Rep. Tom Davis-R, Chairman, Virginia
2157 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
Tel: (202) 225-5074, Fax: (202) 225-3974
Dear Congressman Davis,
As a retired Navy Chief
Petty Officer, it’s beyond me to understand why any true American would want to
protect those in our federal service who mislead and mismanage others. By introducing a watered down and virtually
inconsequential HR 1317, that is exactly what you are doing.
Many patriotic Americans
have suffered at the hands of disingenuous and unqualified individuals. We only ask that you provide the means for
management to be held accountable for their decisions; justify disciplinary
actions and rectify their mistakes.
After all, these are public civil servants and they should answer to the
People. Particularly, when the purpose
of the protected disclosure is to support public safety and security. As a fellow conservative, I am sure you can
understand this necessity. As HR 1317
is currently written, there continues to be no accountability for inappropriate
acts and in fact, it sanctions “retaliation” as the preferred management
practice to avoid dealing with the real problems of our homeland security capability.
I am one of those
patriots who have lost everything- my retirement, my kids’ college savings, our
house, and even my livelihood. I was
once a Director of Security for a major western NY Airport. Now, I am lucky to have a job sweeping
floors, just because I sought to have my subordinate, a career federal employee,
formally investigated for violations of security directives and homeland
security policy that his own subordinates disclosed to me in July 2003. My actions were consistent with TSA Management
Policy, Office of Chief Counsel recommendations and CFR. Despite that, I was presented a letter of
termination of my employment as a retaliatory measure. It is very disheartening to my family and me
that those who violated policy and regulations are still employed by TSA and
collecting salaries while I struggle to make ends meet. Meanwhile, acts of
gross mismanagement and breaches of security continue this day under a now
entrenched cloak of secrecy. Others,
who I used to work with, have reported serious lapses in security
operations. However, they too have been
dismissed or relocated (retaliated against) for doing their job in accordance
to policy.
Now, you have the
opportunity to right these wrongs.
Please do the right thing. Do
not protect incompetence, illegal terminations and mismanagement. Those of us who took the oath to “protect
the people of the United States and defend the Constitution against all
enemies, foreign and domestic”- we who stand by those words, need your
help.
As a Chief I have lots of
friends in the Navy who are stationed in Norfolk and elsewhere around Virginia.
Many of them are retiring soon and would like to become a part of our federal
services, just as I did. But, why would
they want to subject themselves to an organization that protects incompetence
and illegal management practices while retaliating against upstanding patriots
who have served this great Country with honor and distinction.
Think about it Mr.
Davis. It’s up to you to break this
devious trend of protectionism and cronyism that prevails throughout DHS and
other federal agencies. We will be
watching your actions with particular interest. Please amend HR 1317 to include all the provisions that are currently
in S. 494. This is the only way we can
ensure that the Homeland is on the right track to peak security.
V/R
J. W. Stroup