William Fisher: National Security Whistleblowers

21 February 2006

National Security Whistleblowers By William Fisher

Find illegalactivity in the U.S. national security agency you work for.Report it to your superiors. Get rewarded by being demotedor having your security clearance revoked tantamount tolosing your career - while those whose conduct you'vereported get promoted.

This was the picture painted to aHouse of Representatives committee last week, as its membersheard from five soldiers and civilians who say theirlivelihoods and reputations have been destroyed or placed inserious jeopardy by their attempts to expose and correctwaste, fraud or abuse in their workplaces.

They are knownas "national security whistleblowers". And, unlikewhistleblowers in civilian agencies of the U.S. government,they have little legal protection against retaliation.

The House Committee is chaired by RepresentativeChristopher Shays, a Republican from Connecticut. But, in arare occurrence in the current contentious political climatein Washington, he is receiving virtually unanimousbipartisan support for efforts to develop legislation to fixthe problem.

Shays and his colleagues listened to a litanyof retaliations taken against people who have spoken outabout abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, illicitfederal wiretapping, and other alleged misconduct.

Thelitany came from current or former employees of the FBI, theNational Security Agency, the Defense Department, and theEnergy Department. They told the committee that after theyspoke out against alleged government misconduct or criminalactivity, they "were retaliated against, in some cases byhaving their security clearances revoked or their careersruined."

Specialist Samuel Provance said he was demotedand humiliated after telling a general investigating the AbuGhraib scandal that senior officers had covered up detaineeabuses at Abu Ghraib. He said he tried to tell the general"things he didn't want to hear", adding, "Young soldierswere scapegoated while superiors misrepresented what hadhappened and tried to misdirect attention away from what wasreally going on". Provance lost his security clearance, wasplaced under a "gag order", and is now stationed in Germany,where his responsibilities consist of "picking up trash andguard duty."

Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer was among the firstto disclose the Pentagon's "Able Danger" data-miningprogram. He said he believes that the program identifiedMohammed Atta before he became the lead hijacker in the 2001terrorist attacks, though a Pentagon review found noevidence to support that conclusion. Shaffer's securityclearance was revoked.

Russell Tice, a formerintelligence officer at the National Security Agency (NSA),charged that there were "illegalities and unconstitutionalactivity" in the agency's so-called 'special-accessprograms' but was advised that he could not discuss themeven with members of the Senate and House IntelligenceCommittees in closed session. He told the Committee theDefense Department's harassment of him included spreadingrumors that he suffers from bipolar disease.

Mike Germanresigned as an FBI agent after reporting that other agentsand managers mishandled a major counterterrorism casein 2002 and falsified records. The Justice Departmentinspector general confirmed German's allegations, andthat he was retaliated against - his security clearancewas revoked.

Richard Levernier's job as a seniorDepartment of Energy nuclear security specialist was to testhow well prepared America's nuclear weapons sites were todefend against a terrorist attack. He testified that thetests he supervised showed a 50 percent failure rate. Whenhe reported this to his superiors, he was demoted and hissecurity clearance revoked. He says he was forced into earlyretirement.

All these witnesses said they tried to followthe chain of command for reporting wrongdoing, but wererebuffed or stonewalled. Some started by going to theirimmediate supervisors; others went to the Inspector Generalsof their agencies; a few eventually told their stories tocongresspersons or to the media.

The defense ofwhistleblowers comes at a time when top Bush administration officials are turning up the pressure to stop leaks ofclassified information. Two news reports in recent months,an article in The New York Times on the National SecurityAgency's surveillance program and a Washington Post articleon secret CIA detention centers, have been referred forcriminal investigation.

Sibel Edmonds, founder of theNational Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC) told us,"National Security employees' should not have to sacrificetheir careers or financial security in doing what is right.Good employees are being chased out of jobs and fired bythose who either are engaged in wrongful behavior or don'twant to hear about."

She added, "A national securityemployee has to choose between career and conscience whenconfronted with agency wrongdoing. We need to adoptprotections for employees that allow them to be secure intheir jobs and encourage them to report waste, fraud, andabuse of power."

Ms. Edmonds, arguably the best known ofrecent national security whistleblowers, began working forthe FBI shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, translatingtop-secret documents pertaining to suspected terrorists. Shewas fired in the spring of 2002 after reporting concernsabout sabotage, intimidation, corruption and incompetence tosuperiors. In October 2002, at the request of FBI DirectorRobert Mueller, then Attorney General John Ashcroft imposeda gag order on Ms. Edmonds, citing possible damage todiplomatic relations or national security. Ms. Edmonds suedand appealed her case all the way to the Supreme Court. Butthe high court agreed with lower courts that trying her casewould compromise "state secrets".

The NSWBC has drafted'model legislation for whistleblowers', which is expected tobe introduced in the Senate by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a NewJersey Democrat. Edmonds' group is also working on a Houseversion of this bill.

At last week's House hearing,Specialist Provance's testimony drew extraordinary attentionby Committee members, as it came only days after the releaseby an Australian television channel of new photos and videosshowing prisoner abuse by the U.S. military at Abu Ghraibprison in Iraq.

Investigation of the "Able Danger"datamining program of the National Security Agency has beenchampioned by a powerful Republican, Rep. Kurt Weldon ofPennsylvania, who wrote a book on the subject. He claimsthat Lt. Col. Shaffer reported the program to the staffdirector of the 9/11 Commission, Dr. Philip Zelikow, when heand other staff members traveled to Afghanistan. Later,however, Commission staff told him they had all theinformation they required. The program was not mentioned inthe 9/11 Commission's report.

Responding to a questionfrom Congressman Weldon, Shaffer said he is convinced theDefense Department wants details of "Able Danger" buried toavoid embarrassment to defense officials. He also accusedthe Defense Department of conducting a "smear campaign"against him.

Shaffer was barred from testifying at anearlier Senate hearing on the program, but Stephen Cambone,undersecretary of defense for intelligence, told thathearing that the Defense Department had found no evidencethat a likeness of Mohammed Atta was ever obtained throughthe program.

Noting that current whistleblower protectionlaws do not cover employees of agencies involved in nationalsecurity, Rep. Shays said, "Those with whom we trust thenation's secrets are too often treated like second-classcitizens when it comes to asserting their rights to speaktruth to power."

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