I've been blogging here, to mixed reception, about the alarming increase of "leak" investigations and prosecutions under President Obama.

Yesterday, the L.A. Times had a lead editorial on "The Obama Administration's Attacks on the Media."

[T]his administration has pursued a quiet but malicious campaign against the news media and their sources, more aggressively attacking those who ferret out confidential information than even the George W. Bush administration did.

It specifically mentions the cases of James Risen, one of the New York Times reporters who broke the warrantless wiretapping story, and Thomas Drake, a former NSA official indicted for supposedly leaking details of NSA secret surveillance programs to the Baltimore Sun.

Risen and Drake are bookends of a disturbing trend of the "Transparency President": keeping information from the public.

The indictment of Tom Drake under the Espionage Act weaves a sordid tale of intrigue about how Drake committed dastardly deeds by leaking classified information to a Baltimore Sun reporter.  But Drake never gave classified information to a reporter. Upon a close read of the indictment, he is not charged with "leaking" (there is no such crime) anything at all.  Rather, he is charged with retention of classified documents for the purposes of distribution (there is no such crime).

The L.A. Times nails what this is prosecution is really about:

The [Baltimore Sun] reported extensively on technical problems with an NSA program that Drake was involved with; that reporting embarrassed the government, which indicted the individual it says brought about that embarrassment.  That smacks of retaliation, not legitimate protection of sensitive information.

Tom Drake is a whistleblower we would have applauded during the Bush years, but now he is facing 35 years in jail.

TIME: After Avandia - Does The FDA Have a Drug Problem?

This article investigates how drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, producer of the diabetes drug Avandia, convinced the FDA to keep the medication on the market for years by hiding and downplaying important evidence linking Avandia to heart problems, and calling the evidence "inconclusive."

The FDA's handling of the Avandia case (which greatly involves GAP client and noted whistleblower Dr. David Graham) highlights large systemic problems with the agency, including its reliance on drug companies for safety testing and reporting, and an approval process that is not tough enough. GAP's 2009 report, The ABCs of Drug Safety -- Accountability, Balance, and Citizen Empowerment, discusses these issues.

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Washington Examiner: Metro Strengthening Protections for 'Whistleblowers'

The D.C. Metro Board of Directors has approved implementation of federal laws that strengthen whistleblower protection policies. Metro has also created a Whistleblower Hearing Panel to discover whether punitive and retaliatory measures were enacted on whistleblowers in the past, and to encourage Metro employees to report future safety concerns without fear of punishment.

These actions are being taken amidst much criticism of Metro management's failure to institute a safe workplace with a culture that is conducive to whistleblowing, along with last week's National Transportation Safety Board formal issuing of new safety recommendations.

Metro General Manager Richard Sarles claims that as Metro moves forward with reorienting its safety culture, it has already made significant changes which include adding staff to its safety department, establishing an anonymous hotline for reporting concerns, and developing a Safety Management System to track incidents.

The Washington Post: More Than a Year After Metro Crash, NTSB Reveals Safety Recommendations

The National Transportation Safety Board formally issued new safety recommendations to fix the Washington, D.C. Metro system's "potential rail hazards and ... safety culture." These recommendations stem from an investigation into a June 2009 Metro crash which killed nine people.

The D.C. Metro system has been riddled with lapses in safety over the past year, illustrated by multiple fatal accidents involving Metro staff. In addition to serious problems with track circuit modules and old rail cars, the NTSB identified problems with Metro's "lax safety culture." In response, Metro interim General Manager Richard Sarles stated, "Metro had initiated discussions with its labor union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, to create a program for reporting such incidents 'without punitive consequences.'"

Which means that Metro employees don't believe they can currently blow the whistle without facing retaliation. This also means that if strong whistleblower protections had been in place for Metro employees last year, nine people might still be alive.

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The New York Times: Farmers Lean to Truce on Animals' Close Quarters

Farmers in Ohio have conceded to limiting the close confinement of hens, hogs, and veal calves - a practice commonly used in factory farming. Critics and animal rights activists consider the close confinement of animals inhumane and detrimental to public health and the environment. These sentiments are shared by GAP's Food Integrity Campaign.

This compromise by Ohio farmers points to the bigger debate over large-scale farming methods, and may cause farmers in other states to make adjustments.

Los Angeles Times: Toyota Data Recorders Reveal No New Causes of Sudden Acceleration

Federal regulators who reviewed "black box" recorders (devices that collect data on velocity, braking, and acceleration) from 58 vehicles that crashed due to unintended acceleration reported that the data did not reveal any new safety defects - suggesting that the electronic throttle control may not have been at fault for the increase in crashes since 2001. Rather, the data seems to indicate the accidents related to sudden acceleration were caused by other problems such as sticking pedals, floor mat entrapment, and driver error.

However, uncertainties remain about the accuracy of the data retrieved from black boxes -- which are made by Toyota. Some safety consultants claim that the Event Data Recorders (EDRs) are not scientifically validated tools and rely on electronic systems that are questionable to begin with.

Key Quotes: But the reliability of black box data has been questioned by automotive experts and even Toyota itself, and the officials were careful to point out that it is only a piece of the puzzle when it comes to analyzing sudden acceleration.

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"We would not expect an investigation of the EDRs to find a problem with Toyota's electronics systems," said B. Craig Hutson, a debt analyst at Gimme Credit. "The EDRs are not designed to identify these types of problems. An electronics problem likely lurks in the millions of lines of software code found in a typical vehicle."

Toyota itself has repeatedly told state and federal judges that the readouts from the devices were too inaccurate to use in court, The Times reported last month.

Related Articles: New York Times

Click here to read more on GAP's blog

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Food Safety News: Millions Spent Lobbying Food Safety

The Senate's recently updated Lobbying Disclosure Database shows an increase in money spent lobbying food safety, possibly in relation to the advancement of several food safety bills in the second quarter. The website reveals the issues organizations are focusing on, as well as how much they are spending.

In news regarding automaker Toyota’s continuing problems with “unintended acceleration” – a sudden increase in speed that may be linked to several accidents and deaths since 2001 – preliminary findings from federal officials seem to support the company’s claims that problems lie not in faulty electronics, but rather in other issues such as sticking pedals, floor mat entrapment, and driver error.

Government regulators are investigating this issue using data collected from Toyota’s ‘black box’ recorders – devices installed in vehicles that record data such as velocity and acceleration. Of course, keep in mind that federal regulators are reviewing the accuracy of Toyota’s electronic system with an electronic device made by… Toyota? On this note, a handful of safety consultants are asking similar questions, such as: Is the black box device a scientifically validated instrument?

This raises the bigger question of the government’s willingness to trust automakers’ claims. It also brings up the familiar catch of free markets versus government regulation. On the one hand, self-regulation has always been problematic (remember when BP assured us that most companies had voluntarily adopted safeguards to protect against oil spills?). On the other, government regulation is sometimes equally faulty. Toyota’s ongoing acceleration issue highlights both sides of the debate.

 

The National Law Journal: Unnecessary Lies - A Whistleblower's Perspective on Necessary Secrets

GAP Homeland Security & Human Rights Director Jesselyn Radack reviews Gabriel Schoenfeld's book, Necessary Secrets. She argues that Schoenfeld's main concern with governmental secrecy excludes a discussion about accountability for secrets that are also illegal.

Key Quote: Part of the problem with Schoenfeld's argument is that he talks about "national security," but he really means "governmental secrecy." What is done as part of the latter is often justified by the former, but does not necessarily further it, and sometimes is even at odds with it.

Click here to read more on GAP's blog

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The Washington Post: U.N. Chief Says Criticisms of His Leadership Are 'Unfair'

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that it is "unfair" to question his anti-corruption record and support for internal oversight. Despite his assurance that he has given "100 percent independence" to the United Nations' anti-corruption agency, he has received harsh criticism from two top former officials who claim that Ban blocked their efforts.

The United Nations has come under much criticism over the past several years for its less-than-thorough approach to rooting out internal corruption. The U.N. Procurement Task Force (responsible for investigating allegations of fraud and corruption within U.N. projects) was disbanded in 2008, leaving 175 cases that remain uninvestigated by the permanent investigations division (within OIOS), which has also not had a leader for more than two years.

I have an article today in The National Law Journal reviewing what would otherwise be a trifling book by a Bush-era neocon . . . but for the fact that President Obama is following its recommendation to prosecute whistleblowers under the Espionage Act.  It's bad enough that Obama's Justice Department is on its way to setting a record for leak prosecutions, but the fact that they are doing so under the Espionage Act--which is meant to prosecute spies not whistleblowers--is especially pernicious.

Real lives are at stake.  Thomas Drake, a former senior NSA official who blew the whistle on an astronomically expensive and unconstitutional secret surveillance program, is facing 35 years in jail.

Gabriel Schoenfeld's book, Necessary Secrets, identifies a problem--the publication of true facts that are secret--but he never plumbs the deeper and more salient question:

What if the true and secret facts are illegal?

He is particularly incensed by the New York Times article that revealed that President Bush's NSA had been spying on American citizens without warrants.  He views this as a program the government had initiated to avert the repetition of another 9/11, but fails to mention that it became one of the biggest scandals of the Bush administration.

Schoenfeld's solution is that newspaper sources and reporters should face prosecution, be fined, or even be sentenced to jail under the Espionage Act of 1917.