Legal Times: DOJ Appeals Ruling in Torture Suit Against Rumsfeld
Summary: The Department of Justice will appeal the court ruling allowing a suit to move forward holding Donald Rumsfeld accountable for his role in the alleged torturing of an American civilian (Army veteran) and GAP client. The case is only one of two torture suits against Rumsfeld allowed to move forward.
The Atlantic: The Obama Administration vs. the War on Terror Critics
Summary: This piece highlights the recent Washington Post op-ed by National Security Agency whistleblower and GAP client Thomas Drake. The piece states the Obama administration has been “unjustifiably attacking whistleblowers” and censoring those who speak out against the government’s actions on terrorism.
Key Quote: Under Presidents Bush and Obama, it's the whistleblowers who found themselves in legal trouble. Terrified of a GOP victory in 2012, much of the left dares not criticize Obama, and for most of the conservative movement, the NSA and CIA can do no wrong. So much for eternal vigilance.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Improving" Whistleblower Programs
Summary: This op-ed argues, correctly, that the “Whistleblower Improvement Act of 2011,” recently introduced in the House of Representatives, would harshly harm whistleblowers who try to expose corporate wrongdoing. The bill's language would change the new whistleblower bounty provisions adopted by the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The bill would mandate that whistleblowers report wrongdoing internally first, which could easily result in forewarning the perpetrators, who then have time to destroy evidence and persecute the whistleblower.
GAP has argued that this bill should be called the "Obstruction of Justice Act." The bill comes after a near-year long process the SEC took to determine the rules of the bounty program, listening to outside groups (and business lobbyists), before determining a fair compromise – allowing whistleblowers to go straight to the respective regulatory agency, while rewarding (but not mandating) whistleblowers when they first report to the companies, with extra compensation.
Summary: A former Western Kentucky University employee is suing the school for violation of the Kentucky Whistleblower’s Act, the Kentucky Open Records Act, invasion of privacy and libel after the WKU Herald printed her termination letter.
CBC News (Canada): Sask. Whistleblower Law to Take Effect
Summary: Saskatchewan’s new whistleblower protection law comes into effect this week, giving provincial employees a structure for who they should report wrongdoing to. Each agency will have a designated person who hears complaints, and eventually an independent officer will investigate.
Censorship in America: EFF’s Warrantless Wiretapping Cases Back in Court on August 31
Summary: Two cases aimed at stopping the government’s use of illegal surveillance will be heard tomorrow in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals where it will be decided if the cases can move forward. Whistleblowers exposed crucial evidence in years past on this paramount civil rights issue.
Monsanto Interests Guide U.S. Diplomacy, WikiLeaks Cables Show
Summary: Many cables released by WikiLeaks last week show the strong push by U.S. diplomats for other countries to accept genetically modified crops produced by Monsanto and other biotechnology giants. GAP's Food Integrity Campaign has the story.
Hannah Johnson is the Communications Fellow for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.
