Jane Turner
1561 Osceola Avenue
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55105
www.fbiwhistlestop.com March 21, 2006
Congressman Mark Souder
2231 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Fax: (202) 225-3479
Dear Congressman Souder,
I had the opportunity to see, and hear you on March 15, 2006 when you spoke during the Subcommittee on Management, Integration, and Oversight of the Committee on Homeland Security under the House Government Reform open mark up session on the DHS Management and Operations Improvement Act of 2006. You said, “And by the way, I don’t see a bunch of these whistleblowers out there panning for food because they whistled. They’re celebrities in the media; they sell books and all this kind of stuff. This is a bogus argument for political purposes”.
Congressman Souder, bless your heart, but I really do not think you know too many whistleblowers. If you did, you would find, statistically, that most government whistleblowers are subjected to any or all of the following; isolation, retaliation, reprisal, forced pretextual fitness for duty exams, and eventually, termination. And that is a short menu of the actions taken against whistleblowers.
I do not know if your antipathy toward whistleblowers is politically motivated, or just a matter of not being aware of what happens to federal whistleblowers who commit the act of “telling the truth”. But as a FBI whistleblower, I can certainly let you know that I am not a celebrity, nor an author of a book, or any other recipient of “this kind of stuff”. I am a single mother of an eleven year old girl. I brought to light malfeasance, corruption and theft issues by FBI managers. That act of “committing the truth” has brought about the premature end of my beloved career, financial ruin, physical damage which has been documented by physicians, and isolation from friends inside the FBI that I had known for over two decades.
I blew the whistle because I loved the FBI, and wanted to make it better. At no point was anything I did motivated by possible media coverage or the ability to write a book. I simply felt I had a duty to report misconduct, which I did, remaining true to my oath as an FBI agent. I did everything by the book, reporting misconduct and criminal activity to my managers, then the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, then senior officials at FBIHQ. Particularly disturbing to me as an FBI agent, was the fact that management officials in the Minneapolis FBI (two Supervisors, an Acting Special Agent in Charge, and an OPR Inspector) filed false and pretextual materials into official FBI files in order to cover up their misconduct. Currently, two of these individuals, who created falsified documents, are senior FBI officials, deeply involved in the fight against terrorism.
So, Mr. Souder, you may have heard about Colleen Rowley, Sibel Edmonds, Fred Whitehurst, or Mike German, all FBI whistleblowers. But there are two things I would like to point out. One is the fact that the media is celebrating these individuals as heroes, which they are. They sacrificed greatly, and are the closest we get to a modern day Paul Revere. Our society has a hunger for heroes, because there are so few these days. Our society has admiration for sacrifice, which again, these individuals have demonstrated. Our society has a need for honesty and integrity by their government employees and elected officials. These whistleblowers have answered that need, despite the vilification. How has our society come to the point where we vilify, or make fun of individuals in the government who tell the truth?
The second point I would like to mention, and would not hesitate to provide to you, Mr. Souder, is that for every whistleblower given media print, there are several hundred who are not given the media attention, who have suffered the loss of family, friends, career, salary, benefits, health and stability. Unlike you, Mr. Souder, these people do not have a public forum, nor do many seek one. They told the truth, they sacrificed much, and many were crushed by the cost of blowing the whistle. Very few whistleblowers can afford legal counsel in order to restore their good name, or financial stability.
I can only hope and pray that the inflammatory and reckless statements you made regarding federal government whistleblowers did not come out of ignorance of the situation, or antipathy toward a whistleblower’s goal; that is accountability and integrity in our government.
Please feel free, at any time, to contact any of the whistleblowers who have never been in the media, never sold any books, or been involved in any other “kind of stuff”. It may open your eyes to the retaliation and reprisal that happens in the lives of government whistleblowers. Please contact me if you wish to get names and contact information. I know if you heard their stories, you would change your opinion of these individuals who have sacrificed so much, and gained so little. Who put the people of this great nation before their own self-interests. Who spoke the truth no matter what the consequences. I only wish there were more people who had that kind of courage. We need it more than ever in today’s troubled times.
Sincerely,
Jane Turner
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