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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- March 8, 2007
WHISTLEBLOWER CENTER JOINS COALITION
CALLS FOR
"STATE SECRETS" WHISTLEBLOWER HEARINGS
Petition with strong left-right support
headed to Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON,
DC, March 8, 2007 -
The National Whistleblower Center, along with a broad coalition of 30 liberal,
libertarian and conservative groups including the American Civil Liberties
Union, Citizen Outreach, OMB Watch, Electronic Privacy Information Center,
Government Accountability Project, Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Libertiy
Coalition, the National Coalition Against the Censorship, the National Security
Whistleblowers Coalition and the Project on Government Oversight sent a letter
to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform urging prompt
hearings on the case of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Whistleblower
Sibel Edmonds.
Ms. Edmonds, a former FBI Language Specialist, brought charges of wrongdoing,
criminal activity, cover-ups and national security threats inside the agency
following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Edmonds was promptly fired. The United
States Department of Justice Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigated her
allegations, and confirmed most of her claims. The OIG concluded that her
firing was illegal and that the FBI failed to investigate Ms. Edmonds' credible
allegations of security breaches and possible espionage inside the FBI language
services division. However, the Attorney General invoked the "State
Secrets Privilege," which covered up the FBI's wrongdoing and malfeasance
and resulted in the dismissal of Ms. Edmonds' retaliation case. The OIG report
is publicly avaliable at http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/0501/index.htm.
NWC President, Stephen M. Kohn and NWC General Counsel, David K. Colapinto,
issued the following statement in support of the hearings:
"The
'State Secrets' privilege undermines whistleblower protections. Despite the
fact that the Department of Justifice's own watchdog agency, the Inspector
General, confirmed that Sibel Edmonds had been illegally fired, the government
used that alleged 'privilege' to have Ms. Edmonds' case thrown out of court and
to cover up FBI wrongdoing. The government abused a 'privilege' to undermine Constitutionally
protected free speech and ignore an Inspector General's findings of
retaliation. Every national security whistleblower was threatened by this
improper assertion of a privilege. The National Whistleblower Center joins in
petitioning Congress to place rational limits on this privilege so that
national security whistleblowers, such as Ms. Edmonds, can expose serious
wrongdoing, free from retaliation."
Stephen Kohn and David Colapinto represented Mrs. Edmonds during the OIG
investigation, and witnessed first hand the improper use of the State Secrets
privilege in her case.
The petition drive is being coordinated by the Liberty Coalition. In a
statement issued by the Coalition's National Director, Mr. Michael Ostrolenk
stated: "Mrs. Edmonds is not a national security threat but a national
hero and the American public deserves to hear the truth of her case. Congress
must act and act now by having public hearings. Without them, the cover-ups and
criminal activities will just continue."
The National
Whistleblower Center (www.whistleblowers.org)
is a member of the Liberty Coalition. The petition is posted on the Coalition's
web site, located at www.libertycoalition.org.