“My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.” -Barack Obama / Whitehouse.gov (currently) The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, Pub.L. 101-12 as amended, is a United States federal law that protects federal whistleblowers who work for the government and report agency misconduct. A federal agency violates the Whistleblower Protection Act if agency authorities take (or threaten to take) retaliatory personnel action against any employee or applicant because of disclosure of information by that employee or applicant. Whistleblowers may file complaints that they believe reasonably evidences a violation of a law, rule or regulation; gross mismanagement; gross waste of funds; an abuse of authority; or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety. The Obama administration opened a new front in its ongoing war against whistleblowers. It’s taking its case against one man, former Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Air Marshal Robert MacLean, all the way to the Supreme Court. So hold on, because we’re going back down the rabbit hole with the Most Transparent Administration ever. “I can tell you that I spoke almost every day to our national security team in Washington and almost all of the reporters have said to me that there has never been a more difficult atmosphere in which to do the work that they do until now.” -Jill Abramson / Editor, New York Times “To criminalize the work of journalists I think is not living up to what Thomas Jefferson and the founders envisioned as a free press…that work actually serves a purpose in holding the government accountable to the people, that’s what we do.” -Jill Abramson The Obama administration has already charged more people under the Espionage Act for alleged mishandling of classified information than all past presidencies combined. In the annals of national security, the Obama administration will long be remembered for its unprecedented crackdown on whistleblowers. Since 2009, it has employed the World War I–era Espionage Act a record six times to prosecute government officials suspected of leaking classified information. The latest example is John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer serving a thirty-month term in federal prison for publicly identifying an intelligence operative involved in torture. It’s a pattern: the whistleblowers are punished, sometimes severely, while the perpetrators of the crimes they expose remain free. Through the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice (DOJ) wants to use MacLean’s case to further limit what kinds of information can qualify for statutory whistleblowing protections. If the DOJ gets its way, only information that the government thinks is appropriate -- a contradiction in terms when it comes to whistleblowing -- could be revealed. Such a restriction would gut the legal protections of the Whistleblower Protection Act and have a chilling effect on future acts of conscience. This use to be the purview only of dictators and third world countries. It is now the M.O. of the Obama administration. thenation/article/173521/obamas-crackdown-whistleblowers
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 02:15:26 +0000
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