USDA Whistleblower Delivers Turkey & Chicken Rule Petition Before Thanksgiving
Summary: Just one week before Thanksgiving, retired USDA inspector Phyllis McKelvey drove from Alabama to Washington DC to hand deliver more than 177,000 petition signatures opposing USDA's proposed changes to chicken and turkey inspection. Phyllis spoke with several news outlets, including a local CBS affiliate, about how the agency's plan would threaten the food supply. GAP's Food Integrity Campaign has been working closely with her and details her visit in this blog post.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Former CIA Operative from New Castle Honored for Courage
Summary: Former CIA officer and torture whistleblower John Kiriakou was honored Tuesday night with the Callaway Award for Civic Courage. Kiriakou, also a GAP client, pled guilty to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act in exchange for the government dropping the other charges, including those under the Espionage Act.
NSA whistleblowers and GAP clients J. Kirk Wiebe and William Binney were also honored with the Callaway Award.
The Signal (TX): UN Peacekeeper Blows Whistle on Human Trafficking
Summary: The student paper for the University of Houston-Clear Lake covered the recent American Whistleblower Tour stop there, which included UN whistleblower Kathryn Bolkovac. The stop featured a showing of the film The Whistleblower, which is based on Bolkovac’s experiences blowing the whistle on illegal sex trafficking at the UN peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, as well as a discussion with Bolkovac and GAP International Officer Shelley Walden.
Federal Times: Whistleblower Protection Bill Goes to White House
Summary: More coverage of Tuesday night's Senate passage of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. The bill was passed by the House in September, and it now proceeds to President Obama for signing.
The news was also covered in Government Executive, which quoted GAP’s Tom Devine.
Key Quote: Tom Devine, legal director of the nonprofit Government Accountability Project, hailed the bill’s passage as a “major victory for taxpayers and public servants, but a major defeat for special interests and bureaucrats. Free speech rights for government employees never have been stronger,” his statement read.
Related Articles: Society of Environmental Journalists
BP Gulf Oil Spill Whistleblowers Retaliated Against at Fairness Hearing
Summary: GAP has reposted an article from community journalism group Bridge the Gulf, recounting the retaliation against several BP whistleblowers at last week’s Fairness Hearing for a major lawsuit against the oil company.
Summary: This article highlights an important whistleblower, David Durk, who died earlier this week. Durk, along with Frank Serpico, spearheaded the movement to expose rampant police corruption in New York City in the 1960s-70s.
Hannah Johnson is Communications Associate for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.
