National Security Whistleblowers Coalition

The National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC), founded in 2004 by former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds^[1] in league with over 50 former and current United States government officials from more than a dozen agencies, is an independent, nonpartisan alliance of whistleblowers who have come forward to address weaknesses of US security agencies.

Coalition objectives

The NSWBC aims to aid and abet whistleblowers seeking to inform authorities of security vulnerabilities of US intelligence agencies, to counteract the intimidation of employees and the undermining of whistleblower credibility, and to uncover government waste, fraud, abuse and criminal conduct. The coalition is only for whistleblowers who have raised national security issues, not for government workers who have complaints that they were individually discriminated against or wrongly passed over for a promotion.

Congressional action

On March 15, 2005, H.R. 1317, the Federal Employees Protection of Disclosures Act, was introduced by Rep. Todd Platts [R-PA] as a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.^[2] It was redrafted to incorporate some minor phrasing adjustments and was reintroduced as H.R. 3097 on June 28, 2005.^[3] It was immediately referred to the House Committee on Government Reform, but as of mid-2007, no further action had been taken on the redraft.

On June 29, 2006, H.R. 1317 was referred to the House Committee on Armed Services's Subcommittee on Readiness and to the House Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Management, Integration, and Oversight. Both committees granted extensions for further consideration of the bill, with the last one being a three-week extension granted on November 17, 2006 by the House Committee on Armed Services. The Homeland Security committee was discharged the same day. As of mid-2007, no further action had been taken.

If enacted as law, the bill would clarify the categories of disclosure covered by the Whistleblowers Protection Act, reduce the standard of proof of illicit activity that a whistleblower needs to have before they are entitled to the law's protection, outlaw non-disclosure agreements for federal employees that do not include exemptions for whistleblowers, or that limit other disclosures allowed under open government legislation, and increase the burden of proof needed to discipline managers who allegedly retaliate against those making disclosures. The bill also calls for a study of security clearance revocations to be conducted and a report on the study delivered to the House Committee on Government Reform.

In a letter to the NSWBC, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) praised the coalition and pledged his support for legislation protecting national security whistleblowers:

"Let me state unequivocally that all federal government workers deserve whistleblower protection, none more so than national security whistleblowers. ...Our own government has concluded that they can be trusted to work on the most important law enforcement and intelligence projects in today’s post-9/11 environment. These officials are critical to our national defense. …For these reasons, I favor expanding the Whistleblower Protection Act to cover these employees and contractors as fully as possible, as well as making the retaliatory revocation of a security clearance a prohibited personnel practice."

References

1. ^ Stephen Barr (2005-04-25). "Whistle-Blowers Urge Congress to Get Tougher on Retaliation". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/28/AR2005042801680_pf.html. Retrieved 2009-12-30. 
2. ^ "Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act (Introduced in House)". Library of Congress. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:h.r.1317:. Retrieved 2009-12-30. 
3. ^ "Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act (Introduced in House)". Library of Congress. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:h.r.3097:. Retrieved 2009-12-30. 

See also

• Colleen Rowley
• Shawn Carpenter
• Daniel Ellsberg
• Mike German
• Project on Government Oversight
• Russ Tice
• Thomas Tamm
• Thomas Andrews Drake

External links

• NSWBC - National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (official website)
• H.R. 3097, the Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act (current version; awaiting committee action)
• H.R. 1317, the Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act (first version; inactive)
• CumberLink.com - 'It's dangerous to blow the whistle', Francis Volpe, The Sentinel (August 9, 2005)
• GovExec.com - 'National security employees form whistleblowers coalition', Chris Strohm, Government Executive (April 27, 2005)
• IPSNews.net - 'Security Whistleblowers Demand End to Retaliation', William Fisher, Inter Press Service News Agency (May 11, 2005)
• JustACitizen.com - 'Names will be named if protections aren’t strengthened', Stephen Losey (May 02, 2005)
• NSWBC.org - 'New whistleblower law mired in Hill row', Shaun Waterman, UPI (June 16, 2005)
• NSWBC.org - 'The National Security Whistleblowers Coalition Demands Congressional Action: Congressman Waxman Pledges Support for National Security Whistleblowers' (June 30, 2005)
• WashingtonPost.com - 'Whistle-Blowers Urge Congress to Get Tougher on Retaliation', Stephen Barr, Washington Post (April 29, 2005)