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Homeland Security
GAP’s Homeland Security program guides client and policy work related to counter-terrorism, disaster relief, telecom privacy, border security, and transportation and nuclear security. The program has been active in both its representation of individual clients as well as its support for whistleblower reform legislation.
Jesselyn Radack is GAP’s Homeland Security Director. Radack’s own whistleblowing story is incredible, and is indicative of the Bush administration’s hostility toward whistleblowers and government transparency. In 2001, she was serving within the Justice Department’s Professional Responsibility Advisory Office during what she expected to be a long career in public service. What unraveled over the next few months is shocking.
Click here to read about Jesselyn’s story!
Program Highlight: Anti-Corruption and Whistleblower Advocacy Groups Urge Holder to Review UBS Whistleblower Case
The National Whistleblowers Center (NWC), the Government Accountability Project (GAP) and the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, urging him to review the case of Bradley Birkenfeld, the international banker who blew the whistle on secret offshore accounts at UBS Bank in Switzerland. On August 21, Mr. Birkenfeld was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for his actions, despite the fact that UBS’s tax fraud scheme never would have been discovered without Mr. Birkenfeld’s disclosure.
Click here to read the letter to Attorney General Eric Holder
Click here to read the press release
Program Highlight: OSC Report Substantiates Allegations of Defective Hydraulic Pumps in New Orleans
August 25, 2009 -- An independent evaluation released in June by the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), relying on the assessment of an independent engineer, has determined that there are serious safety and reliability issues with hydraulic pumps that were installed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. These pumps are designed, in case of emergency, to move flood water away from the city to the lake side of the floodgates. Despite repeated internal reports that the pumps were faulty, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Department of Defense Inspector General (DoDIG) have repeatedly denied inherent flaws in the hydraulic pumps since 2007.
GAP client Maria Garzino, a USACE mechanical and civil engineer, was the Pump Team Installation Leader who blew the whistle on several problems that render the pumps ineffective. This new report substantiates her allegations.
Click here to read the full press release
Click here to read the OSC letter to President Obama detailing the report
Click here to read the full report: Part 1, Part 2
Click here to read the USA Today story
Click here to read the Southern California Public Radio story
Program Highlight: Hearing Excludes Whistleblowers from Testifying on FAA Safety
June 10, 2009 -- 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.
Program Highlight: National Security Whistleblowers Send Letter to Obama
May 11, 2009 -- A group of National Security whistleblowers, including several former GAP clients and coalition members, have 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
Program Highlight: OSC Finds Substantial Likelihood of National Security Vulnerability Involving Airlines
April 28, 2009 -- 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
Program Highlight: Torture Memos Released; No Charges Sought Against Drafters
April 20, 2009 -- GAP Homeland Security Director Jesselyn Radack, a former Justice Department whistleblower herself, brings a unique perspective to the information contained in the controversial "torture justification" memos released last night (4/16) by the DoJ.
Click here to read a blog posting/reaction by Jesselyn
Click here to view Jesselyn's appareance on MSNBC regarding the memos in February
Update (4/20): The Obama administration has announced it will not seek prosecution against those DoJ lawyers who draft the controversial memos justifyingn torture.
Click here to read Jesselyn's blog posting
Program Highlight: GAP FOIAs Justice Department
March 30, 2009 -- GAP’s Homeland Security Program issued the first Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests following Attorney General Eric Holder’s promulgation of new FOIA guidelines for the Department of Justice. To better inform interested parties on the specific memos GAP is inquiring about, and to notify about future updates on such requests, GAP has created a separate page regarding such progress.
Click here to visit the Homeland Security Department’s FOIA page!
Program Highlight: Transition Memo to Obama
November 24, 2008 -- GAP has submitted a transition memo to the Obama-Biden transition team detailing solutions for inadequate federal whistleblower protections. In this memo, GAP details why President-elect Obama should ask Congress to prioritize passing the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. With all the competing priorities for the new Congress, it will take intervention from the new administration to ensure immediate passage.
Supporting government accountability by providing genuine protections to employees who expose waste, fraud and abuse will mark a drastic change from the current administration. Luckily, unlike so many other issues, the work is largely done. The bill is waiting for the President’s support and signature.
Click here for the transition memo
Program Highlight: OpenTheGovernment's 2008 Secrecy Report Card
September 10, 2009 -- OpenTheGovernment.org, an important coalition partner of GAP and a great advocate of government transparency, recently released their 2008 Secrecy Report Card. This annual report identifies important trends in public access to government information.
Click here to read the report
Program Highlight: FISA Bill Vote
July 9, 2008 -- GAP is opposed to the FISA bill that grants retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies that cooperated with the Bush administration to illegally spy on Americans. The bill comes before a vote today in the Senate, you still have time to contact your Senator and urge them to vote for any of the amendments that deny or qualify telecom immunity. See GAP's recent Action Alert for how to do this.
Click here to read GAP's Action Alert!
Click here to read telecom whistleblower (and GAP client) Babak Pasdar's op-ed about the legislation (Co-authored by AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein)
As Homeland Security Director, Jesselyn Radack has published a number of op-eds over the past few months. They include the following (click on one to read the text):
Los Angeles Times (7/14/09) - NSA's Cyber Overkill
Buffalo News (9/27/08) - Another Poor Response Masked by Official Censorship
Legal Times (8/11/08) - It All Started With Ashcroft
Anchorage Daily News (8/5/08) - Government Retaliates Against Critics with "No-Fly" List
Philadelphia Inquirer (6/2/08) - Report on FBI Interrogations Omits the Lindh Case of Torture
Working with Congress
Working with Congress on both sides of the aisle is crucial to both whistleblower advocacy and government oversight in the homeland security arena. The Homeland Security program monitors and submits written testimony to Senate and House Committees with oversight in this area.
Click here to read Radack’s written submission to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s full hearing on “Improving Detainee Policy: Handling Terrorism Detainees within the American Justice System.”
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