AT&T [Whistleblower Protection] Many do not know that intelligence employees are excluded by law from whistleblower protection under the Patriot Act and previous law as well. Until we have slogged through the fine print, we just don't know what is legal anymore. Whistleblowers have had a very hard time being 'seen' by congressional committees. Whistleblowers like Sibel Edmonds are treated like hot potatoes until they leak to the press and a groundswell of concern forces congress to invite them into a closed session. And then... not much happens. That's just where we find ourselves in 2006 in America... This is one key to the popularity of the relatively new blogger Glenn Greenwald (author of new book, see his site below). He's just one person, but he tries to do the legwork to actually read the laws, such as the Patriot Act, that our 'lawmakers' pass without reading. He's just one person, but that's the work that needs to be done. - Sheryl Coe Glenn Greenwald, of Unclaimed Territory Original: http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/05/no-need-for- congress-no-need-for.html (2) The legal and constitutional issues, especially at first glance and without doing research, reading cases, etc., are complicated and, in the first instance, difficult to assess, at least for me. That was also obviously true for Qwest's lawyers, which is why they requested a court ruling and, when the administration refused, requested an advisory opinion from DoJ. But not everyone is burdened by these difficulties. Magically, hordes of brilliant pro-Bush legal scholars have been able to determine instantaneously -- as in, within hours of the program's disclosure -- that the program is completely legal and constitutional (just like so many of them were able confidently to opine within hours of the disclosure of the warrantless eavesdropping program that it, too, was perfectly legal and constitutional). Government Accountability Project Original: http://www.whistleblower.org/content/press_detail.cfm? press_id=446 CIA Leaks Investigation Highlights Need for Whistleblower Law Reform Washington, D.C. b Today, the Government Accountability Project proclaims that the CIA's public efforts to crackdown on leaks of classified information demonstrate the need for Congress to approve meaningful whistleblower protections for employees who decide to disclose classified evidence of government wrongdoing, misconduct and illegality. http://www.whistleblower.org/content/press_detail.cfm? press_id=446
From Russell Tice via DemocracyNow: Original: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl? sid=06/04/04/1420212&mode=thread&tid=25
And the intelligence community, all of the whistleblower protection laws are -- pretty much exempt the intelligence community. So the intelligence community can put forth their lip service about, 'Oh, yeah, we want you to put report waste fraud abuse,' or 'You shall report suspicions of espionage,' but when they retaliate you for doing so, you pretty much have no recourse. I think a lot of people don't realize that.
From by Mike Whitney at Znet: original: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=6848 Intelligence reform has been a stealth-project from the get-go. [...]
Instead of addressing the underlying issues, the new bill eviscerates what's left of the Bill of Rights and hands over more power to Bush. Now, Bush is free to hand-pick the men he wants for top-level Intelligence positions without Senate confirmation - an invitation to create his personal security apparatus without congressional interference. The bill also decreases Congress' powers of oversight. The new Intelligence Director can exempt his office from "audits and investigations, and Congress will not receive reports from an objective internal auditor." In other words, Congress has limited its own access to critical information of how taxpayer dollars are being spent. They've simply given up their role of checking for presidential abuse. The bill "eliminates provisions to ensure that it (Congress) receives timely access to intelligence, and it also allows the White House's Office of Management and Budget to screen testimony before the Intelligence Director presents it to the Congress." So, now Bush can either stonewall Congress entirely or just cherry-pick the tidbits he doesn't mind handing over. The Congress is just paving the way for even greater secrecy. Needless to say, all the whistle-blower protections have been removed from the new bill. In this new paradigm of Mafia-style governance the only unpardonable offense is reporting the crimes of one's bosses. Now, the Bush Fedayeen can purge the entire intelligence apparatus and no one will be the wiser. On 5/15/06, David Farber <dave@farber.net> wrote: Begin forwarded message: