,” despite decades-old law placing safety regulation as the FAA’s highest priority.
–The Non-Federal Employee Whistleblower Protection Act reports out of a Senate committee. The bill would expand whistleblower protections for federal contractors.
–A Missouri bill to restrict common law whistleblowing protections is passed in the General Assembly. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Kevin Elmer, who has a record of sponsoring discriminatory and birther legislation.
–The Securities and Exchange Commission was accused this week of blowing a whistleblower’s cover. The SEC responds.
–The summary judgment provision in the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 comes under scrutiny.
–A federal employment attorney advises employees to violate the law when ordered to by superiors (notwithstanding their conscience or oath to the Constitution).
–The Make It Safe Campaign will hold a general membership meeting this Tuesday, May 1.
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