FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- February 13, 2006

Contact: Sibel Edmonds, Founder & Director- National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC), sedmonds@nswbc.org , www.nswbc.org

NSWBC to Represent National Security Whistleblowers before the Congress

The Hearing on National Security Whistleblowers in the Post 9/11 Era

WHAT: The House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats & International Relations will hold a hearing on the lack of meaningful & enforceable protection for national security whistleblowers. To date the Congress has failed to address the lack of protection for national security whistleblowers; most notable security agencies such as the FBI, CIA, DIA, and NSA are exempted from whistleblower protection coverage. This means that employees of these agencies are forced to choose between career and conscience when faced with agency wrongdoing. This predicament is un-American, and contrary to the spirit of openness, fairness, service, and freedom that defines our country and should define our government.

WHO: The House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats & International Relations will hear from the following three panels:

· Panel One, National Security Whistleblowers: Russell Tice (NSA), SPC Samuel J Provance (Department of Army), Mike German (FBI), Richard Levernier (DOE), and Anthony Shaffer (DIA)

· Panel Two, organizations: National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC- To read Professor William Weaver’s testimony Click Here), Mark Zaid, POGO, and GAP

· Panel Three, US Office of the Special Counsel and Inspector Generals: James McVay (OSC), Glenn Fine (DOJ-IG), John Helgerson (CIA-IG), Gregory Friedman (DOE-IG), and Thomas Gimble (DOD-IG)

· The director and several members of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition will attend the hearing and will be available to answer questions prior to, during, and after the hearing.

Where: The House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats & International Relations, 2154 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

When: 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, February 14, 2006

BACKGROUND: National security employees are excluded from protection under the current and proposed legislations. Explicitly excluded in recently proposed S. 494 are “the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, the National Security Agency, and. . . as determined by the President, any Executive agency or unit thereof the principal function of which is the conduct of foreign intelligence or counterintelligence activities, if the determination (as that determination relates to a personnel action) is made before that personnel action.” The House version of this bill, H.R. 1317, is even worse, allowing exclusion of agencies involved in “homeland security.” But which type of agencies listed is really irrelevant, since the President may exclude, under terms of either bill, any agency even remotely affected with intelligence or law enforcement functions. This is simply unacceptable to whistleblowers, and continues a needless prostration before executive claims of power in the national security area. What would appear to be the only consequential help to national security employees turns out, on closer inspection, to be toothless. The proposed legislation, S. 494, requires that the President must determine that a unit is exempt from the statute before a personnel action is instituted if it is not one of the listed excepted agencies. But all this will do is cause the President to exempt as many agencies as possible before hand to withdraw protection from potential whistleblowers. This will result in less protection for whistleblowers, not more.

In short, the Whistleblower Protection Act and S. 494 do nothing for national security whistleblowers, are devoid of any of the provisions that would yield substantial protection for national security whistleblowers. As NSWBC has consistently stated and included in its model legislation, the indispensable features to an effective whistleblower protection statute are: 1) Inclusion of all agencies and contractors, 2) Creation of a cause of action in tort against offending administrators in their personal capacities, as well as an action against the agency itself; 3) Criminalize retaliation against whistleblowers; 4) Discard the office of Special Counsel and start over with something that is truly independent of executive branch vicissitudes and has not been deformed by decades of malevolence and partisan politics. Unlike certain institutionalized so-called whistleblower organizations who have ceased to represent whistleblowers and are more concerned about raising funds for their own bureaucrats and establishing ‘smooth & cozy’ relationships with those who have failed to stand up for whistleblowers’ rights in congress for the past two decades, NSWBC cannot and will not support either H.R. 1317 or S. 494.; to do so would be to betray whistleblowers.

Sibel Edmonds, the Founder & Director of National Security Whistleblowers Coalition states: ‘National Security employees” highest duty is to the Constitution, and they should not have to sacrifice their careers or financial security in doing what is right. The fact is that good employees are being chased out of jobs and fired by those who either are engaged in wrongful behavior or don’t want to hear about. As it stands now, a national security employee has to choose between career and conscience when confronted with agency wrongdoing. We need to adopt protections for employees that allow them to be secure in their jobs and encourage them to report waste, fraud, and abuse of power. Many lives, our national security, and the health of our democracy may hinge on whether or not Congress is brave enough to provide meaningful and effective protection for national security whistleblowers. The WPA, referred to by more waggish critics as the “Whistleblower Prevention Act,” currently offers only an illusory promise of protection. For national security employees, nearly all of whom are excluded from the WPA, even the illusion is unavailable. As an example of the WPA’s lack of effectiveness --and of Congress’ grim sense of humor -- the WPA is unavailable even to employees of the Government Accountability Office. The need for accountability in the national security agencies is just as compelling as it is in the rest of the government, but Congress has never been willing to act in this area. Even the specter of a potential future catastrophe resulting from incompetence, abuse, fraud or malfeasance has not stirred congressional action.’

About National Security Whistleblowers Coalition

National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC), founded in August 2004, is an independent and nonpartisan alliance of whistleblowers who have come forward to address our nation’s security weaknesses; to inform authorities of security vulnerabilities in our intelligence agencies, at nuclear power plants and weapon facilities, in airports, and at our nation’s borders and ports; to uncover government waste, fraud, abuse, and in some cases criminal conduct. The NSWBC is dedicated to aiding national security whistleblowers through a variety of methods, including advocacy of governmental and legal reform, educating the public concerning whistleblowing activity, provision of comfort and fellowship to national security whistleblowers suffering retaliation and other harms, and working with other public interest organizations to affect goals defined in the NSWBC mission statement. www.nswbc.org

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