Whistleblowers

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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Senate Whistleblower Bill Leaves Committee, FBI Whistleblower Hearing Set

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs favorably reported out a bill April 13 that would strengthen whistleblower protections. The measure, the Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act (S. 494), would amend the Whistleblower Protection Act to provide additional protections for federal employees.

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Illinois State Police Issue Gag Order

A new Illinois State Police policy could silence whistleblowers that expose corruption, impropriety or wrongdoing within the police department by prohibiting employees from talking to news reporters. The gag order came soon after a November 2004 Chicago television news station story exposed improper conduct on the part of state police guarding the governor. The report questioned the size of the governor’s security force on out-of-state trips and detailed how bodyguards allowed unauthorized people to drive or ride in state vehicles, among other things.

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Terrorism Case Whistleblower Sues Justice Department

Former Justice Department lawyer Jesselyn Radack filed a lawsuit Oct. 28, claiming that the Department of Justice (DOJ) forced her out after she raised objections over the interrogation of "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh. According to Radack, the DOJ's interrogation of Lindh, the American captured while fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan, violated federal law. Even after Lindh's father retained a lawyer for him, DOJ officials interrogated Lindh without his attorney present. Lindh eventually pled guilty to aiding the Taliban and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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Halliburton Whistleblower Cut Out of Contract Procedures

The Army Corps of Engineers violated procurement rules in negotiating its contract with the Halliburton Corporation in early 2003, according to the Corps's chief contracting officer -- Bunnatine Greenhouse. She asserts that after expressing numerous objections to Halliburton contracts, she was threatened with demotion and was pressured to approve the contracts by her superior.

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USAID Withholds Whistleblower Information, Legislation Moves Forward

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is accused of firing a whistleblower and withholding from Congress his information on environmental noncompliance in multi-national development bank projects.

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Homeland Security Whistleblowers Work Together

Homeland security whistleblowers recently joined together in two different efforts. One group of whistleblowers issued a memo calling upon other government officials to come forward with information on mismanagement and deception. Another group released a letter criticizing the 9/11 commission's report for not attaching accountability to specific individuals. Call to Whistleblowers

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FBI Punishes Whistleblowers

Another former employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has come forward to blow the whistle on perceived failings and misconduct within the agency. Mike German, a 16 year veteran of the FBI, recently went public with accusations that the agency mismanagement a terrorism investigation. The case is being investigated but it is unclear how far the investigation will go given last month's dismissal of another FBI whistleblower case. New FBI Whistleblower

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Data Quality Whistleblower Fired

A Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) biologist has been fired after filing a data quality challenge that accused the agency of using flawed science in approving development projects in Florida panther habitat.

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Scientists Speak Out Against the Bush Administration

Last week the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released updated evidence that the Bush administration continues to manipulate and control science for political reasons. UCS has now collected the signatures of more than 4,000 scientists supporting a statement urging the Bush administration to discontinue these troubling practices, and to restore scientific integrity in federal policymaking. The prestigious list of scientists taking this unprecedented stand includes 48 Nobel laureates, 62 national medal of science recipients, and 127 members of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Park Service Superintendents Gagged by Agency

National Park Service (NPS) superintendents now must adhere to agency-prescribed "talking points" when speaking with the media. According to a May 12 press release by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the talking points try masking budget cutbacks by painting a rosy picture of national parks under the Bush administration.

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