Associated Press: Judge – Parts of Pa. Education Firm Lawsuit over Sales Tactics Can Proceed, Others Dismissed

Summary: A federal judge is allowing a whistleblower suit accusing a for-profit education company of using improper sales tactics to proceed. According to the suit, which is backed by the Department of Justice, Education Managment Corp. illegally paid recruiters to sign up unqualified students for financial aid. Recruiters would drastically overstate the career placement opportunities and “prey on applicants’ psychological vulnerabilities” to lure students (and the government financial aid money they would bring).

NSA Circles the Wagons: Refuses to Return Whistleblowers’ Computers Seized in 2007

Summary: GAP’s Jesselyn Radack looks at the NSA’s steadfast refusal to give back the personal computers of agency whistleblowers, including several GAP clients. The agency claims that any property the NSA still has would be classified.

Washington Post: Taking Air Safety Complaints Seriously

Summary: In this editorial, the Washington Post calls out the FAA for its “pattern of disregard for whistleblower complaints” and praises the efforts of the Office of Special Counsel in raising awareness of these issues.

National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblowers Thomas Drake, Bill Binney, J. Kirk Wiebe, Edward Loomis, and Diane Roark have been through enough. They were targeted with a federal criminal investigation and subjected to armed FBI raids in July 2007. Binney had a gun pointed to his head as he stepped out of the shower. Drake has the dubious distinction of being the fourth person in U.S. history (and first by the Obama administration) indicted under the Espionage Act for alleged mishandling of classified information.

They have since been forced to sue NSA in an attempt to recoup property the government took in 2007. First, NSA claimed it would take an inordinately long time to perform the "arduous process" of reviewing the seized materials for classified information. (A brief pause to consider the ridiculousness of our nation's massive spy agency needing extra time to go through a few hard drives it has had for over four years). Perhaps the difficulty came because NSA's process involved essentially "word searching" the computers for key terms like "NSA" and "TOP SECRET" to find supposedly classified information.

When the Court tired of NSA's excuses and ordered NSA to actually respond to the whistleblowers' lawsuit, NSA moved on May 11th to dismiss the lawsuit claiming that all the property NSA still has is classified.

NSA's latest claims of secrecy are especially incredible considering NSA couldn't find a single shred of classified information in Drake's home in order to make their Espionage Act case against him stick. The case collapsed in spectacular fashion days before trial when the government dropped all felony charges in exchange for Drake pleading to a minor misdemeanor not involving classified information. Bush's former classification czar (J. William Leonard) said about the Drake case that he had never seen a "more deliberate and willful example of government officials improperly classifying a document." Yet, NSA bizarrely continues to stubbornly claim that there is classified information on Drake's computers.

Washington Spectator: NSA Analyst – ‘We Could Have Prevented 9/11’

Summary: NSA whistleblower and GAP client Thomas Drake talked to the Washington Spectator about his whistleblowing experiences and the problems plaguing the NSA.

Key Quote: Thomas Drake, a brilliant intelligence analyst, software engineer, and IT management consultant, worked at the CIA in the 1980s, then as a contractor at the National Security Agency (NSA), and ultimately as an NSA senior executive in 2001. But from 2006 until July 2011, he became the government's and NSA's public enemy.

Why? From his high-level perch at NSA, he saw the failure to act on intelligence that might have prevented the 9/11 attacks, and he saw corruption at the highest levels.

So he blew the whistle.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: State Passes New Whistleblower Protection Law

Summary: Washington state has recently passed a qui tam law, which incentivizes whistleblowers to expose Medicaid fraud and allow them to file suits on the state’s behalf. Now, 29 states and the federal government have such laws.

Unholy Partnerships Between Telecoms & Government Spy Agencies: Have We Learned Nothing?

Summary: GAP National Security & Human Rights Director Jesselyn Radack is skeptical of the new partnership between telecom companies and federal agencies, especially remembering the warrantless wiretapping scandal during the Bush administration and therecent revelations of NSA whistleblower/GAP client William Binney.

Food Safety News: 'Do Pass' Recommendation Added to Missouri Ag-Gag Bill

Summary: The Senate Agriculture Committee in Missouri recommends that the full Senate pass the state's Ag Gag bill, which criminalizes agricultural whistleblowers who utilize undercover video to expose wrongdoing. The bill, which already passed the House, has to clear the Senate and be signed by Governor Jay Nixon before Friday to become law.

Jamestown Sun (ND): WSI Audit Excluded Record That Prompted Review

Summary: North Dakota is investigating a whistleblower claim that the state Workforce Safety and Insurance agency had deleted electronic entries from claims files because “it weakens the agency’s denial of certain claim benefits.”

Sun Star (Philippines): More Security Options for Whistleblowers Sought

Summary: A Philippines senator wants to enhance protections for whistleblowers by giving them more options of government agencies they can be shielded under. This comes after the recent killing of a government witness.

Hannah Johnson is Communications Associate for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.

Have we learned nothing from the Bush-era warrantless wiretapping scandal that once threatened the near collapse of the Executive Branch?

WaPo reports on the latest merger of telecom and private industry in sharing customers' information with government agencies:

The Pentagon predicts that as many as 1,000 defense contractors may join a voluntary effort to share classified information on cyberthreats under an expansion of a first-ever initiative to protect computer networks.

After a pilot program that involved 36 contractors and three of the biggest U.S. Internet providers, the Obama administration approved a rule letting the Pentagon enlist all contractors and Internet providers with security clearances in the information exchange . . .

As I pointed out on Twitter: Government Spy Agencies + Telecoms = unholy partnership Americans ought to approach with the greatest skepticism.

Of course it is couched with nice-sounding goals like protecting "national security" and protecting us from vicious "cyber attacks," but approaches to reforming cyber-security too often include over-broad privacy-threatening measures. Privacy and civil liberties groups (like GAP) have repeatedly voiced their concerns with overreaching cyber-security measures, like the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 (CISPA), which the House passed last month. The broad coalition of advocacy groups warned:

Wired: Poisoned Fighter Pilot Faces New Nightmare – Air Force Bureaucracy

Summary: More coverage of the two Air Force pilots who blew the whistle on 60 Minutes about oxygen deprivation in F-22 fighter jets and were officially declared whistleblowers by the Air Force. However, Wired reveals that both pilots are still facing possible career-ending reprimands and disciplinary processes.

Key Quote: In addition to seeking legal counsel, Wilson and Gordon appealed to Rep. Adam Kinzinger, himself an Air Force pilot, for protection under the federal whistleblower law. Kinzinger and Sen. Mark Warner issued a letter Thursday urging the military not to mess with these pilots — or any others that bring up problems with the Raptor.

“We need to make sure there is a culture in which others feel safe coming forward,” Warner wrote.

The New American: Obama’s New “Zero-Tolerance” of Whistleblowers Betrays Promised Protection

Summary: More coverage of the Obama administration’s discrepancy on words vs. action when it comes to whistleblowers. Despite promises to protect whistleblowers, the administration has prosecuted six intelligence whistleblowers under the Espionage Act, more than all past presidents combined.

Phoenix Business Journal: Recent Cases Cast Doubt on Efficacy of Whistleblower Programs

Summary: The recent bribery scandal with Wal-Mart de Mexico shows the ineffectiveness of the company’s internal channels and its failure to conduct proper internal investigations into early allegations. Instead, the bribery was covered up until it was exposed by a whistleblower and a New York Times investigation.

Washington Post: Senate Passes Whistleblower Protections – Again

Summary: Yesterday, the US Senate passed the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, legislation that would improve the federal protections for employees who speak out about corruption, waste, and wrongdoing. The bill was passed by unanimous consent. However, the bill was also approved last Congressional session before it was killed through a “secret hold” in the Senate. Working with NPR's On The Media on a campaign to identify the responsible party, GAP was informed that House Republican leadership was responsible for the hold.

Key Quote: The bill has been around a dozen years and has been approved at different times by the House and the Senate. But those earlier victories did not lead legislation to law, and there’s no guarantee that will happen this time.

“We’ve had this thrill before,” said Tom Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower advocacy organization. “It won’t matter until it’s on the president’s desk.”

Related Articles: The Hill, Government Executive