IP: Former FBI Workers File Whistleblower Suit

[Vladimir Z. Nuri]

From: believer at telepath.com
Subject: IP: Former FBI Workers File Whistleblower Suit
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 09:40:46 -0500
To: believer at telepath.com

Source:  Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/1998-10/20/021r-102098-idx.html

Former FBI Workers File Whistleblower Suit
Three Say Legal Protections Not Enforced

By Michael Grunwald
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 20, 1998; Page A17 

Three former FBI employees sued the federal government yesterday,
alleging that President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno have failed
to enforce a 1989 law that protects whistleblowers who complain about
misconduct at the agency.

Former FBI agent Thomas M. Chamberlin, former FBI chemist Jorge L.
Villanueva and former FBI staffer Cheryl J. Whitehurst all allege that they
were fired or forced out of the bureau for reporting misconduct by their
colleagues. Whitehurst also contends she was harassed because she is
married to Frederic Whitehurst, a chemist whose allegations launched a
major investigation of the FBI laboratory.

Congress exempted the FBI, the CIA and the National Security Agency
from the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, which established a
government-wide Office of Special Counsel to investigate complaints of
retaliation against employees of most federal agencies. But a companion
law directed the president to set up a separate system to protect FBI
employees from reprisals, and in April 1997, after a lawsuit by Frederic
Whitehurst, Clinton issued a memorandum directing Reno to create it.

Justice Department officials are drafting new regulations that would
establish an office at the department to handle internal complaints about the
FBI. But after 18 months of work, the regulations are not ready.

"This is not a simple process, but the attorney general is taking it very
seriously," said Justice Department spokesman Bert Brandenburg. "When
we're done with this, there will be a structure that FBI whistleblowers can
turn to with confidence. . . . We're trying to set up something entirely new
here. It's not just add water and mix."

Brandenburg said the department expects to issue new regulations soon,
but said he could not be more specific. But David K. Colapinto, an
attorney for the three former FBI employees, said the government has
been promising those regulations for nine years.

"They keep telling us it's in the works, but they never produce any results,"
Colapinto said. "Without whistleblower protection for FBI employees,
there cannot be effective oversight of the FBI's activities."

The FBI declined comment, referring questions to Brandenburg.
According to recent testimony by Justice Department inspector general
Michael Bromwich, the FBI received 499 allegations of "serious
misconduct" from its employees last year and another 518 allegations of
"routine misconduct." But since the employees who made them were not
covered by the Whistleblower Protection Act, they had no guarantee that
they could appear before an administrative law judge if they believed they
were victims of retaliation, or that they would have access to documents
about their case during the discovery process.

Frederic Whitehurst, once the FBI's top expert in explosives residue
analysis, recently settled his own whistleblower lawsuit with the bureau for
about $1.65 million. Bromwich's massive investigation did not substantiate
all of Whitehurst's allegations, but it did reveal major shortcomings at the
FBI lab. 

Cheryl Whitehurst said she was retaliated against for her husband's
activities and for reporting the widespread use of bootlegged software on
FBI computers in violation of copyright laws. She said she quit her job
under duress last month.

Villanueva, who also worked in the laboratory, said he lost his job in
January because he refused to sign a petition supporting a supervisor who
had been criticized in Bromwich's report, and because he complained that
a colleague had forged a signature on a lab report.

Chamberlin said he was fired in 1994 after he gave confidential testimony
about wiretap violations by the FBI's Detroit field office, and then
complained that the subsequent FBI investigation of the alleged violations
had targeted him. 

 © Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
-----------------------
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