Two developments put at risk the agency workers who must draw conclusions contrary to industry's bottom line or who alert the public of malfeasance and inefficiency in government:

• The White House continues to press for plans to scrap the current civil service system for federal workers and replace it with a pay-for-performance system. As we have already seen with the administration's use of the Program Assessment Rating Tool, "performance" is a good government concept that the White House knows how to use for bad government ends. Performance-based pay could put at risk the agency experts who, like David Graham at the FDA, must reach conclusions about public health and safety that corporate special interests do not like.
• The National Journal's subscription-only Congress Daily is reporting that "House and Senate lawmakers offering legislation to protect federal government whistleblowers are split over whether the provisions should apply to workers at the Homeland Security Department." A Senate version sponsored by Collins "would apply to nearly all government employees -- except those who work in intelligence, counterintelligence or at the Transportation Security Administration," while a House version sponsored by Platts would also exempt Homeland Security personnel. Without whistleblowers at the FBI like Colleen Rowley and Sibel Edmonds, we would not be fully aware of the administration's colossal failures to protect the public during the months before 9/11.