March 14, 2006
Statement of Sandalio
Gonzalez
Special Agent in
Charge, Ret.
Drug Enforcement
Administration
Member, National
Security Whistleblowers Coalition
At this moment in the history of
these great United States it is crucial for our Congress to begin a process of
recognizing the value that government whistleblowers bring to the well-being of
our nation. The current Whistleblower Protection Act is no such thing, for it
ignores the dedicated public servants employed in our intelligence agencies.
Thank you Senator Lautenberg,
Congresswoman Maloney, and Congressman Markey for your courage in stepping out
of the Congressional mainstream to do what is right for all Americans. I say this because regrettably, not a single
Republican Member of Congress openly supports added protections for
whistleblowers, thereby making partisan what is clearly a non-partisan issue.
This is both deplorable and un-American.
Protecting whistleblowers protects
us and our national security because as we all know, our government cannot
police itself. Since the tragic events
of September 11, 2001, Americans have learned from dedicated public servants about
governmental misconduct the likes of which we would have never imagined. Lies, obstruction of justice, torture,
illegal electronic surveillance of U.S. citizens and murder are but a handful
of the activities our government has recently been involved in and tried to
cover up. Whistleblowers exposed these
activities to the American people and were maliciously retaliated against by
corrupt government officials. They were
incorrectly labeled as disgruntled troublemakers and even described as crazy. Americans, through Congress, must unite and
say, “Enough!”
I am proud to be a member of the
National Security Whistleblowers Coalition. We have a strong, united voice and
we are here to stay. Congress must
enact meaningful and enforceable whistleblower protection legislation that
holds wrongdoers accountable for their actions, or risk losing the freedoms
guaranteed by our Constitution.