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Mission: The Government Accountability Project (GAP) is a 30-year-old nonprofit public interest group that promotes government and corporate accountability by advancing occupational free speech, defending whistleblowers, and empowering citizen activists. We pursue this mission through our Nuclear Safety, International Reform, Corporate Accountability, Food & Drug Safety, and Federal Employee/National Security programs. GAP is the nation's leading whistleblower protection organization.
Current Program Highlights
6/25/2009
GAP to Testify Friday in Support of DC Whistleblower Law Reform
At a Washington, D.C. City Council hearing tomorrow, Friday, June 26, whistleblowers and public interest leaders will rally behind a proposal by Councilmember Mary Cheh to modernize the District’s whistleblower law for government employees and contractors.
Click here to read the press release.
6/24/2009
MSPB Ruling Guts Whistleblower Protection Act
Decision Gives Agencies Power to Issue Regulations Overriding WPA Free Speech Rights
Yesterday, Tuesday June 23rd, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) issued a landmark ruling against whistleblowers in MacLean v. Department of Homeland Security. The decision effectively removes any remaining enforcement authority for the already-discredited Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA).
Click here to read the press release.
Click here to read the filed amicus brief.
Click here to read the MSPB June 22, 2009 decision on SSI WPA.
6/22/2009
District Court Forces IDB/IIC to Waive Immunity
On June 19th, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC), the private sector lending arm of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), could not claim immunity from a lawsuit for unjust enrichment by an independent consultant. The lawsuit will now proceed. The case, Vila vs. the IIC, is the second case this year to force international organizations to waive their immunities and submit to lawsuits brought against them in the United States.
Click here to read more.
6/16/2009
Climate Change Impact Report Shows Immediate Need for Action
Later today, the President’s Science and Technology Adviser John Holdren will release a major new report on the implications of global climate disruption for the United States. This is the first climate science report to come out under the Obama administration, and the most significant U.S. climate impact assessment since the first National Assessment was issued in 2000.
Click here to read the press release.
6/16/2009
Burning of Dangerous Mustard Agent Continues
On Friday, GAP argued in court against the burning of mustard agent at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon. The burning could elevate the risk of cancer in humans, especially children and adolescents whose immune systems are more vulnerable to dangerous chemicals. Unfortunately, the issue was not resolved and the burning will continue until the hearing resumes on June 26.
6/11/2009
Crucial Senate Hearing Today for Federal Employee Whistleblower Rights
Today there will be a crucial Senate hearing on S. 372, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2009. The hearing will take place at 2:30pm in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 342. It is being held by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia.
Click here to view the press release.
Click here for GAP Legal Director Tom Devine’s testimony.
Click here to view the live coverage of the hearing.
6/11/2009
Racist Slurs Written in Graffiti inside World Bank Offices
GAP Report Detailing Bank Discrimination against Black Employees Released Earlier This Week
GAP has learned from inside sources that over the past two weeks, on at least two occasions, malicious racial slurs directed at black staff were painted on the hallway walls of the World Bank’s Legal Affairs Offices on the 6th floor of the main complex. The messages, written in English as graffiti, are commonly interpreted as ‘hate speech’ in the United States that is intended to frighten and demoralize people of black African heritage.
Click here to view the press release.
6/11/2009
Motion to Stop Incineration of Umatilla Mustard Agent to Be Heard by Court Tomorrow
Argument Details Lack of Permitting & Health Risks for Oregon, Washington Citizens
GAP, on behalf of Oregon environmental group GASP, Oregon Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club, and other petitioners, have filed a motion in the Circuit Court for the State of Oregon, County of Multnomah, seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop the incineration of more than 2,600 “ton containers” of mustard agent at the Umatilla Chemical Depot (UCD) near Hermiston, Oregon. The court will hear the argument tomorrow, Friday June 12 at 1:30 p.m. PDT. Burning of the agent reportedly began late last week, according to several news articles.
Click here to view a copy of the press release.
6/10/2009
Hearing Excludes Whistleblowers from Testifying on FAA Safety
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, (Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security) is holding a hearing today entitled: Aviation Safety: FAA’s Role in the Oversight of Air Carriers. Surprisingly, the subcommittee, according to its witness list, has failed to include any FAA whistleblowers to testify. This is indicative of a perpetual problem for the federal government – the continual failure to address the role that whistleblowers can play in safeguarding the flying public.
Last week, the newly formed FAA Whistleblower Alliance – a strong coalition partner of GAP – sent a letter to the Committee highlighting several “likely preventable tragedies” where members of the Alliance made safety disclosures well before the accidents occurred. The letters further details problems with the current structure and status quo of the FAA, along with remedies of how to address the historical lack of FAA oversight and accountability.
Click here to read the letter.
6/9/2009
Report Details Racial Discrimination at World Bank
Today, GAP released a report that investigates and finds evidence of racial discrimination against black professional grade employees at the World Bank. The report, which documents the treatment of these employees in recruitment, retention and internal judicial decisions, finds that a race ceiling exists at the institution, and that the Bank’s legal system fails to address racial discrimination adequately.
Specifically, the report details that of over 3,500 professional grade World Bank staff worldwide (more than 1,000 of whom are Americans), there are only four black Americans. In addition, the report details how other black bank staff, such as black Caribbean nationals and black African employees, are also underrepresented.
Click here to read the press release.
Click here to read the report.
Click here to read the annexes.
Click here to read the 1998 Team for Racial Equality Memo.
6/2/2009
DC Fire Captain/Whistleblower Trial Begins Today
Today, June 2, the Trial Board of the DC Fire & Emergency Medical Services (F&EMS) will hear a case involving GAP client Cpt. Vanessa Coleman, a whistleblower who has been steadily retaliated against since being singled out and made a scapegoat for the Mt. Pleasant apartment fire last year.
Click here to read the press release
5/22/2009
GAP Submits Comments on Obama's Scientific Integrity Policy
GAP has submitted and is posting comments on the President’s scientific integrity policy. On March 9, the White House announced the draft policy and specified that it should include agency by agency whistleblower policies, for which it requested guidance. GAP’s comments analyze seven core recommendations to --
- Comply with the current Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) and Anti-Gag Statute by eliminating loopholes in its policies that require prior approval to communicate unclassified information that falls into new hybrid secrecy categories such as “Unclassified But Sensitive”
- Adopt internal whistleblower policies that implement dormant, decade-old recommendations of the Commission on Research Integrity
- Voluntarily adopt additional free speech protections in pending legislation to strengthen the WPA
- Exercise visible leadership by agency chiefs to end the environment of fear
- Eliminate prior restraint for media communications
- Eliminate authority to make changes in the text of published material without the author’s knowledge and approval, and
- Train managers to accept scientific freedom and openness as the operating premise for the workplace environments they supervise.
GAP’s comments are just the beginning. If you want to help with the follow-up campaign for scientific freedom, or are a scientist who needs help, please contact our legal director Tom Devine, at tomd@whistleblower.org.
5/14/2009
GAP Testifies at House Hearing For Government Whistleblowers
At House Government Oversight and Reform Committee hearings today, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) called for quick action on the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, HR 1507, a law that will give federal workers the right to jury trials when they are harassed for blowing the whistle on fraud, waste and abuse.
Click here to read the full press release.
Click here to read the testimony of GAP Legal Director Tom Devine.
Click here to view the exhibits attached to Tom Devine's testimony.
5/12/2009
Whistleblowers: Show Your Support at Thursday’s Showdown in Congress!
Dear GAP Supporters:
There is a major event regarding federal employee whistleblower rights that we need all supporters in the D.C.-metro region to attend!
Hearing: “Protecting the Public from Waste, Fraud and Abuse: H.R. 1507, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2009.”
When: Thursday, May 14 at 10:00 a.m.
Location: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2154
What: Chairman Edolphus Towns and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a full committee hearing to examine the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2009 (H.R. 1507) which will modernize, clarify and expand current whistleblower protections for Federal Employees and contractors.
How YOU Can Help: This is a pivotal event in our long crusade to secure whistleblower rights for federal employees. All members of the whistleblower community are encouraged to attend Thursday’s hearing. GAP Legal Director Tom Devine, will provide subject expert testimony. Others invited to testify include whistleblowers from the CIA, U.S. Park Police, and the Pentagon. Witnesses representing the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence are also expected.
Help us make a difference!
5/11/2009
National Security Whistleblowers Send Letter to Obama
Today, a group of National Security whistleblowers, including several former GAP clients and coalition members, has sent a letter to the Obama administration urging the support of whistleblower protections for such employees.
Click here to read the letter
Click here to read the press release
4/28/2009
OSC Finds Substantial Likelihood of National Security Vulnerability Involving Airlines
GAP is commending the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) for recently ordering Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood to investigate a whistleblowing disclosure of “gross mismanagement, abuse of authority, and substantial and specific danger to public safety at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).”
GAP client Gabriel Bruno, former FAA Manager of the Orlando Flight Standards District Office, alleged in November 2007 that the FAA lacks a national security screening mechanism for certain mechanics that received fraudulent certificates, but have refused to, or failed to fully complete, a recertification program.
Click here to read the full press release
Click here to read the OSC letter to Bruno
4/23/2009
Alabama Chemical Weapons Depot Requests Info on Alternative to Mustard Agent Incineration
The Army’s chemical weapons depot contractor in Alabama has recently sent out a request for a proposal seeking a subcontractor to destroy mercury-laden mustard agent munitions through a process known as “controlled detonation,” the Government Accountability Project (GAP) has learned. It is believed that a similar proposal is being circulated seeking a controlled detonation system for munitions an Army facility in Utah as well.
The mustard agent is the same type of material that the Umatilla Chemical Depot (UCD) in Hermiston, Oregon has been planning to begin incinerating in the near future. The mustard agent at all three of the plants contains significant amounts of mercury and other hazardous chemicals which when released could be damaging to public health, wildlife, and the environment. Some nearby residents and several local groups, including GAP, have been fighting for years to stop the intended incineration process and employ safer destruction technologies.
Oregon law is unique in demanding that the method of chemical agent disposal be the ‘best available technology’ for doing so. Therefore, it should be of keen interest to Oregon officials that these other plants, each of which has the legal right to simply burn the munitions, are choosing to explore other options.
Click here for the full press release
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