Was Fired Siegelman Whistleblower Really a Security Risk? »
Posted By jovial 4 months ago in Political NewsA whistleblower in the Don Siegelman case was fired from her job in the U.S. Department of Justice because she was considered an "unreasonable risk to operational security."
Scott Horton, of Harper's magazine, reports that the DOJ terminated Tamarah Grimes' security clearance as a prelude to firing her--and as an end run around the No Fear Act of 2002.
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jovial
Grew up In Brooklyn. Joined the Navy in 1976 stayed in 10 years. Aircraft Electronics tech. Worked for Major Govt. contractor then settled in California ...
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jovial4 months ago
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Being a whistleblower has become a sure way to ruin one's career. Government has become a place where secrecy is held above justice, morality, and the right of the people to know what's being done in their name. Something needs to change.
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cleare4 months ago
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i think obama needs to sic emmanuel on the justice department.
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i was initially encouraged by obama's statement in support of foia on his first day in office, but have been disappointed in the lack of follow through on transparency. seems job #3 (after the economy & the wars) should be to clean out any remnants of rove & cheney associates in high government positions.-
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hyperbola4 months ago
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Judging from Obama's record so far, especially on things like government secrecy, not much will change. It is sad to see Obama cementing in the loss of our liberties.
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Bush and Obama - Two Sides of the Same Coin: Heads-Heads
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/05/28/bush-and...
During the campaign, amid their state of elation, many disregarded Presidential Candidate Senator Barack Obama’s past record and took any criticism of these past actions as partisan attacks deserving equally partisan counterattacks. Some continued their reluctant support after candidate Obama became grand finalist and prayed for the best. And a few still continue their rationalizing and defense, with illogical excuses such as ‘He’s been in office for only 20 days, give the man a break!’ and ‘He’s had only 50 days in office, give him a chance!’ and currently, ‘be reasonable — how much can a man do in 120 days?!’ I am going to give this logic, or lack of, a slight spicing of reason, then, turn it around, and present it as: If ‘the man’ can do this much astounding damage, whether to our civil liberties, or to our notion of democracy, or to government integrity, in ‘only’ 120 days, may God help us with the next [(4 X 365) - 120] days.....
Despite all the promises Mr. Obama made during his campaign, especially on those issues that were absolutely central to those whose support he garnered, so far the President of Change has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor. Not only that, his administration has made it clear that they intend to continue this trend. Some call it a major betrayal. Can we go so far as to call it a ‘swindling of the voters’?
On the State Secrets Privilege
Yes, I am going to begin with the issue of State Secrets Privilege; because I was the first recipient of this ‘privilege’ during the now gone Administration...
Not only has the new administration continued the practice of invoking SSP to shield government wrongdoing, it has expanded its abuses much further. In the Al Haramain case, Obama’s Justice Department has threatened to have the FBI or federal marshals break into a judge’s office and remove evidence already turned over in the case, according to the plaintiffs attorney. Even Bush didn’t go this far so brazenly....
On NSA Warrantless Wiretapping
The new Administration has pledged to defend the Telecommunications Industry by giving them immunity against any lawsuit that may involve their participation in the illegal NSA wiretapping program.
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DarkWizard4 months ago
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FTA - "We are troubled, however, that the investigators appear to have reached this conclusion without interviewing the US Marshals who supervised the Siegelman jury and who are described in the email as having been the conduit for jury messages to the prosecution. Nor do the investigators appear to have interviewed any member of the jury."
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Now, there were many quotable statements within this article, but I picked this one to make a point. Whistle-blowers are NOT protected! Yes, the No Fear Act of 2002 is in place, but is so broad as to give no real protection to whistle-blowers whom are retaliated against.
I have studied whistle-blower cases for years, having been one myself, and have seen a pattern of firings that seldom is thwarted by the No Fear Act.
Why doesn't this Act work? Because in each case the whistle-blower was fired for reasons unrelated to the allegations brought forth by said whistle-blower.
In most cases the whistle-blower becomes an "unsatisfactory" or problem employee soon after it is discovered they acted as a whistle-blower. False charges are brought against whistle-blowers that are dealt with "internally" (usually after a documented investigation) and are not made public, evaluations suddenly paint a picture of an employee who is incompetent, insubordinate, and/or breaking policies, or coworkers are intimidated (usually with loss of job) to testify against the whistle-blower.
Every company using these practice will deny any claim that they are doing anything wrong or illegal and claim that they are only following policies and laws governing such matters. And, in most cases it can't be proven otherwise.
The treatment of whistle-blowers is truly disgusting and it should be very obvious that employees who are honest and have a spotless record until the time of the act of whistle-blowing don't suddenly become "bad" employees after the fact.
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